Firestone Walker retires Pale 31

Hate to see it. FW seems to be retiring what I see as fan-favorites, but I'm sure their metrics tell them otherwise (and it's important to remember that BAs are a small minority of the overall beer-drinking public).

 

Clean, incredibly well-made beer is SO yesterday.

 

Loved drinking this one on tap at the brewery. Unfortunately I never saw it on tap around here and fresh bottle were nearly impossible to come by.

 

A solid APA, I hope they don't discontinue Union Jack or DBA. They need to bring back Double DBA.

 

Truly, one of my all-time favorite beers ever.

 

Sorry to see this go. I'm certainly not tired of Pale Ales.

 

There you have it, folks: worst beer news of 218 so far. This sucks. When I lived in Arizona it was easily my favorite pale ale you could get in stores. When I moved back East I noticed that it was very hard to find and even harder to find fresh. I'd take a fresh Pale 31 over a Luponic Distortion or even a Leo vs. Ursus any day.

 

Sad to see this one leaving it was a solid beer.

 

Liked this beer but also never bought it. I was part of the problem.

 

It seems like a trend in brewing. Founders isn't going to brew their Imperial Stout this year (at least that's what I've heard). I assume it's a market driven decision. I guess people aren't buying classic pale ale and classic Imperial Stouts anymore. Thoughts?

 

Sad to see another solid staple leave.

What the hot trend right now? NEIPAs? Sours?

 

Wow, what a bummer. I buy a decent amount of this....guess I have to go load up now.

 

The beer was probably good , but the label just didn't speak to me.

 

Simple solution: don't change much but re brand it is an IPA, instant hot seller again!

I'm not surprised to see this. While it was a good beer it was never something I would think to reach for often and it was hard to find fresh in my area, regularly sat collecting dust.

 

I always liked this beer and thought it was underrated. However, with that being said I never bought six packs of it because I always choose Pivo over it.

 

This makes me sad.

 

Tremendous beer. One of the first that taught me how to appreciate/discern crackery malt character amidst floral/citrusy hops. Refreshing as hell.

So, selfishly, I hate to see it go. But do I begrudge Firestone? No. They have 2 options, right? 1) Stick with a beer that isn't selling because people don't like that style anymore. Watch business suffer. Lay off employees. Reduce size. Go extinct. 2) Begrudgingly bid the beer goodbye, try your damndest to replace it with something cool that people will like enough to buy more than the previous beer.

 

Had it on tap for the first time just the other day... Delicious, subtle, well-crafted beer.

 

Better session ale than Easy Jack. I realize it is because of sales, but seriously, this beer is very good.

 

Sadly, I feel like DBA could easily go, I can NEVER find it fresh which indicates poor sell through.

I have never been to FW, I assume the investment in the rig would make that an even harder choice for them though.

 

What a fantastic, truly underappreciated beer. Shame brewers are discontinuing some great Pale Ales and IPL's in favor of making cookie cutter ipa's. Such a good change of pace beer, you will be missed!

 

Don't judge a book by it's cover!

 

The last time I visited Paso they were selling a Pale 31 that was fermented in barrel. It was delicious as it sounds so I took a growler home.

 

I wouldn't mind if they shitcanned DBA if it meant more Unfiltered DBA would be available. That stuff was absolutely amazing (it was 100% Burton Union barrel aged DBA, instead of the usual blend that regular DBA is composed of)


I might get some flak for this but they should've killed off 805 blonde ale and just re-branded Pale 31. Pale 31 was always the superior beer. Oh well.

 

805 is Firestone’s best selling beer.

 

Bud Light is the best selling beer in America but that does not mean I enjoy it. That's not to say 805 is an awful beer, I just liked Pale 31 better (and there is a reason I don't work in the brewing industry)


EDIT: do you have any sales figures for 805? I find it fascinating that a brand that isn't distributed to most states in their footprint is their leading seller. If I were a betting man I'd choose Union Jack as their best seller.

 

Check out this article from April 2017...

"Walker refers to 805 — a light, blonde ale aimed at the more casual beer drinker — as both a giant monster and a gift from the beer gods, often in the same sentence.

Appealing to a whole different, much larger swath of the population — 70 percent of beer sold in America is still industrial-produced lager, Walker says — 805 exploded, quickly becoming more than 50 percent of Firestone’s production and the No. 1 selling craft beer in California.

“We’re blessed to have it, but it definitely forced us to grow faster than we intended,” Brynildson said."

 

I guess that says it all. Thank you very much for the article. I tried googling and failed.


(I still liked Pale 31 better)

 

I'd be interested to see a list of mid-abv craft beers that have been discontinued... examples being here, Pale 31, others like Lagunitas Censored, Stone Levitation, etc...

 

At least Censored (aka Kronik) lives on as Dry Hopped Censored. It's too bad FW didn't try rebranding Pale 31 by throwing the words "Dry Hopped" in front of it. Probably would've resulted in increased sales (though probably not enough to save it)

 

Right! I had no real reason not to try it, i should have.in fact i brought my firestone tshirt to San Fran with me on this trip and checked it, and look at what is printed on the front! Ironic.

But having had many of their other beers, i will not get rid of it.my good friend here gave it to me .

 

Nice shirt! I'd definitely keep it too (might be a collectors item someday lol). FWIW, I liked the old Pale 31 label art before they did the 'ol obligatory Brand Redesign that every brewing company does once they get some extra cash to burn.



RIP Pale 31!

 

This and Union Jack were my first 2 beers from Firestone years ago.

 

I knew 805 was FW's best selling beer but had no idea that it was the best selling craft beer in CA. That's pretty impressive.

 

Always thought the same. Just a couple tenths of a percent more ABV, but the balance and character of Pale 31 is much superior. At least to me and you

 

This beer (along with their Double Barrel Ale, now called DBA) are the ones that got me interested in craft beer. I'm extremely sad to see it go. I hate what this damned infatuation with IPAs is doing to the market.