21st Amendment / Firestone Walker / Stone El Camino (Un)Real Black Ale
Ale brewed with fennel seed, chia seed, and pink peppercorns - with mission figs added. In the 1700s and 1800s, missionaries and Native Americans grew a variety of crops along the El Camino Real. Apart from the famous mission grapes, mission figs, barley, and olives, fennel and chia were also grown... (The brewers) tried to recapture some of the historic flavors of the old Camino Real by brewing this beer...
3.8
301 reviews
Escondido, United States
Community reviews
Can from my brother. Wow! How’s that for a description. Inky black pour, soft ring of head. Malty, roasty, halfway between a CDA and a stout. Bitter and welcoming, smooth and slick.Tasty, doesn’t fit neatly in any other category, but great nonetheless.
Pour is a black with a large foamy tan head. Aroma is a roasted and char malt with some sweet lactose sugar. Flavor is a fudge heavy sweet malt with some black licorice and bitter bakers chcocolate. The alcohol is hidden well but as the beer warms it gets a little more noticable. This was a fun beer to try, it was sometimes a bit all over the place but it kind of came together in the end.
Not a bad beer. Nothing sensational but still pretty good. Aroma was good. Chocolate with a hits of dark fruit. Pour was a nice deep dark brown with a one finger tan head. Taste was good; couldn’t pick up a lot of the flavors in the commercial description. Chocolate with just hints of figs was pretty much it. Not that that’s bad, but was hoping for a little more complexity. Mild carbonation. Decent
Poured from a can into a pint glass. The appearance is pitch black with a small tan head. The aroma is black licorice and some coffee. The taste is underwhelming. to much licorice flavoring.
Can. Pours deep, dark brown. Aroma is rich milk chocolate, dark fruit, soft caramel, and some woodiness. Flavor is rich chocolate, some earthy dark chocolate bitterness, faint woodiness, faint dark fruit notes, and a dry, roasty finish. Medium/full body.
Smell is great...Good fig boldness...Taste is also bold and medium Sweetness...Fig still present...Little more bitter than I like though...At flying saucer for trivia
Can. Tastes like burnt toast, herb, dark fruits, spicy hops, and toffee malt. Light/medium body carbonation. Smells like burnt toast, dark fruits, and toffee malt.
A very unique release. Opaque black color with a light brown head of lasting foam. Definite dig aroma and flavor come through. A dry almost harsh roast on the palate with a very dry finish. Some spice prevails in the middle captures an old world sensibility.
Cool beer for sure. Unique flavor...roasted body, crisp hops, lots of spice and dark fruit. Some of the fennel and fig come through. Packs a punch but not much burn. I dig it.
Can. It pours black with a light brown head. The aroma has strong dark chocolate fudge with a little smoke, nuts and fig. Pretty good. The flavor is strong and roasted with some smoke, strong alcohol and bitterness. Maybe a touch of pepper, but I’n not getting the chia or fennel. Thick bodied and a bit harsh in the finish with the intense roast, bitterness and alcohol. Tasty enough though.
Can. Pours opaque chocolate brown with a thick and persistent tan head. Aroma offers earthy, roast malt, woody, and subtle toffee tones. Bold flavor paints wide roast malt, earthy, toffee, woody, and subtle fruity notes - and is that a snippet of herbs? - across the palate. Very satisfying! Mouthfeel delivers firm, fairly viscous body and respectable fizz. Unreal!
I needed a beer that could follow up on Stone Bigger Longer Uncut and this actually stood up to the task. A nice strong flavor throughout that is still easy enough. Great beer.
Can. Canned on: 10/10/16. A deep mahogany pour with a thick and creamy chestnut head. Dark chocolate, fennel, caramel, earthy grains, and some figs in the aroma. Medium to full-bodied and rather smooth on the way down. Caramel, chocolate, and lots of burnt earthy grains start things off taste-wise. A touch of fennel and figs follow. Bitter hops. Char. A peppery bite at the end. Only a moderate presence of warming alcohol throughout. OK.
(11oz. can) - Pours a nice thick brown head. Aroma reminds me of a cross between wet newspaper and opened peanut shells. Really hard to come up with a descriptor of the flavor. Not obviously hoppy. Good bitterness component. Sort of like somewhat roasted malts. Perhaps a bit of pepper. Good mouth feel. This one is a keeper!!
Poured a dark brown to black colour with caramel head that dissipated following the initial sips. Aroma is rich with roasted and chocolate malts, dark fruits and sharp spicy notes of chia and peppercorns with a bit of alcohol. Flavor is a dry roasted, unsweetened bitter cocoa with a grassy fennel film that lingers as this medium bodied brew finishes dry and moderately bitter. Interesting blend, bit not an everyday treat.
A very interesting, unique beer. Pours a deep brown-black with a tan head. Smells great, figs and peppercorn, and celery. Taste is kind of sharp, with peppercorn upfront, celery, citrus, salt, and fig in the finish. Had in the can.
Pours mahogany tinged black into a tulip. Mocha head with excellent retention recedes leaving trailing sheets. Pit fruit, licorice, soy and chocolate aromas. Soft with licorice and figs upfront turning to dark chocolate and peppery earth in the lasting finish.
Appearance unexpected: matte black in a glass, with a cocoa colored head. Aroma is like my Aunt Annie’s xmas rum fruit cake, minus the boozy notes. Taste is a bit more alcoholic, with mildly astringent roast, and vinous, dark fruity notes are rich in to the finish, with some chocolate. $3/12oz can
Poured from can. Pours black with brown head. Aroma is roasted malt, cocoa, and dried fruit. Flavor is roasted almost burnt malt, unsweetened cocoa, and dried figs. Finishes dry, charred bitterness. 3 great brewers, 1 great beer.
Some roasted sweet aromas, some nutty aromas, a little alcohol to the nose. Deep brown body nice tan orange head. Rich full body smoothness releases earthy raw cocoa some bitter coffee some nuttiness. Lots of flavors to follow.
Pours black with light brown head. A string dark alcohol aroma with licorice and sweet malts. A sweet malt taste with licorice, spices and dark alcohol. A lingering spice and dry malt aftertaste.
On tap at Beer Run. Aromas of raw cocoa, char, licorice. Black with a lasting brown head. Dry, roasty, earthy, bitter, has a tangy licorice bite to it. Full bodied.
Aroma is chocolate, malts and grapes/figs. The flavor is chocolate, peppercorns/chia, dark malts and a mix of mild acidity and bitterness in the finish.
Can from Whole Foods Market Fair Lakes (Virginia)
Aroma: licorice, pepper, figs, chocolate
Appearance: black with a tan head
Taste: medium sweetness, medium bitterness,
Palate: medium body, creamy, average carbonation, long finish,
Tasty
On tap at TJ’s. Poured a dark brown color with a tan head. Chocolate, some roast, citrus, licorice and figs.
Really great, I want to say stout, but I'm not sure. It's almost like a Guinness with a boost. Nice bitter finish.
Sampled from a 12 oz can this beer poured a black color with a huge foamy dark brown head that lingered forever and left good lacing. The aroma was sweet with cocoa powder, vague spice and fig. The flavor was bitter with strong cocoa powder and fig followed by floral hops and vague spices. The cocoa presence overwhelms. Very long finish. Medium body. Ok.
12 oz can poured into a tulip. Brewed and canned by 21st Amendment. Canned on 10/10/2016. Dark brownish black with tan head. Aromas of roast, malt, dark fruit, chocolate, some booze. Tastes of roast, herb, pine, some dark fruit, chocolate, a little licorice. Fairly well masked alcohol. Medium body with a dry finish. Interesting.
Love this line from the Stone press release: "Shaun, Matt, Steve, and I tried to recapture some of the historic flavors of the old El Camino Real by brewing this beer with fennel, chia, peppercorns, and mission figs. It was a fun beer to brew, and in some ways took us (way) back to the 4th grade, when our schoolteachers first introduced us to the history of California and its Missions." And I love this beer. Compares favorably to another recent coal-black beer made with dried mission figs, Cellarmaker’s Batch 400.
Tap. Pours opaque black, large creamy tan head, dissipates slowly, nice lacing. Aroma is cocoa, chicory, herbal, anise, coffee. Flavor is light sweet, full bitter, more chicory. Full body, strong lingering bitterness.