Firestone Walker Releasing Nec Bones & Old Man Hattan

From Firestone Walker:

Buellton, CA : Firestone Walker’s Barrelworks is releasing another wild child today with the 2021 edition of Nec Bones—a barrel-aged elixir co-fermented with 3,000 pounds of Honey Fire nectarines grown in the brewery’s backyard of California’s Central Coast.

“These locally grown Honey Fire nectarines are bright red, sweet, flavorful and juicy with a relatively low acidity—a perfect variety for showcasing pure nectarine flavor in a wild beer,” said Barrelworks Master Blender Jim Crooks.

The 2021 edition of Nec Bones is now rolling out to all Firestone Walker markets in corked 375-milliliter bottles.

Audaciously Fruited

The journey of the 2021 Nec Bones began when Crooks secured 3,000 pounds of Honey Fire nectarines grown at Fair Hill Farms in Paso Robles, where Firestone Walker’s main brewery is located. Owned by the Rydell family, Fair Hill Farms is treasured locally for its sustainably grown, small-batch fruits, including apples, peaches, apricots and nectarines. Crooks also sourced an additional 3,000 pounds of nectarines from Olson Family Farms in California’s Central Valley.

After being harvested, the whole nectarines were delivered to Barrelworks. Next, a knife-wielding team hand quartered and pitted the fruit for two weeks.

“There’s always a question of ‘why’ we ask ourselves while cutting fruit for days on end, but it’s because the aromas and flavors from the fresh fruit will be unparalleled in the finished beer,” Crooks said.

The quartered fruit was added to a French oak foeder and topped off with a barrel-aged base beer composed primarily of Lil’ Opal, Barrelworks’ proprietary “brett’d” saison. This fruited blend was matured for another full year, after which 2,000 pounds of fresh nectarine purée from Central California’s Wawona Farms was added to make the beer even bolder in flavor.

The result is the most heavily fruited batch from Barrelworks to date, with 4.5 pounds of fruit used for every gallon produced.

The 2021 Nec Bones delivers bold stone fruit aromas combined with deep, juicy nectarine flavors and balanced acidity. “It’s like biting into the flesh of a fresh nectarine,” Crooks said. “We have turned up the fruit intensity several notches to make an undeniable wild beer.”

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Founded by brothers-in-law Adam Firestone and David Walker in 1996, Firestone Walker Brewing Company is a California beer company with three innovative brewing facilities. Firestone Walker’s main brewery in Paso Robles produces a diverse portfolio ranging from iconic pale ales to vintage barrel-aged beers. The Barrelworks facility in Buellton makes eccentric wild ales, while the Propagator pilot brewhouse in Venice specializes in R&D beers and limited local offerings. Firestone Walker is also the brewery behind 805, one of the nation’s fastest-growing beers. Firestone Walker was recently named “Best American Brewery of the Decade” by Paste Magazine.

California-based beer company, Firestone Walker introduced two new diverse ales to their beer portfolio today including their Old Man Hattan, a bourbon barrel-aged blended ale and Nec Bones, an American wild ale fermented with nectarines. Firestone Walker’s new limited releases continue the brewery’s tradition of innovation through hops. 

• Old Man Hattan, Bourbon Barrel-Aged Blended Ale: Old Man Hattan is a vintage, cocktail inspired beer. The base beer of Old Man Hattan is a blend of signature Firestone Walker component beers, including Velvet Merkin, Bravo, and Stickee Monkee aged in whiskey barrels. The twist comes from select lots of Parabola and Hell-Dorado that were aged in barrels previously used to mature cheery, orange, ad aromatic bitters. The result is a barn-storming beer that exhibits pronounced whiskey notes while artfully expressing essences of both the Old-Fashioned and the Manhattan cocktails. 
• Nec Bones, American Wild Ale Fermented with Nectarines: Straight from the Barrelworks wild ale cellar comes Nec Bones, a barrel-aged elixir co-fermented with 3,000 pounds of Paso Robles-grown Honey Fire nectarines. The nectarines were hand peeled and pitted, then added to a French oak foeder with a barrel-aged base beer. After a year of maturation, this lively ale was infused with fresh Central Valley nectarine puree, then aged for an additional six months prior to packaging. The result is Firestone Walker’s most audaciously fruited edition of Nec Bones to date.