It is that time of the year. A beer fans Christmas. The Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival.
Here is what happened in the drive up to Paso Robles (nothing, except that the 46 has been paved more) and what was drunk once I got there…
First stop after checking in was Silva Brewing. They had a beer and chocolate pairing in progress as well as new beers in fancy bottle packaging.
I tasted the Chuck-Amok with Chuck Silva himself nearby. Then I had the draft version of his Rose beer which really tasted great with some serious Chardonnay notes.
From there it was on to Firestone Walker for the annual tour to show off the new buildings and re-jiggering that has taken place. The campus is now around 18 acres and this coming next is a solar array to provide power for all of the buildings. The newest coming online is a massive cold building. It is too big to call just a box.
The end of the tour brought a tasting of the Anniversary beer amongst barrels from the “cocktail” series. Dark and Stormy, which I tasted back in March is part of that.
Then a brief respite before heading back for BBQ and music. I tried the latest Luponic Distortion and a Propagator beer, Patrick Hayes v2. I also filled my cup with OMG Hazy IPA from Garage Project.
I called it a day soon after.