Firestone Walker & Cigar City Collaborate on Los Leñadores

Discussion in 'Beer Releases' started by BayAreaJoe, May 23, 2019.

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  1. BayAreaJoe

    BayAreaJoe Pooh-Bah (1,650) Nov 23, 2017 California
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    (Paso Robles, CA) — After a year-long collaborative vision quest, Cigar City and Firestone Walker are set to unveil Los Leñadores—an imperial brown ale aged in high rye bourbon barrels and infused with African and Brazilian hardwood spirals.

    Los Leñadores was conceived by brewmasters Wayne Wambles and Matt Brynildson to commemorate the 2019 Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest happening on June 1.

    “Wayne always has these crazy new ideas and ingredients for barrel-aged beers,” Brynildson said. “I had this Brazilian hardwood I was excited about, and he had one from Africa. The more we talked, the more we had to do it.”

    Tasters of Los Leñadores will be available to all fest attendees. Additionally, 12-ounce bottles ($10.99) will also be available for a limited time at all Firestone Walker locations starting that day. A total of 300 cases (12 x 12-oz bottles) were produced.

    Infused with Hardwoods

    The featured hardwoods are African Padauk and Brazilian Amburana. The Padauk provides notes of waffle cone and chocolate to the beer, while the Amburana layers in accents of cinnamon spice and vanilla.

    The hardwood spirals were sourced and created specifically for Los Leñadores by Richard Hobbs of The Barrel Mill in Avon, Minnesota. “It’s one thing to be stoked on these exotic woods, it’s another to get your hands on them,” Brynildson said. “Richard was a huge help in making this beer happen.”

    The base imperial brown ale was aged for nearly 12 months in high rye bourbon barrels acquired from Four Roses. An initial twist was the inclusion of Proximity malt in tandem with Simpson Golden Promise malt and Simpson Golden Naked oats. “The Proximity gives you these unique malt flavors not found in other kilned malts,” Brynildson said. “The flavor is like a combination of brown malt and biscuit malt."

    The hardwood spirals were introduced at the end of the aging cycle. “We kept the contact time pretty short, because the influence of these woods is pretty quick and intense,” Brynildson said.

    The final result is a barrel-aged drinking experience like no other—which is exactly what Brynildson expected from this collaboration.

    “I’ve known Wayne for a decade now and have been a huge fan of the Cigar City beers since the beginning,” he said. “My mom lived outside of Tampa in the early Cigar City years and I would have her pick up beer for me and bring it out to California so that I could keep up with Wayne’s work. I feel that this collaboration is well overdue since Cigar City has participated in the Invitational from the beginning. Wayne has such a creative mind for unique flavor combinations and we both have a love for exploring new ways to incorporate wood into beer. I’m super proud of what we put together with Los Leñadores.”

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  2. bbtkd

    bbtkd Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,326) Sep 20, 2015 South Dakota
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    As you can see in my Avatar, I'm into Amburana chip beers. Really hoping to get my hands on several of these.
     
  3. AZBeerDude72

    AZBeerDude72 Initiate (0) Jun 10, 2016 Arizona

    Wow, this is a nice sounding beer. Sucks that they always make this stuff and limit it. Would have loved to see this go out to all.

    "Tasters of Los Leñadores will be available to all fest attendees. Additionally, 12-ounce bottles ($10.99) will also be available for a limited time at all Firestone Walker locations starting that day. A total of 300 cases (12 x 12-oz bottles) were produced".
     
  4. Mark-Leggett

    Mark-Leggett Pooh-Bah (2,233) Jul 30, 2014 Missouri
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Would love to try this.
     
  5. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Hehe..hehe...hehe he said "wood":stuck_out_tongue:
     
  6. Jlabs

    Jlabs Pooh-Bah (2,608) Nov 11, 2013 New York
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    sounds awesome!
     
  7. waltari

    waltari Initiate (0) Jan 28, 2016 Georgia

    Except that the CC / OB colab was $15 a 4pk. Fuck FS with their $10-11 a single.
     
    JackHorzempa, bbtkd and keithmurray like this.
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