The Firehouse Brewing Co. American Pale Ale

To start with, a caveat: the sample I tasted was from a six-pack I bought at Camp Pendleton last year. The beer was kept in the closet until recently and without the “born on date” so prevalent in the larger brew products, I’ve no way of knowing if the last bottle from this six pack was past its shelf life or not.

I almost didn’t bother to buy this at the time – the firefighter/hero mystique is wearing a bit thin with me and I’m reluctant to see it intrude on my beer drinking. But I bought it and brought it back home to Arizona.

I suppose I’m as much a sucker for a neat story as the next guy. Printed on the bottom of the six-pack, like some type of a reward reserved solely for the overly inquisitive (or dumpster divers who find the empty carton Monday morning) is a little story about how the Firehouse Brewing Company got its start. I’ve got a pretty sensitive bullshit meter and this story got the bell sounding but here’s the story for you anyway:

From 1920 – 1933 during Prohibition, there was a brewery installed in the basement of an old firehouse, it soon became known as “the Firehouse Brewing Company.” The brewery was small scale, the size that would today be considered a microbrewery. There were many beers that came from this firehouse, the most famous of which was their American Pale Ale. The brewery was shut down before the end of Prohibition, but its legendary beers have lived on. Here at The Firehouse Brewing Company, we are continuing the tradition along with the legendary brews.

Hmm, a brewery in the basement of some old firehouse – God knows where. A small brewery that today would, amazingly, be called a microbrewery. I know of a similar story about elves who bake cookies in a hollow tree...until the Nature Conservancy buys up the forest and shuts down their factory. Well, whatever the story, I’m perfectly happy that they are brewing beer, because it’s decent enough.


The Tasting:

This beer pours with a thin head and presents a medium dark copper color. The taste is mildly bitter and dry. There is minor lacing in the glass as you finish.

This isn’t a bad beer and I would buy it again. Which is not to say I will seek this beer out for a second run, but it is good.