Firestone Walker's Reserve Porter

Firestone Walker's Reserve Porter (2012)

Brewed and Bottled by Firestone Walker Brewing Co., in Paso Robles, CA. USA

Limited Reserve Series.

22 fl. oz. / $2.99 USD (Sale) / 5.8% ABV

About: "A singularly distinctive beer that represents our finest brewing efforts, Walker’s Reserve is a elegant dark ale featuring robust flavors of toffee, caramel and bittersweet chocolate. This brew employs five specialty malts, as well as oat and barley flakes, for added complexity and flavor. Malts: Premium Two-Row, Maris Otter, Crystal 77, Crystal 120, DH Carafa, Chocolate, Wheat, Oat Flakes / Bittering Hops: U.S. Goldings / Late Kettle Hops: East Kent Golding / Whirlpool Hops: Cascade. Winner of four Gold Medals, two Silver Medals and two Bronze Medals."

Thoughts: The beer poured a dark and impossible to see through brown with a huge light tan head full of extremely small bubbles. Nice. Tons of sticky lacing. The massive head eventually died down to a one finger thick fluffy glop atop the brew, and now it's going nowhere.

I'm getting a really clean watery profile on this. There's a bit of spice that comes through, a nice bursting of hops, black cherries, and a low flow of cold chocolaty malt.

On first gulp I was hit with a bit of tartness up front, a peppery spiced flow, some sticky candy, and a little bit of grass on the back of the tongue. There's a sticky sweetness that comes bouncing through, and a lot of roasted toasty notes all around. It's pretty smokey too. Very low coffee rumblings, mostly just a charred woody taste, like oatmeal, and minor bitter chocolate. It's got a pretty heavy hop characteristic, which I think is what I'm liking about it more than some other porters I've tried. It's fruity, tart and a bit leafy.

Mouthfeel is very crisp, clean and just a little watery. It's strange, like there's super carbonation in this... but it doesn't expand in the mouth and puff out. Only tingles with tons of mini bubbles. Cool stuff.

This is a pretty strange one. Definitely interesting. Best porter I think I've ever had.