Y’know what people oft times say about American so-called “extreme” beers? How they’re big and bold and interesting for a sip or two, but you’d never want to drink too much of them, much less have a full pint?
Well, bollocks to them! Because I’ve just finished a shared bottle of Firestone Walker Parabola!
This is the beer previously sold only in a blended anniversary beer – which itself has been quite extraordinary in successive years – but seldom tasted on its own. It’s a barrel-aged Imperial stout of 13% alcohol by volume. And it is absolutely wonderful.
I just wrote a mini-review on the World of Beer Facebook page, so you can go there to read more about it, but in addition to those notes I would add, in no particular order: charcoal, well-roasted nuts, brown spice, raw cocoa, flamed orange peel, burning embers and black plum. Complexity, balance, warmth, beauty: what more could you want from an Imperial stout?
And so far as that sip or two versus a pint thing goes, I can tell you that having just finished about 12 or 13 ounces of this beer, I would most certainly welcome more!
I hope no one ever included me in that group. Despite my professed love of session beers, I don’t have any problem with drinking plenty of a good, well-made big-assed beer. When Dogfish Head’s World Wide Stout is on, a good batch, I’ve been known to drink a pint or more. Drank two bottles of EKU 28 one night, too (and spent the next two days apologizing to the Internet, but that’s a learning experience). When a beer’s good, it’s good.