Firestone Walker

As most of you have probably already heard by now, Firestone Walker's beer will be reaching Missouri's shores last November ... around New Years ... this February! FW is currently wrapping up their launch in Chicago and are looking to have their beer in the hands of Kansas Citians around the first or second week of February. It sounds like there will be two phases to the Firestone Walker release, the first will be the arrival of FW bombers & kegs and the second will be the arrival of FW's Nectar Ale brand in the form of six packs. Missouri is slated to receive Walker's Reserve Robust Porter, Double Jack, 14th Anniversary, Abacus, Parabola, Red Nectar (2010 GABF Gold), Nectar IPA (2010 GABF Silver) and Hemp Ale.

I recently procured a bottle of Firestone Walker Double Jack from @fancypantsbeer and decided to open it in commemoration of my 300th beer review and to preview the beer for anyone who is curious what an $8 bomber of beer from Paso Robles would be like.

The Double Jack is a Double IPA, a bigger dry hopped version of their Union Jack IPA. As someone who isn't crazy about IPAs, I really like the Union Jack. I tend to like Double IPAs a lot more than regular IPAs because they're usually much more malty. Double Jack has a big grapefruit and honey hop flavor that is complemented by loads of Munich malt, giving the Double Jack a citrus sweet, buttery and almost caramel flavor.

This beer reminded me a lot of Great Divide's 15th Anniversary IPA, Schlafly Export IPA and Dogfish 90 Minute. All of these beers have a great hop-to-malt ratio that I really enjoyed. Loads of malt to cover the bitterness of your hops, while still letting all the resin and citrus flavors through.

Double Jack is a great Double IPA that I'm looking forward to trying on tap, hopefully in the near future.

In the interest of full disclosure, I did receive this bottle of Double Jack from a brewery representative but it did not influence my review of the beer.