Firestone Walker Double DBA
DDBA is our flagship beer brewed at double strength. It is amazingly similar in many respects to our barrel fermented DBA and possesses everything we love about that beer times two. English caramel malts lend rich toffee character that pairs well with assertive medium toast American oak barrels.
3.9
547 reviews
Paso Robles, United States
Community reviews
Thanks Steven for sharing the bottle! 2014 Vintage poured into a wineglass showing highly filtered caramel brown with no head.
The nose shows a lot of bourbon with a sweet note running throughout.
The palate is thin bodied with no carbonation. Bourbon forward with hints of caramel, toffee, and light figs. An extreme amount of alcoholic spiciness dominates throughout making this very difficult to appreciate.
At the Barleywine event. Vintage 2013. Aroma is booze, caramel, toffee, dark fruit, barrel. Appearance is amber, light tan head, clear. Taste is caramel, hops, booze, barrel, toffee, dark fruit. Mouthfeel is medium body, light carbonation, woody caramel booze aftertaste. Overall, very well done.
Boxed bomber pours slightly hazy chestnut amber with a 1.5-finger, lasting off-white head. The aroma is caramel, toffee, toast, oak, earth. The flavor is quite sweet, lots of toffee, -bal character, booze, slight bitter finish. Fairly full-bodied, somewhat hot but not more than you’d expect. Good, but hard to get through too much of the bottle in a sitting.
Thanks to Brian for this long time want. Vintage 2014. Robe ambrée plutôt claire affichant des teintes rouges pourpres. Tête cossue pour une bière de ce type. Arômes complexes et évolutifs. Froid le liquide laisse échapper des arômes de gâteau auc bananes et brisures de chocolat. C’est étonnant et très plaisant. Plus le liquide respire et se réchauffe, ces arômes tendent à s’estomper pour faire place à un sucre plus important et moins complexe où s’installent un raisin rouge et quelques fruits confits. Beaucoup de saveurs de sucre d’orge en bouche et heureusement, mes lèvres ne collent pas. Une belle présence de bois vanillé, de malts caramélisés sur un fond de chocolat au lait. Asswz lingue en bouche, un bomber de Barley Wine qui se boit franchement bien.
Kopparfärgad klar med vit skum. Doftar och smakar karamellmalt, lite humle och ek. Ganska söt med dold alkohol
Smell is general malt. Taste is pretty malty ale with some bitterness and butterscotch. Medium body, medium carbonation, some foam, and a bit of heat.
Poured from a 2012 vintage bottle.
Aroma is very malt forward with tons of layers of caramel. Some lighter toffee, treacle and burnt sugar notes. Some light oak. Medium light hop notes with an herbal, woody note. Light alcohol spice.
Pours a murky, light brown with some copper hues and medium sized, medium thin, dark tan head that recedes quickly to the edges where it lingers for a bit. Light lacing and moderately long legs.
Flavor is very sweet with a lot of caramel, burnt sugar, lighter toffee notes and a touch of a roast note. Moderate raisin notes with some cherry, fig and prune. Medium bitterness and some light alcohol spice. Hints of oak. Medium light to light hop notes with a spicy, herbal and woodsy note.
Mouthfeel is medium full bodied with medium carbonation. Low astringency and medium low alcohol warmth.
Overall, a decent beer. Similar to a barleywine with a lot of caramel malt notes with some dried fruit and hop notes. Easier drinking than I was expecting.
Bottle shared by a friend. Poured a murky dark orange copper colour with a slight creamy head. Nose of english style malts, sweet orange, vanilla, silky butter, oak, alcohol spice, bourbon, apricots, marmalade. Taste is silky buttery, fruits, and spirit. Bit of a hot finish. Pretty weird barley wine. Have had better beers from them.
Sampled @ omhper, thanks.
No head. Opaque amber color. Big dark caramell aroma. Sweet malty taste with a big and a perfectly balanced bitterness.
Number 700. Bomber to a tulip. Pours hazy copper with very little head or lacing. Sweet toffee, caramel, brown sugar and bourbon notes. Vanilla and oak are additional layers in the flavor profile... Smooth sweet boozy finish... Delicious!
Style et résumé: Imperial special bitter.
Comment: Dégustation Manseau 2016. Vintage 2012
Portrait: Une robe cuivrée qui ne mousse pas. Un nez de caramel sur du caramel avec du bois. Une bouche très puissante avec du caramel amère. Une finale tout en amertume avec de l’alcool. Correct.
Note: 7/10
Not getting much out of the aroma (slight cold), but getting a sweet smell, and a slight grassy or floral hint every once in a while. When pouring, it looks orangish in colour, but in the glassware it is a light, murky toffee. Two finger offwhite, slightly foamy head that goes to a decent lacing. Getting a caramel flavor, with sweetness. There is a light hop bitterness towards the end, but nothing too strong. Mouthfeel afterwards has a slight oakiness to it. Pretty smooth beer.
I am not overly familiar with the style, so nothing really stuck out. Having said that, I enjoyed the taste. It is a bit boozy though (as I didn’t realize it was a 12%). I will try again while having it with a different meal, and more appropriate glassware.
[8062-20160130] 650mL bottle. Fragrant toasted malt syrup aroma. Hazy, red brown body with a quick foamy off-white head. Sweet malty syrup malt flavour has a long lovely woody aftertaste. Medium-full body. Very tasty. (7/3/8/4/16) 3.8
(c/o Radek Kliber)
Overheard: "He’s driving a Suzuki Swift, so he’s clearly not compensating for anything."
This is amazing. Aroma is sweet bourbon and caramel malts. Taste is just a smooth bourbon sweetness that has some booziness in it but overall it’s just amazing. Might like the base to shine a bit more but it’s really hard to argue with this treatment. I wish there was more. Way more.
2013 edition. Hazy gold orange pour. Aroma lactic caramel. Tastes big sweet whiskey. Nice toffee complexity.
Sweet oaky/toffee aroma, with a hint of the high alcohol content. Pours somewhat murky toffee. Sweet malty flavor with an alcohol finish and a hint of sweetness.
Pours a dark amber color, with a off white head that had some lacing power. Aromas of citrus, sweet malts, and some alcohol. Flavor isn’t as sweet as I was led to believe. You can taste the alcohol from the get go, what follows is a nice mellow brown sugar (I Guess) sweetness that finishes with a nice bitter hop.
Bottle 22oz.
Pours copper with low beige head. Minimal lacing. Aroma is of barley sugar, caramel, alcohol. Taste is of barley sugar, caramel, alcohol. Palate: Full bodied. Soft-medium carbonation. Overall: Good, nice. Classy.
Bottle (22 oz) shared at tasting. Thanks to pandableh for this one! Slightly hazy amber with a small off-white head leaving not much lacing. Flavors of candi sugar, hot alcohol, caramel, some oak spiciness, gingerbread, caramel-ish notes and toasted malts. Taste is moderately sweet and it lingers a bit but it’s mainly the hot alcohol / strong booziness that is off putting for me. Medium to full body. Thick and oily mouthfeel. Sweet and boozy finish. It’s not that it’s poorly made but it’s the epitome of what I don’t like in a strong beer, when the richness of the malt is completely eclipsed by the boooziness of the beer. Poor drinkability.
Pours a hazy copper with a lot of particles (I think I got the last pour of the hottle) and a small offwhite head that leaves good lacing. Nose is of alcohol, caramel maybe and maderization. Taste is of caramel, alcohol, coconut and bourbon. Average body and carbonation with a bit of hot alcohol (it must have been terrible when fresh) and quite sticky. Going downhill...
Hazed copper pour, medium white head, real great retention and lacing. Big bold aroma, caramel, booze, wood, bourbon. Great retention. Flavour is nicely balanced between caramel / toffee malt and fruity hops. Some wood / barrel notes emerge at the end.
Bouteille 650ml, bottle share. Couleur cuivrée foncée légèrement voilée, anneau de mousse beige. Arôme d’alcool, carton, vieux malt. Goût de malt caramélisé, alcool, boisé. Carbonatation faible, corps moyen.
Un vin d’orge avec des malts caramels écossais, du toffee, du chêne des Amériques, des fruits et un alcool qui apporte une certaine rudesse. Un corps de moyenne densité. Une finale chaude et modérément douce sur la barrique.
pours unclear dark golden orange with a small light beige cap, offering some retention and lacing. dense toffee maltiness, candies, coconut, butter, sweet oranges, herbs, acetone. moderate carbonation, medium to full body - oily; sweet woody-coconuty finish. heavy stuff.
Bottle shared. Clear copper pour with thin white head. Aroma is boozy, fruity, grapes, light dusty notes. Taste is bitter, very boozy, rich malt, light dust. Palate is med bodied with med carbonation. Decent.
2016-01-30. Hazy dark amber body with a modest beige head. 3+ Aroma is moderately fruity, caramel malt notes. Flavour is sweet, moderate fruity bitterness, lingering sweet caramel and treacle. 7++Smooth medium bodied palate, soft carbonation. 3+ Lovely but 4-5 ounces is plenty. 7/4/8/4/16-17 2014 Bottle shared by Radek.
Where and how: b. 500 ml, tasting 2014 Vintage
Aroma: this one is not shy about what it is…bold barrel feel right up front. Mid with caramel, alcohol and oak. Solid all-rounder.
Appearance :
Top: lighter rocky cap, off-white in shade
Base: hazy amber
Palate : oft textured, medium plus bodied, milder carbonation.
Taste: malty front with weaved in oak feel. Nice, noted plums at mid end. Fells to be well aged and composed barley wine.
bottled, coppery orange color, sticky white foam, aroma is vanilla and caramel, flavor is carmel heavy bourbon, harsher than expected, finish is ok but overall a rougher beer by far than other top Bw’s
Pours a slightly cloudy orange / copper color. Quite fizzy at first. A 2 finger head into a pub glass. Head recedes quickly. Some lacing continues, but not very active overall.
Smells very rich and is quite aromatic. Sweet, fruity, buttery, caramel small. Smells a bit tart and floral.
Upfront hop bite that’s medium -not overpowering. Rich / sweet caramel quickly kicks in. Soon after the rush of sweetness, there are some tart fruit flavors (apple, grape, mango). There are also flavors of toffee and butterscotch. At the end when everything start to die down, you get some nutty and charred wood flavor combinations. There is a smoky aftertaste that you are left with.
Low end of the medium mouthfeel scale. A bit on the slick side. Still a bit flat.
Very flavorful, but I would have liked the carbonation to stick around longer. Barrel aged beers are typically lower on carbonation, but it still would have picked up a few more points with me if it was higher. Great beer though. I don’t think anyone would be disappointed with this one. This one was bottled in 2013 ... found it in a liquor store with quite a bit of dust on it.
Tap at barrelworks, buellton. Dark copper color, white head. Aroma has sweet cherries, some hops, caramel notes. Balanced sweet body, cherry notes, some oak, caramel.