Firestone Walker Barrelworks 2015 Liberations

This was my EXACT first thought.

 

I bet it tastes like an almanac....

 

Where does it say that they'll be pouring Grand Cru?

 

Jeffers Richardson Retweeted
Almanac Beer Co ‏@AlmanacBeer 5h5 hours ago
Surprise! Going to @FirestoneWalker’s Liberation event this weekend? We’ll be there pouring our Grand Crus. Can’t wait.

2 retweets3 favorites

 

@TheBrewBrotha I'm Here just in case you cant make it, I was bummed out on the tickets

 

Its a given that I will be there this weekend, sorry man

 

No Problem Brotha Enjoy man cheers @TheBrewBrotha

 

Heading out now. Any shares before or after?

 

the event is plenty share enough. and if it isn't, you're doing it wrong?

 

Love these events. Not to bite the hand that feeds me gets me drunk, but I did think the snacks were a bit lacking this time. Also sad not to see them break out a rotating keg (like a few back when they tapped Sour Saucerful), a 3L, or a... whatever they were calling that little station behind the bar in the restaurant from a few liberations ago, "Brewer's Choice" or something similar. On the other hand, cool to have Almanac there; with their pricing, I recouped a substantial proportion of the ticket cost at that station alone

 

I felt Almanac was sort of wasted space. Last time with SARA, it took a lot of the attention away from the other stations. While no line really lasted that long to get through, that area was pretty cluttered with the lines to Cowbell/Slo, Sour Opal/Feral One and Almanac, with Almanac not getting much of a line at all.

Would have been better to put a station where that photo area chalk board was occupying to get folks to gravitate towards that side of the barrel room.

Those meatballs were the star of the food show.

 

Sorry to say it but Almanac had no business pouring there. Both beers were terrible.

First hour was pretty rough. Pretty long and slow moving lines at both SLOambic and Violet stations with a lot of confusion. People kept trying to line up from opposite sides. Then the lines would merge and I would actually have to take steps backwards to accommodate. Since I was driving I just wanted to try the new stuff so I skipped the shorter lines and headed straight to Violet. In the door at 11, first pour at 11:35... It was crazy they ran out of food so fast, and also kind of crazy that they ran out of SLOambic an hour before the even ended.

After the first hour it got much more pleasant I noticed.

I thought Velvet was the clear winner of the two... a very complex beer with Cowbell really shining. My friends and I all thought SLOambic was very nice and juicy but maybe a trace of butter... hoping that will clean up in the bottle. Drinking Cowbell on its own was awesome.

Overall I had a nice time and although it's too far to make every one I will try to hit some here and there.

 

Wow, don't know as I'd go so far as "terrible", at least for the white. Definitely agree that the whole affair got much more pleasant after about an hour. In the future, I may consider showing up an hour late (rather than leaving an hour early, as I did this time). The best-kept secret of these continues to be the station by the bathrooms with their spirit-barreled beers (this time, Parabola and DDBA #60). In so many other venues, a tap with unlimited Parabola would have a line a mile long; just goes to show the quality on offer at these.

 

The best thing about Almanac being there is that now I know not to waste my money on those $28 bottles. I do like the idea of having a guest brewery, though, and hope they continue the trend. Or, you know, just have SARA every time. That'd be ok too.

DDBA #60 is absolutely delicious (As an aside: Dear FW, please bottle DDBA again instead of Helldorado). Violet and SLOambic both tasted great to me, even if SLO b1 was a bit better. We'll see what the bottles are like. Nice to have Cowbell again. My only (minor) complaint is that, other than Violet, there wasn't anything totally new to try from FW, which has been a defining quality of past Liberations.

 

Amazing event IMHO. I do have to agree that Almanac was wasted space with those ridiculous Grand Cru beers. I avoided that station the rest of the event after pouring their beers out. Cow Bell, SLOambic, VU and Feral One were true highlights.

The snacks were scarce compared to the past. Veggie skewers? Yuck! But the one meatball I had showed that was the real MVP but never really saw those again after having the one. Anyone else thought Parabola and DDBA poured so smooth? Really enjoyed those when stepping away from the sours.

 

I think I overheard that the DDBA was in barrels for almost 6 years (didn't hear this from any staff so not sure how true though). It was damn tasty. I pretty much just stood in that area eating all of the pretzel bites hoping that they would bring more canolis since I missed them on the first go-around...no such luck.

 

They posted the DDBA on their Instagram saying that it was 6 years in the barrel.

This is only my second liberation but food did seem more scarce than last time. The meatballs all seemed to jump off the tray before the guy could put it down (damn them for being so good). Luckily I got to have a canolli with Parabola and DDBA, it was damn good!

All said and done they are great events and I'll be back every chance I get.

 

Sort of to echo the above statements.

The almanac beers were terrible IMO. Both the GF and I poured them out.

Food was a little lacking. What was there was good.

Firestone beers were excellent!

 

can we get a thread that's just you bitching, complaining and whining. It would be nice to just keep it all in one place.
Consider therapy.

 

A better therapy would be to just go to one of these events and drink as much Parabola as you can. After an hour, you're probably costing them money on the product.