Firestone Walker Leo v. Ursus #1: Fortem
Fortem is a new-age imperial IPA that draws upon a range of influences, all while exhibiting DNA from our own forays into the IPA style. As such, it blends newer hop varieties from the Pacific Northwest and Hallertau, Germany along with pale malt, wheat malt and flaked oats for a full body and rounded mouthfeel. Fortem has been left unfiltered for a full hop impact.
3.9
201 reviews
Paso Robles, United States
Community reviews
Can shared at LKS. It pours clear bright yellow - gold with a massive foamy white head. The aroma is soft, fresh, vibrant, lemonade, lime, grapefruit, verbena, white bread and icing sugar. The taste is crisp, dry, bitter, fresh, lemon - lime, quite clean, pithy, zesty, gooseberry, grapefruit, white bread, floral vibes and light boozy hit with a drying finish. Medium body and moderate, foamy carabontion. Perhaps a touch old-school, but good fun,
Can shared in Hackney - cheers to Scopey. Pours clear gold with a small, frothy white head. The nose holds lightly faded pine, semi-ripe citrus fruits, dry pale bread. Medium sweet flavour, oily and juicy, with some lime and melon, orange, mellow piney bitterness. Medium to full bodied with fine to average carbonation. Warming and resinous finish, with more oily hops, tropical fruits. Fun.
Pours a barely hazy golden vessel with a nice white foamy head. The nose gives nice rounded fruity notes, tropical and grapefruit mainly. Tastes nice and juicy, citrus and tropical fruits balanced with a soft bready malt backbone. Nice full bodied mouthfeel, smooth texture and a gentle carbonation. Considering this was canned just under 5 months ago, the hops are holding up rather well. This was a dream to drink, superb!
Cloudy golden color medium white head. Aroma of bread dough and citrus. Taste is bittersweet grapefruit. Tasty.
Can. pours hazy amber with a 1-finger, white, fully-lasting, frothy to creamy head that leaves good lacing. Very light aroma of resin and sweet citrus. Lightly bitter taste, lots of alcohol flavor along with hints of toasted green tea, basement mold sand dough. Light to medium body and average carbonation. Finish is long and lightly bitter. Alcohol dominates.
In tap poured a hazy golden hue w/ big white head and sticky lacing. Moderate citrus aromas. Initial taste is light sweet w/ a moderate bitter finish. Tastes are grapefruit, straw, and yeasty bread. Medium bodied.
[Can (16oz)] Pours a hazy gold with a large frothy white head. Lots of lacing. Mild but pleasant aroma (7+) and flavour (7+) of fruity hops and bready malt. Long moderately bitter finish. Alcohol well hidden. Easy to drink for a DIPA, I liked it a lot.
Poured from 16 fl oz can (canned on 04/04/17). Very lightly hazy golden yellow with full white head. Mild bready malt with grapefruit hops and mild pine and citrus hops. Medium body, alcohol mostly hidden. Solid beer overall.
Thanks to Dave. Dark gold pour with the requisite 1 minute head (or so says Vlad.) Lots of malty, boozy sweetness up front, with a lot of Cointreau flavor. To me it seems like an American strong ale. There is some tobacco and coffee like dryness in the finish. Aroma is strong and funky for the style. The can is 15 weeks old and I don’t know how much of that time it was refrigerated, so I’m not having it at peak. This didn’t do it for me, but I would like to give it another try someday.
Pint can. Tropical fruit hop aroma with notes of bready malt, citrus and pine resiny hops. Pours clear golden-amber colored with a large off white head that has excellent retention and decent lacing. Starts with sweet tropical fruit and bready malt flavors. Finishes dry, but quite smooth for the style with grapefruit hop citrus and acidity with a hint of pine resiny bitterness. Good stuff.
16 oz can from Country Club Liquors. Nose is papaya, pine, and orangey citrus. Hazy dark yellow gold with a medium lightly lacing off white head. Flavor is lightly bitter with lots of tropical fruitiness.
16 oz can. Pours golden with tall, long lasting, fluffy white head and nice lacing. Aroma is of citrusy hops, bready malt and tropical fruit. Body is medium and crisp. Citrusy, resinous hops dominate the flavor with bready malt and tropical fruit in the background. Finish is long and dry. Great brew.
16 oz. can. Pours a gold color with a slight haze and a thin white cap that doesn’t last very long. Aroma is strong citrus hops. Medium body. Flavor leans toward the hops but is still balanced with the malt. Finish is a little dry with more of the hops lingering well after the swallow. Excellent!
28/VI/17 - 1Pt can from a trade, shared @ home - BB: n/a, canned: III/24/17 (2017-956) Thanks to ajax25g for the trade!
Little cloudy orange beer, big creamy irregular off-white head, pretty stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. aroma: pretty fruity, floral, resinous, bit funky, dank touch, grapefruit. MF: soft carbon, medium to full body. Taste: very very fruity, some sweet caramel malts, nice bitterness, grapefruit notes, bit dank, passion fruit. Aftertaste: little bitter, citrus, some orange peel, pineapple.
Where and how: tasting at home, can ? ml
Aroma plenty of pungent hops, rich, noted sugars, touch of alcohol. Nice.
Appearance :
Top: large head, with some lace on glass, average longevity.
Base: cloudy pale amber
Palate : medium bodied, average carbonation and texture.
Taste: fairly sweet, plenty of hops to balance. Dry top end. Tasty.
Can. This is a nice tropical-esque hop forward IPA. Per usual for firestone this is a great brew.
In between a west coast IPA and the NEIPA bandwagon - Tropical fruits, soft bitterness etc. Has a light sugary sweetness - kind of juicy/soft drink vibe. If this is the replacement for Double Jack someone at Firestone Walker needs to be fired.
Edit: towards the end of this beer the sugary sweetness becomes more apparent and overpowering. I love Firestone Walker but the new craft beer market seems to be throwing them off a bit.
Can, 2.5 months old, recently arrived in Japan. Near clear orange-gold pour, nice creamy half finger head. Great fruit melange aroma, quite rindy, grapefruit, orange, tropical notes, bready malt. Decent flavour, plenty of wheaty malt, fresh bread graininess, good hop blend, plenty of grapefruit pith, some pine late. Drinks like a dream, big body and bitterness, yet really smoothed out almost pillowy feel, drinks dangerously fast, clean finish which goes against a usual IIPA. Easy to put away a tallboy of this.
Pours a thick unfiltered gold, medium creamy head. Taste is creamy hoppy licorice and caramel. Smells like buttered biscuit, strong hops. Long buttered bitter aftertaste
Tallboy can from Spirits Manahawkin. Poured anew opaque bright orange under an average sized fluffy white head. Aroma is sugary wort, rotting orange, grapefruit rind, dry toast crusts, old sugar. Flavor mimics the aroma plus melon rind. Bigger body yet smooth carbonation lends to a creamy feel and we’ll hidden ABV.
Can. Bright yellow-orange with a big, bubbly top. It’s hard for any aroma to escape. But it drinks with a nice slippery and richly oily hoppiness, almost like a stew. Dank and wet. Top notch. (#6666, 6/18/2017)
Can at home, big thanks to Endo, 20/06/17.
Very light haze on a golden orange pour with a well presented white head.
Nose is orange pith, caramel malts, grapefruit, roasted grains, cantaloupe melon, citric tinged straw.
Taste comprises bitter sweet citric shreds, pine needle, grapefruit zest, pithy citrics, tangerine, soft breads, light spice.
Medium bodied, fine carbonation, semi drying close with semi aggressive hop bitterness and a rising boost.
Decent well balanced DIPA with an old school lilt.
Tap. Almost clear gold with a lasting white head. Lovely fruity aroma - like walking into a warm room filled with ripe fruit. Oranges, passionfruit, citrus blossoms, lime. Barely medium bodied. Clean. Gentle hayish and light biscuity malt just about support the fruit. Quite bitter at the end. Alcohol starts to show there too. Smells great but for me (still) great hops are not enough to make a great beer. 9473 15
Can at home watching Fargo. Rich golden pour frothy white head. Nose isntropical fruits. Tastes of pineapple, pine, caramel, oats, little apple sauce. Interesting brew pretty tasty.
Can. Amber beer with a cream head. Tropical fruit aroma. Tropical fruit and light earth flavor with light grapefruit. Medium bodied. Good bitterness. Tropical fruit and light grapefruit lingers with light caramel.
Aroma is citrus, pine and fresh bread. The flavor is fruit, citrus, bready malts, hops and a tart/bitter finish.
Clear gold. Medium body, moderate flavor, rich, balanced palate, average length. Crisp, off dry, slightly bitter, great balance. Hoppy, delicate and elegant resin and malt flavors. Very pleasant but nothing remarkable.
Draught at the Salty Pig, 5/15/17.
Lightly hazy, amber-golden body is topped by a fairly dense, white head showing moderate retention.
Juicy fruits in the nose range from mango to red grapefruit but fade in to a more spicy orange and lemon character, backed by light pine. But resin never hits and instead, caramel-tinged honey malts add gentle sweetness to balance nicely. Clean, no dough, no dirt, no resin, etc...It’s not a juice bomb, yet it displays no aggressivity of a West Coast IPA. Fairly estery but I wouldn’t say sharp, nor does it smell boozy even after warming.
Soft and malty texture displays a good deal of malt sweetness; maybe a little concerning at first. But the hops hit and provide a real bouquet of fruits. Kiwi, banana, orange, mango, grapefruit, lime, etc...it’s all here. Low but tight carbonation helps disperse the malt and brings some crispness to the finish. No alcohol whatsoever and no resin either. Interesting and unique-ish DIPA. Very unexpected surprise from these syrup-bomb brewers.
Even with their hoppy brews, Firestone Walker tends to place balance above all else. With Fortem, they prove they can make something just as ridiculously intense as their West Coast compatriots. They don’t totally throw their method aside - this brew has a wonderfully creamy, full-bodied feel that stands up to all the hops. The hops are used wisely too. This gold-colored brew has its fair share of fruity, tropical, and massively aromatic hops. However, the piney, dank, and cannabis-like Pacific Northwestern hops speak the loudest. There’s plenty of bitterness and the alcohol is undetectable. Between the rich, dry malt and resinous hops, you’ll happily chew your way through all 16 ounces of this if you can stomach the bitterness.
On tap at ABV Pub in Hillsboro, OR. Clear orange pour with small white head and lots of sticky lacing on the glass. Huge fruity citrusy aroma and taste. Wonderful hops, not over sweet. Delicious and lovely. Oily medium mouthfeel.