XV Blending
Kevin Sass, of Halter Ranch, discusses his blend with his partner.
The blending is one of the most exciting days of the year for Matt Brynildson, Brewmaster of Firestone Walker Brewing Co. The three-time brewmaster of the year will turn the creation of Firestone Walker’s Anniversary Ale over to the winemakers of neighboring wineries.
Once again, the winemakers stepped away from their own jobs and came down to the brewery to be greeted with a palate calibrating pale ale and candied barley, provided by Pete Slosberg of Pete’s Wicked Ale before getting to the task at hand.
Luckily for Matt as well as the fans of Firestone beers the Paso Robles area boasts some of the best winemakers in the world. Some of the winemakers attending the blending included Justin Smith of Saxum Winery, Matt Trevisan from Linne Calodo, Chuck Carlson from Curtis Winery and Brock Waterman of Brochelle Vineyards as well as several other great winemakers.
Their expert palates were brought in to create a one of a kind beer by blending eight different brews into one of the most unique beverages in the brewing world.
“I really like what the winemakers bring to the process, they usually go for blends and flavor profiles that brewers never think of,” Brynildson said. “That’s why I like bringing them in, it pushes the boundaries of our taste and that’s exciting.”
All but one of the beers on the table this year were aged in a variety of barrels, from 20-year-old Bourbon barrels to used wine
Precise measurements are needed because minor discrepancies are magnified in to major changes in taste when applied to the full batch.
barrels as well as Firestone’s own retired union barrels.
These beers are all high in alcohol and very strong in flavor creating a challenge that the winemakers relish. Some of the
individual components are highly regarded and sought after, such as Parabola, a Bourbon barrel-aged Russian imperial stout; alternately some of the components only exist to be a part of the blending such as Bravo, an imperial brown ale.
This will be the sixth anniversary ale that Firestone Walker will have produced in this manner. The first one was to mark the tenth anniversary of the brewery.
“From the beginning, we had always done straight ahead pale ales and for our tenth anniversary we wanted to make something special,” Brynildson said. “So first I made a Russian Imperial Stout and then I second guessed myself and made a barleywine and then I wanted a barrel-aged oatmeal stout. Soon enough I had all of these beers and I thought why not put them all together. I enlisted the help of some winemaker friends of mine and that was that.”
This year’s blending was different than those in the past, because it was scheduled before grape harvest nearly all of the winemakers invited were able to attend. This meant more organization was required than when only a handful of can make it to the brewery.
Brewmaster, Matt Brynildson, pours out samples of one of the possible blends for XV.
The winemakers were split up into partners and tasked with each creating their own perfect blend. These blends were then disguised and given back to all of the participants to choose the best blend. After the blends were finalized half of the teams got together and tasted the blends of the other winemakers selecting as a committee their two favorites. Then the whole group was given the top four blends and individual ballots were cast.
In the end Team Saxum’s, made up of Justin Smith and assistant Saxum winemaker, Mark Adams, blend was chosen as the recipe for XV. Perhaps the winner isn’t surprising, even amongst other super talented winemakers, considering that Saxum’s 2007 “James Berry Vineyard,” a red blend was named Wine Spectator’s 2010 Wine of the Year.
“Every year I’m nervous about the blend that they come up with, but every year it’s awesome,” Brynildson said.
San Diego International Beer Competition
