Mybeerbuzz .com Highlights The Firestone Walker Crafted Thru Hops IPA Mixed Pack (Review)

I should admit up front that I’ve been a big fan of Firestone Walker beers for most of the 25-years they’ve been in business, and while I started my love affair with their beer enjoying barrel-aged blends, I’ve always been a fan of their hoppy beers. I just spent some time in their homeland, California, and while I was able to taste some new-to-me FW beers, I was even more excited to get my hands on their new Crafted Thru Hops IPA Mixed Pack back at home.

If you haven’t heard the news, Firestone Walker has released this variety pack and it includes twelve 12-ounce cans with three each of Union Jack, Mind Haze, Luponic Distortion and the beer I’m most excited to try Strata Hazy IPA. When I first heard about this beer, I was excited to get a chance to try it, and today is that day. I’ll talk about the other beers in the pack below, but let’s talk about Strata Hazy IPA.

This beer is a single hop hazy IPA that uses Strata hops, a hop that originates from Oregon State University’s Aroma Hops Breeding Program in conjunction with Indie Hops. This hop was bred in 2009 and it highlights the flavors of oranges, passion fruit and citrus. The beer itself will hit 5.6%-AbV and it will currently be exclusive to this variety pack. I should also mention that the Idaho Gem hop version of this beer is available in the 12oz bottle version of this variety pack.

Enough talk about the beer, let’s get to sampling…

Firestone Walker Propagator Series Strata Hazy IPA

ABV:  5.6%
IBU: 35
Style:  Hazy IPA
Packaging:  12oz cans
Appearance:  Cloudy golden
Aroma:   Citrus sweet oranges
Mouthfeel:   Medium
Taste:   Fresh citrus and tropical fruit with a late dank hop presence
Overall:  Strata Hazy IPA allows the characteristics of the Strata hop variety to really shine. It has a prominent sweet orange and tangerine flavor with a punch of passion fruit and a late almost sticky dank hop flavor. Overall I’d call the beer really fruit-forward with a candy-like tangerine flavor that I really liked and a classic hazy appearance. Try this beer!

Firestone Walker Luponic Distortion 18

ABV:  5.9%
Style:  American IPA
Packaging:  12oz cans
Appearance:  Bright golden
Aroma:   Citrus, floral and grassy 
Mouthfeel:   Medium-light
Taste:   Peaches, citrus, grapefruit and herbal
Overall:  Luponic Distortion 18 has a really interesting mix of New Zealand Nelson, Nectaron, Riwaka and Motueka hops. These down-under varieties introduce a really satisfying and complex blend of flavors and the combination of hop varieties really worked well for me. Overall this beer brings everything from stone fruit to pineapple, citrus and just the right amount of grassy dankness at the end to make it really drinkable.

Firestone Walker Mind Haze IPA

ABV:  6.2%
Style:  Hazy IPA
Packaging:  12oz cans
Appearance:  Cloudy golden orange
Aroma:   Tangerine, lemon and a touch of biscuit malt
Mouthfeel:   Medium & soft
Taste:   Fruit-forward with apricot, tangerine, tropical fruit and lemon
Overall:  Mind Haze IPA is a great example of a beer where the sum of the parts is much greater than the individual pieces. The beer uses 7 hop varieties between kettle and dry-hopping and the combination of flavors really works well. The beer is definitely fruit-forward and hazy with a great mix of tropical fruit, citrus and just a touch of dank hops at the end. Overall I think this beer demonstrates just how good a well balanced hazy beer can be and it remains one of my favorites from FW.

Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA

ABV:  7%
IBU: 60
Style:  West Coast IPA
Packaging:  12oz cans
Appearance:  Bright amber golden
Aroma:   Grapefruit, pineapple and sweet malt
Mouthfeel:   Medium light
Taste:  Citrus, sweet pineapple, caramel malts and dank hops
Overall:  Union Jack IPA was one of the very first west coast-style beers I ever tasted. Today, while many hoppier or danker beers have passed it by, it remains a classic and well balanced example of the style. Overall it leans a bit malty, but the balance of flavors and the dank finish really make it a drinkable IPA.

The Firestone Walker Crafted Thru Hops IPA Mixed Pack has to be one of my favorite IPA mixed packs. The variety pack blend of a classic West Coast IPA like Union Jack with the latest hoppy beers like Propagator Series Strata Hazy IPA and Luponic Distortion 18 as well as Mind Haze make for a great tasting and drinking experience. Each one of these beer is unique and flavorful in their own way, and each beer will remind you that Firestone Walker is really good at brewing IPA’s.

Be sure to pick up this variety pack and taste all of these beer for yourself…and when you do try them, be sure to let us know what YOU think.