This ale was recently given to me by my dear friends Ben and Anna as a congratulatory present for my recent achievement earning tenure at Harold Washington.
This is my first beer I can recall having from Firestone. It’s a brewery from Paso Robles, California. I rarely make it to California, so it’s probable this is my first. It’s label is a classy three-color matte cream, bronze, and black, in an old English style. Opposing crowned lion and starred bear rearing up to fight flanking the label’s crest. 8.3% alcohol, 22 ounce bottle.
Glass: I’m using a wide-mouthed tulip glass for this. I like tulip glasses for their appearance. Supposedly, they’re better at trapping in aroma, but I can’t say I’ve seriously compared them. For my own notes, this is the glass I bought at the Deschutes Brewery Public House in Portland last week, while visiting my brother. I love its curvy, but rotund body, and it’s become my favorite glass in my cabinet. It seems especially fitting since I was in Portland last weekend to visit my brother, wife, and their newborn baby, Penelope. Plus, Anna and Ben were only in Portland a week before I was, so a Portland glass just seems right. Anyway, I’m sure that’s irrelevant to most readers, but I like to take notes on the full experience.
Pour and Appearance:The ale quickly built up a healthy head of foam. Many IPAs I’ve had in the past couple years have a hard time building much head at all, and I like about a half-inch foam. The texture and appearance are pleasing. There isn’t much I can say for the appearance that would distinguish it from a typical stout: it is a lovely opaque black. After about a minute, the foam has settled down a bit, but a thin film sits on top the liquid.
Aroma: I began sniffing the beer, through my nose, with my mouth closed. The aroma is very subdued, like most stouts: my experience is that stouts rarely have much for the nose alone. I sniffer many times, and eventually detected a slight non-sweet caramel. I then blew into the beer, which I feel often causes the liquid to eject a stronger smell. Doing this, the caramel tasted sweeter, and perhaps a bit of a pleasant burn.
Next, I opened my mouth and again inhaled through the nose. This time, I almost felt something like the most subtle of raspberries: shocking, and I might be mistaken. But it was a pleasant discovery. Very subtle, if there at all.
Finally, I exhaled and inhaled through my mouth, pushing air onto the surface, hoping to stimulate a greater aroma. I felt the raspberries were slightly more pronounced this time, but now it may simply be the case of setting up an expectation.
Taste: I’ve been looking and smelling for about ten minutes now. Time for a sip! I take some in and wash it around. It’s cool, perhaps about 5 degrees cooler than ideal for a great taste. I feel a deep but very brief coffee-caramel before the liquid turns to foam, which immediately obscures the taste. I swallow, it goes down smooth, leaving the usual slightly bitter aftertaste lining my mouth and throat.
I take a second sip, careful not to swish too much this time. Indeed, the pungent malty-coffee that now clearly dominates this beer explodes in my mouth. It is not too much coffee: I’m not one for true coffee-stouts. But compared to the very subtle coffee earlier, it was a surprise. It is fizzy on my tongue.
A third set of a few sips, I wash it once in my mouth, and quickly swallow. Again, something that hit my tongue reminded me of raspberries.
Enjoyment: Satisfied that I have gotten to know this beer, it is time to leisurely sip away. Overall, a very solid stout. I must say, this is the first time I’ve done an analysis of beer like this in years, and I wasn’t sure it would be worthwhile. But having done so, I
Concluding Remarks: I’m by no means a great taster, and it is worth noting that I never made the now shockingly obvious observation that rye fills this: I may have been mistaking the rye for coffee. Overall, a very solid stout that doesn’t try to do anything ostentatious. Quality, not eccentricity.
Here are the reviews at Beer Advocate. The average rating falls at 93 of 100. No one mentions raspberries, but quite a few mention citrus, tropical fruit, or grapefruit. The grapefruit claim strikes me as right-on. Can’t believe I didn’t pick up on that earlier! A lot of comments about the quality of the hops, which I was completely unable to comment on, positively or negatively.
Natural Causes 