Revolution & Firestone Walker Dos Osos

Brewed By: Revolution Brewing Company (Revolution Beer LLC) in Chicago, IL (Firestone Walker Brewing Co. in Paso Robles, California )

Purchased: 22oz bottle bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2013 

Style/ABV: India Pale Ale, 6.6%

Reported IBUs: 75

Some things in life aren't fair. Like Revolution Brewing teaming up with Firestone Walker to make an IPA. Who knows when these two will collaborate again, if ever...and that's just a huge tease...I hope. About Revolution:

Revolution Brewing is a brewery and brewpub based in Chicago. Revolution's roots are tied to founder Josh Deth, a homebrewer who began working at Golden Prairie Brewing. A few years later, while working at Goose Island, Josh dreamt up the idea for Revolution Brewing. In 2003, Josh and his wife opened Handlebar, while Josh worked as an Executive Director of Logan Square Chamber of Commerce. While working for the Chamber of Commerce, Josh found an old building on Milwaukee Avenue, and the wheels began to spin to open up a brewery. After three years of raising funds, Revolution Brewing opened its doors on February 2010. In July of 2011, Revolution added a 2nd floor Brewers' Lounge. And in 2012, the company opened a new production brewery and tap room. The brewpub is located in Logan Squre on 2323 N. Milwaukee Ave; the brewery is located on Kedzie Avenue at 3340 N. Kedzie Ave. For more information on Revolution, check out their history page here!  

The Dos Osos, or "Two Bears," is a collaboration brew between Firestone's lead brewer, Dustin Kral, and Revolution Brewing. The reference to "two bears" comes from the bear on the California state flag, and the bear for the Chicago Bears. This beer is being dubbed a "Central Coast IPA," aka a West Coast IPA brewed in the butt-fuck boonies I call home. This is a no-nonsense IPA, using

"bright, floral, and fruity"

some 2-row, Munich, and cara-pils malt; and Warrior, Chinook, Centennial, Cascade, and Citra hops. This one should be bright, floral, and fruity...just like bears? 

This one pours a nice golden-amber/apple juice color, with a finger of soapy, off-white head. a nice transparent body, and tons of carbonation streaming upwards. In bright light, the body is still a darker gold/juicy color; the head just veers a bit towards off-white, and is sustaining quite nicely. 

The aroma is super bright, with fresh tangerines, bright tropical fruits, some hints of orange/pine, peppery spice, peppery apple, cracker, and maybe some of that advertised passion fruit. 

Revolution & Firestone Dos Osos

Wow, this is an amazing IPA. As if you weren't expecting anything but the finest from Revolution and Firestone. It's very drinkable, with bright citrus, tangerine, passion fruit, trailing peppery spice and apple, some cracker/biscuit, and a caramel-malt backbone. There's a kiss of lemon and grass, and this covers the hop spectrum giving flashes of a Pale Ale, IPA, and Double IPA. It does lean towards West Coast, with big floral hops.

The mouthfeel on this is near perfect; medium-full with good supporting carbonation, and great palate depth. The hop flavor is greater than the hop bitterness, but the hops provide a nice, soapy coating on the tongue. The malts provide a solid backbone. At 6.6%, this is very drinkable. Complexity is okay, veering towards sweet: you get citrus, tangerine, and passion fruit up front; that moves into some grass, hemp, lingering citrus, lemon, cracker; the back end is soapy hops, cracker, and hints of spice. This finishes more on the biscuit/malt/cracker side than straight up dry.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average on this. Pretty good stuff...very drinkable, in fact. It's almost a shame that this isn't available in a 6-pack format, because I would love to kick a few of these back on a Saturday or Sunday. But, you can only do so much. As a standalone IPA, this is certainly Above-Average, but probably won't change your outlook on beer. Nevertheless, at around 8 bucks a bomber this is priced fairly, and would pair well with a grassy/leafy burger, any dish with a grassy/leafy twist, edamame beans, fried chicken, salads, or lighter barbecue food. Good stuff, of course. 

Random Thought: Ugghhh. Can the White Sox lower the bar any further? There is suck, and then there is what the White Sox did during their double header on Friday night. I feel sorry for for football.