It perfectly balances its 100 International Bitterness Units(The highest our taste can perceive) with a malty, citrus, pine flavor, where no one flavor over powers the others, they all simply dance together on your tongue, leaving you cloying for another sip. It is a Double West Coast IPA that can be summed up by saying it is what every Double West Coast IPA strives to be. They have a cult following of beer geeks, as well as have held the top spot on various different lists for having the best beer in the world, Pliny the Elder. Cheers Firestone Walker, for being something all Californians can agree on.Įvery brewer I have ever known, looks up to Russian River Brewing with the most elevated reverence. The true reason of their success, has been making great beer, every day, for 25 years. A Unicorn in the beer industry.Įarlier, I mentioned that perhaps Firestone Walker’s success was just because of being in the right place at the right time. With it’s smooth and refreshing drinkability, it won over the hearts as California’s craft lager beer of choice. The name of the beer comes from the telephone area code of where the beer is produced, the Central Coast of California. However, with all that said, their popular 805 lager is perhaps the beer that most unites southern California and northern California’s beer scenes. As well, they became the pinnacle lo-cal IPA brand with their Fly Jack beer. They quickly were able to move with the trends creating more fruit-like flavored IPA’s with their Luponic Distortion series. With their series of IPAs that came next, many fell in love with their Union Jack and other Jack brand IPA’s. Distribution didn’t require cold box storage in markets, leading to a better return on sale comparatively to to other new breweries. This too meant these beers could be more easily sold by having a longer shelf life. Unlike other beer styles, due to the flavor profile welcoming oxidation, and the muting and melding of flavors over time being a good thing, these would continue to stay delicious even after years in a bottle. It appealed to a new market of beer collectors, who would covet each new release and have to have it. Starting with the big, bold and robust, barrel aged beers. They were able to be at the forefront of every emerging style, a coincidence that might make you think they were actually the ones to popularize them. Having just celebrated their 25th anniversary they have been able to ride the train of emerging popular beer styles, by perfecting them seemingly just days before they would become popular. However, they have since started brewing many different styles of beers. The brewery started with the idea to barrel age their beers, a more forgotten way of producing beers that had fallen into unpopularity by the 1900’s. The brewery is one of the oldest modern craft breweries and was at the forefront of the craft movement. With that being said, it was in a perfect location to appeal to both of California’s major markets. It is a relatively sparsely populated area of California considering the neighboring So-Cal below and Nor-Cal above. Firestone Walker’s brewery is nestled in the middle of California in the Central Coast. Their story and tale of influence can almost be attributed to the old slogan of “Being in the right place, at the right time.” Almost. If you have ever set foot in a Californian supermarket, you have seen beer from Firestone Walker. Firestone Walker Brewing Company - Paso Robles, CA You can know that whichever beer you try, it is the truest epitome of its style, and perfectly crafted.Ĥ. It is worth the 1 hour drive east of San Francisco, or 20 minutes south of the Napa Valley to visit this brewery. Jamil has hosted and been very influential on a range of brewing podcasts. Evil Cousin IIPA, Evil Twin Red IPA, Make America Juicy Again NEIPA, Chocolate Hazelnut Porter. Jamil has been brewing the same award winning beers and tweaking them until utter perfection for decades. Jamil’s books have been the basis of defining many beer styles today It bares repeating, he also basically wrote the book on brewing beer, because he is the author of the widely popular book, “Brewing Classic Styles.” Jamil’s accolades could be the topic of an entire post, so in an effort to keep this concise, here are a few reasons in which his brewery deserves to have the number 5 spot on this list. Jamil is an award winning homebrewer, winning, in fact, a medal in every single style of beer. It begins with the story of its founder, Jamil Zainasheff, and his home-brewing past. Heretic Brewing’s story starts much earlier than its 2010 opening date.
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