Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.
Firestone Walker’s Brewmasters Collective isn’t cheap. For a shade under $400, you get an exclusive membership in a tight knit club, discounts on purchases online and at the brewery, access to a rare beer library and — and most importantly for my purposes, a quarterly beer shipment straight to your home.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I’m not a Brewmasters Collective member. But the brewery occasionally surprises me with deliveries out of nowhere because I am living inside some kind of glorious coma dream as my family worries around me, furious I left no will. So around last November, this showed up at my door (after I signed for it and proved I am, in fact, a grown up).
At the risk of turning into a character from an insurance commercial, it’s a really nice box! I kept it! I’m gonna put stuff in it!
Here’s what was inside:
Five unique, boozy beers (well, four and a barleywine), a couple of boxes of curated cookies and a spiffy brochure explaining the contents and what other perks come with membership. There’s no doubt a lot of thought has gone into this subscription crate. And since it’s Firestone Walker, it’s a near certainty these beers are going to be good.
Let’s see if they’re $99.25 good.
Between Two Grahams Imperial Stout: A-
The label promises a hefty, barrel-aged stout with chocolate, vanilla and cinnamon. That sounds incredible. It pours like motor oil with juuuuuust a little light brown carbonation bubbling to the top. It smells like its bourbon-tinged resting place, but dig a little deeper and you’ll find that marshmallow-y sweetness advertised on the bottle.
The beer itself is thick but surprisingly crisp. It’s intense; there’s a lot going on and each sip feels like it lasts minutes. There’s a wide range of flavor, going from the heavy malt and vanilla of the bourbon barrel to stacked layers of sweetness that follow. Surprisingly, at least for me, the cinnamon stands out the most. Not because it’s especially strong, but because it’s a very nice low key complement to the beer, an almost surprising asset in a loaded portfolio.
Needless to say, it’s pretty great.
Rip This Joint Imperial Stout: A
The first taste is … thick. It seems like the kind of drink that would be hell to sip through a straw. But there’s no harshness to it despite the 13.9 percent alcohol content. Don’t get me wrong. It is, undoubtedly *a lot.* There is no way to drink it at any speed above sipping.
That complexity is the selling point. It’s a rich sip, creating pathways of sweet vanilla and bitter chocolate each time you take a draw. There’s a certain creaminess to it that makes it as much of a dessert beer as the smores stout that preceded it. This thing is straight-up LUSH, delicious in all the same ways that make Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stouts wonderful.
Balaton Bones: B-
I’m a little uneasy about the idea of an American Wild Ale. We had a now defunct brewery here in Madison that had a run of wild sours and they were, well, pretty rough when they came out wrong.
But this is Firestone Walker, which if nothing else suggests it’ll be a flawed style done right (at worst) or a brew capable of changing my mind about wild beers (at best). And I like cherries — particularly New Glarus’s Belgian Red, so there’s room for a win here. Even if I have no idea what a Balaton cherry is.
It pours a lovely shade of maroon with a quickly dissipating half-inch head. And, hoooo buddy, this guy smells sour and acidic right off the top. It’s a little harsh.
Make no mistake, that tart cherry is right up front. It’s potent but not overpowering, bringing a distinct sour flavor to the proceeding but not lingering in the stomach bile fashion of some other sours out there.
Even so, it’s not for me. It’s a complex tart beer I’m happy to sip slowly for a while. But I’m good at one.
Apple Jack Flash: A-
It pours with a little bit of quick fizzling carbonation and with a decidedly cidery color. But the smell is bready caramel with only a hint of the apple juice that made it into the brewing process. That’s a little concerning, since barleywines aren’t my thing, but it’s Firestone Walker so I’ll trust whatever they put out there to be a well made representative even if it’s based on a flawed style.
It’s … a lot. It’s got the thicker mouthfeel and limited bubbles of a barrel aged beer. It’s not nearly as powerful, and there’s a certain smoothness that rounds off what could have been some rough edges. The apple plays with the breadyness and sugar like a loaf of strudel, which sounds a lot better in print than it tastes. Not that it’s bad, mind you, just that apple strudel completely rules.
Upon closer review, what I’d thought was a 6.5 percent ABV is actually 12 percent, and now this beer makes a lot more sense to me. It does feel more like a nine percent beer, with a smoothness that melds with those rich caramel apple flavors inside. It’s an easy drinker for what it is, potent but not overpowering. It exists in a unique space and I’m into it.
27th Anniversary Ale: n/a
I didn’t drink it. It’s getting cellared with all the rest of my fanciest Firestone Walker brews. That picture above is just a cropped one of the Apple Jack Flash.
Would I drink it instead of a Hamm's?
It’s difficult to find a bigger divide in the beer world than a $14 30-rack of Hamm’s and a $399 subscription box of big, boozy West Coast craft beer. The relevant question is whether it’s worth the cost. That’s not something I can answer universally, because that’s a lot of money to spend on beer. Personally, I probably don’t like big boozy beers enough to drop that kind of cash on a curated subscription; I’d rather pick out my own at the bottle shop over the course of the year, sacrificing selection for freedom.
But there’s no doubt Firestone Walker puts a lot of effort to make these Brewmasters Collective crates worth the money. The beers are brassy and unique, the kind of stuff you won’t find anywhere else. Everything, down to the packaging, has been carefully pored over. If you love beer and like barleywines, barrel-aged stouts, etc, you can make the case this is a fair expense — maybe even a bargain if you’re using the 15 percent discount to buy other Firestone stuff. And it’s DEFINITELY worthwhile if you’re close enough to the brewery to take advantage of the in-person perks (special events, cheaper flights, etc).
So yeah, I’d recommend the Brewmasters Collective if you’re serious enough about beer to be considering a $400 annual subscription in the first place. Make sure you get on that waiting list now, though; 2024’s membership is already sold out.
