Style: Black IPA

ABV: 8.3 IBU: 80.0

93/100

Aroma:	10
Appearance:	3
Flavor:	19
Mouthfeel:	5

Firestone Walker Brewing Company Wookey Jack

What the brewers say

“A unique twist on the Cascadian Dark Ale style. Wookey Jack offers true hops aroma to rival most IPAs, with pungent citrus and herbal hops nuances, a hint of peppery rye and earthiness on the nose. Big roasty malt flavors with balanced hops bitterness and spicy rye offer a full and complex texture with a refined bittered finish. A truly different IPA for dark beer fans.”

What our panel thought

Aroma: “Roasty with a hint of smoked meat, almost bacon-like, but balanced with a sweet citrus and pine hops character.”

Flavor: “Medium malt sweetness with a moderate tannic astringency. Hops are earthy and spicy with a slight grassiness. Complex flavors bounce from roasty, smoked, and slight coffee notes to a sweet and dank hops character.”

Overall: “Very nice example of the style—the smoke gives it an extra ‘oomph.’ The roastiness evokes Starbucks’ Casi Cielo coffee, and the selection of hops is inspired.”

What our editors thought

Review printed in: The New India Pale Ale (Spring 2014) (View All Issues)

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Firestone Walker Brewing Co Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA

“Spicy dank herbal hops in the nose, with chocolate, roast, and coffee notes. Nice bitterness stays firm throughout as spearmint hop flavor lingers in a pleasant way. Light, dry, complex, and bitter—quite enjoyable.”

pFriem Mexican Lager

Aroma: “Light grainy, crackery malt with a touch of floral hops. Very attractive and pleasant enough in a accessible way that doesn’t highlight any particular element.” Flavor: “Very simple but again very clean. Light spicy hops towards the end of the sip try to take over but are quickly complemented by bread, malt sweetness. Well done.” Overall: “A nice, mellow, easy drinking yellow lager beer. Well-balanced, refreshing overall, and very well made.”

Firestone Walker Brewing Company Parabola

**Aroma:** “Cocoa, grape skins, chocolate bar, and banana bread with no sign of hops. Dominant vanilla and bourbon notes with a chocolate and coffee note lingering to support. Lots of alcohol in the nose, with a nice subtle malt sweetness.” **Flavor:** “Roasted dry malt character. Very slight wild Brett character but nothing obvious or offensive. Complex wood makes an otherwise simple base very intriguing. Incredibly rich, full bodied. Cherry, fig, tobacco, alcohol, black patent. Finishes oaky, dry, and well balanced for such as huge beer.” **Overall:** “Yum. Vanilla oak is in perfect balance with the conservative base stout. It’s barrel-forward, but the base beer supports enough to make this a very well balanced beer. This unique barrel-aged stout showcases some of the more nuanced flavors of barrel-aging, such as almond and coconut.”

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