Day 24: Double Barrel Ale

Name: Double Barrel Ale

Brewer: Firestone Walker - Napa, CA

Style: English Bitter Ale

Alcohol Content: 5%


Review: Well, there we go again ruining my English Beer paradigm I had going on. I really liked my last Firestone Walker, which was purely American, but this time around they went and perfected an English-style ale. Remember how I said I did not like the British beers? Well... that hasn't changed. However, Firestone walker managed to remove that characteristically British flavor and replace it with a subtly rugged oak one. Bravo. The beer pours a little thin, carries little head, and has a mildy hoppy, mildy malty, smooth flavor that ends fairly dry - i.e. an ale. I'd go so far as to say that there is a subtle fruity esther quality as well, almost like a summer wheat beer. I paired this beer with some homemade polenta with sweet Italian Sausage. I didn't know what the hell polenta really was, and I had some leftover sausage I needed to cook, so I made what cooks illustrated told me to make: polenta.


It was quite tasty, filling, and it paired very well with this beer. The bitterness of the ale countered the sweetness of the sausage and tomatoes, but the oakey sweetness of the beer allowed it to still complement the polenta's flavors. Both the beer and meal were mild, so neither really overtook the other in terms of flavor. I highly recommend this as the ale of choice if you're looking for a solid basic ale with some deeper qualities to set it apart from all the other run-of-the-mill ales. Ok, enough, I'm going to ensconce myself on the couch, enjoy my beer, and watch American Psycho until I can locate some of the recommended brews. Cheers.

Rating: 4.5/5

Recommend? YES