Firestone-Walker ain’t what it used to be. It’s bigger. My last visit to both their Paso Robles brewery and the Taproom and restaurant in Buellton was many years ago. I had heard about the changes and the new equipment and the addition of Barrelworks but I was not prepared for the scope of the expanded footprint of their entire operation.
They have added space everywhere on what is fast becoming a Firestone-Walker dominated stretch of land just off the 101. They have a huge restaurant where you can get the Central Coast Locals Only beer, 805. They have warehouse space for their “traditional” barrel aging that you see in such releases as their anniversary beer. And these large tanks are another (albeit large) sign of the changes taken place.
The brewery has been tricked out as well as expanded. Brewmaster Matt Brynildson now has new toys like a wet mill which maximizes yield from the grains while using less energy and added an automated hop doser. Which will make the bitterness you get from Union Jack even more consistent.
2012 proved to be a major year of growth for Firestone-Walker and it was great to get a tour of the whole facility and see all the changes firsthand.
Right up front, I have to inform you, the reader, that you are going to be hearing A LOT about Firestone-Walker in the coming days here on the BSP blog. This will be part 1 of a series of posts about a recent trip that FW hosted for the L.A. Beer Blogger community.
Our writing and photo crew left Saturday morning from Union Station (LA) headed north to Firestone-Walker (Paso Robles) for the 1st stop of a beer tour of epic proportions.
The weather and scenery was gorgeous as our large bus navigated ever smaller roads on our first leg of our Journey to the Center of the Barrel, our lunch destination, Windrose Farms.
We reached a fork in the road where we needed to go right on but the prudent bus driver was not going to go all Dukes of Hazard on us. We rolled to a stop and waited. What was the plan? Then we see David Walker riding to us on a tractor! We hopped onto the back of a flatbed towed by a tractor driven by Bill Spencer. The owner of Windrose Farm himself. Now I am not a country boy. Far from it. But that lazy, bucolic ride with the David Walker which ended at a table of Firestone-Walker Bretta Weisse was beyond cool.
photo courtesy of Firestone-Walker
Bretta Weisse is a new beer in the Berliner Weisse style with an addition of Brett. (It may become the house beer for the Barrelworks location) It pours a hazy orange/yellow and has a rounded flavor of toast, sourness and a smidgen of funk in there too. Very refreshing and it clocks in at 3.4% abv. This would not be the final time, I was lucky enough to taste this offering.
photo courtesy of Firestone-Walker
Then we got a talk about the methods and philosophy of Windrose Farm from Bill. Most in our group (and I include myself) almost forgot to drink their beers as he described bio-dynamics or the 45 varieties of apples with book suggestions too! We headed deeper into the farming operation for lunch after that and were greeted with a wild menagerie of salad greens and Chef Arlis Borden of the Taproom Restaurant.
photo courtesy of Firestone-Walker
Our four course lunch included four rounds of Firestone-Walker beers. I saw the Double DBA with DBA caramelized apples and vanilla ice cream for dessert and knew that this was going to be good. Our main course was lamb braised in Walker’s Reserve accompanied by Parabola Russian Imperial Stout. I could have drank the whole bottle. It was viscous and sweet and beyond tasty. But the best of the lunch were the two salad options and that is saying something because I tend to avoid the green spectrum of the food scale. But braised greens with Wookey Jack was one of the best pairings that I have had. The lettuce stood up to the Black IPA. The first salad was fresh picked greens. Literally steps from where we were sitting. It had a Union Jack vinaigrette and was paired with Double Jack IIPA that was bottled the day before. That is seriously fresh!
Combine the setting with the great beer and the great food. The freshness of both and the passion that both the Spencer’s and Firestone-Walker have and you can begin to imagine how great this lunch was. If I had been driven home at that point, I would have been more than happy.
But more awaits! Including a trip to the top of the brewery, wine and blending sours!
One of the better beer bargains can be had (unsurprisingly to some) at Trader Joe’s. Their Mission Street brand is brewed by Firestone-Walker and they do a range of blonde to pale to IPA to bombers of brown ale and hefe but each year they put out an Anniversary beer. Now, it doesn’t touch the Firestone-Walker anniversary beers but for the price, you get a great beer. Look for it in the coming months….
A little organization going on at Firestone-Walker. Probably a New Year’s resolution.
“Firestone Walker Brewing has begun the creation of its Barrelworks in Buellton, an existing facility with some room for expansion an hour south of our Paso Robles brewery
Matt Brynildson recently banished (ed. seems rather harsh to me) the rare feral (a.k.a. sour) beers from the Paso Robles brewery and they are now showing up in Buellton under the watchful eye of Jim Crooks (Sour Jim).
This is not a new brewery nor a new brewhouse…..stay tuned, it’s going to be wild and funky…”
So it looks like sour fans won’t have to drive as far north.
Every December here on this very blog, I highlight a holiday/Christmas/winter warmer every day up until Christmas. Some of these beers aren’t available here in Los Angeles but your holiday travel plans may take you near one of them that you can taste.
~e-visits to three breweries from the Austin, Texas area ~video reviews tackles two new beers from The Bruery ~Three suggested beers to buy this month ~I will tap the Firkin and give my opinion on the craft beer world ~… and Session # 70 will converge bloggers onto a single topic ~plus many more posts about new beers, beer products and breweries
Here are two events to get your November started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) December 1st – Mohawk Bend features Oregon’s Ninkasi Brewing all month
2) December 6th – Beachwood BBQ in Seal Beach will be hosting a Firestone-Walker 16th Anniversary event
Tomorrow is the official release date of the latest Anniversary blend from Firestone-Walker.
The website where the photo above was taken details the thought process behind the blend and the beer and includes this breakdown of what is in numero 16…..
The following are descriptions of key components with their original code names:
Velvet Merkin (8.7% ABV) – Aged in Bourbon barrels
-Traditional Oatmeal Stout (23% of final blend)
Stickee Monkee (12.5% ABV) – Aged in Bourbon and Brandy barrels
-English Barley Wine (22.5% of final blend)
Double Double Barrel Ale (14.2% ABV) – Aged 100% in retired Firestone Union barrels
-Double strength English Pale Ale (20.3% of final blend)
Parabola (13% ABV) – Aged in Bourbon barrels
-Russian Imperial Oatmeal Stout (10.8% of final blend)
PNC (13.0% ABV) – Aged in Tequila barrels
-American Strong Buckwheat Stout (8.1% of final blend)
Helldorado (11.5% ABV) – Aged in Bourbon Barrels and Brandy barrels
-Blonde Barley Wine (5.4% of final blend)
Bravo (13.4% ABV) – Aged in Bourbon and Brandy barrels
I recently got a press release from Firestone Walker Brewing Company that “announced that it has begun brewing beer at its new state-of-the-art brewhouse at the brewery in Paso Robles on California’s Central Coast.”
Here are the nuggets that I think are most pertinent to us beer geeks…..
“The brewhouse occupies a new three-story tower that has been integrated into the front of the brewery building. The tower now serves as the brewery’s primary visual icon and features broad glass walls on two sides of the second story, providing a permanent window into the brewing process.”
“The brewhouse was installed with extensive custom features made to meet Brynildson’s vision for maximizing beer quality, including his personal modifications for milling, hop dosing, and kettle efficiency. The new brewhouse equipment allows Brynildson the ultimate flexibility for making every beer style imaginable. “By the time we got done with it, it essentially became a full-blown custom hot rod brewhouse,” Brynildson said.”
“The new brewhouse tower was designed by local architect Val Milosevic and incorporates design features that honor two iconic structures in the Paso Robles region—the Farmer’s Alliance building in Paso Robles, and the Templeton Feed & Grain building in the nearby hamlet of Templeton. Both of these buildings are visible testaments to the region’s rich agricultural heritage, and Firestone Walker Brewing Company was inspired to reflect this heritage in the design of its new brewhouse tower.”
“The brewhouse is adjacent to the brewery’s new visitor center, which features viewing windows into the hop storage room and the brewhouse control room, as well as a tasting bar and retail shop.”
My favorite event from last year was the massive Deconstructed dinner put on by Firestone-Walker. Great beer and great food with a cool twist on their blended anniversary beer.
This year, they came up with yet another great hook for a beer event. They brought five sour beers to five different L.A. bars. Did not tell the bars which beer they had and then had David Walker drive the Firestone-Walker emblazoned rover from spot to spot to reveal which sour they had on tap.
I skipped the first stop at Golden Road because the Better Weather Festival (to be reviewed later by my special westside correspondent) was in full swing. I headed for the Verdugo first and was treated to Lil Opal which poured a light yellow color and had a touch of tartness. And out on the patio after watching my Dad’s Oregon State team win over UCLA, was the full F-W entourage including brewer Matt Brynildson.
Then the next stop beckoned. While they headed to Alhambra and 38 Degrees, I jumped to the 4th stop, Far Bar. All because of a dirty hippie (aka, the 6th anniversary beer from Kern River) It’s good to have two beer events in one spot. Makes my job easier plus that Imperial Red is quite good and a beer you should search out. Notes of Citra hit the nose but the beer doesn’t try to tackle your palate. It is soft and strong. As the time approached for the 4th sour, many familiar beer geeks filed into the now expanded space on 1st for the reveal of SLOambic.
A red hued beauty with a light fruit taste and a nice bit of tart to it. Firestone sours are not the mouth contorting puckery kind but on a hot day where lighter beers seemed more appropriate, they really fit the bill and it was great to see the bar filled with snifters of the strawbeery in everyone’s hands.
Events can be hard to pull off. Events that involve L.A. traffic, a skosh harder. But this worked like clockwork. People could get one beer or all five. The taps flowed when promised and the group was more than willing to talk with everyone. It is a model L.A. Beer Week event. And whatever crazy idea they have for next year. I will be there.
Then the rover was off to Blue Palms for it’s final stop.
Not only did Firestone-Walker put on a great show (from all eyewitness accounts) at their 1st beerfest. Not only are they expanding tanks but they are on the road and bringing their beer to L.A. Last week I mentioned an event at the Federal Bar in North Hollywood and now more traffic to wend their way through….
“Sir David Walker starring in The TRILOGY
Join us Thursday, June 28th at All Congregation Alehouse Chapters as we celebrate the latest release of Firestone Walker Parabola.
Sir David Walker will be the first to host a Chapter neer event at all 3 Chapters in one evening.
Join us at 6PM in Azusa, 8PM in Pasadena and 10PM in Long Beach!”
The brewery has been tricked out as well as expanded. Brewmaster Matt Brynildson now has new toys like a wet mill which maximizes yield from the grains while using less energy and added an automated hop doser. Which will make the bitterness you get from Union Jack even more consistent.
