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The Woodcutter pours a dark black color. Almost a spiced apple aroma behind a pina colada. Initial taste is toasted coconut. Does not taste 11%+ ABV at first, then it begins to warm the cheeks. Almost more rum in direction than rye whiskey. Maybe the two woods combine to give off the coconut. Little bit of spice at the back end but that is quickly gone. A fine collaboration for FWIBF.
You always strike up mini-conversations at the FWIBF and this year was no different. I ran into a couple starting a new brewery in Fresno that I will keep an eye on but by this time next year, Paso Robles may have a new biergarten near downtown.
On the corner of 13th and Railroad will be the beer service structure, featuring 24 to 30 taps from local brewers as well as national brands. Food will be served as well as games like horseshoes. This was thought to be ready late last year but the opening date has been pushed.
There is also a brewery on Ramada Drive, no, not that one but further towards Templeton is another brewery/bar with the name KiloKilo. I found very little information about it but maybe next year, I will take a quick peek since I will be in that area anyway.
It is easy to write an Invitational recap. Talk about the heat. Talk about your favorite beers. Talk about the lines. Talk about how well this event is run and voila, word count is hit.
I will instead focus on a different tack…
Each FWIBF is safe, structured and similar. That may seem like faint praise but it is not. I know that everything will run smoothly. They will be ready with information weeks before the event, they will follow up, badges will be handed out, the BBQ will start on time and the festival, well, the festival will have too much. I would like to spend three days going through the beers.
What is great is that there are the in-between times where you can explore Paso Robles and you had best explore it because for a smaller, out of the way town, there is a lot of beverages to check out and food to eat. I have my own schedule of visiting Silva Brewing, Twisted and Glazed Donuts and Tin City but you can do the new Field of Light exhibit now or hit up Templeton and their quaint Main Street. Or head to the other side of the 101 and all the wineries there. Firestone also has a morning after wine brunch to ease you back into Sunday and to be able to talk about the beers from the day before.
This year, my wife and I stayed in an airstream trailer outside of town that overlooked a vineyard and had a friendly pit bull named Ladybug along with chickens and rabbits and a beautiful night sky. Next year, I might stay in a different part of town (if I go of course, let’s not get ahead of ourselves). Who knows, I might go up next year even if I don’t go to the festival. I might head north just to visit all the breweries that I can’t get to like Tent City or in SLO.
As far as the festival itself, it is all just nitpicking but I have come up with some quick greater than – less than notes from the 28+ samples that I tasted on the day.
Great Leap from China > Balter from Australia
Green Cheek booth display = Alvarado Street booth display
Side Project line > Garage Project line (due to The Bruery doing ½ of the beer presentation of one Garage Project beer)
Pils as Festival collab beer > barrel-aged collab
Not following my own set festival rules because I am easily distracted > following my own set festival rules
Oh, and my favorite brewery was Rare Barrel. They have seriously dialed into my taste buds. Sadly, I did not like the two Hair of the Dog beers that I sampled even though I was really pumped for them to be there. I also missed Sante Adairus and Russian River which is very, very bad of me.
You have to try really hard to find a bad beer at The Firestone Walker Invitational. You also have to try really hard to highlight those that truly stand out because, well it is degrees of awesome. You could also highlight all pils, Kolsch and Helles or all IPA’s and the list would slap.
But here are the beers that punched through the general level of awesome to make me scramble to my notes to learn more.
Rare Barrel Cyboogie Sour IPA – Not super sour and more tilted to just hazy IPA with Citra, El Dorado and Nelson Sauvin, this was both soft and bitter with just a touch of tart.
Crooked Stave Sour Rose – Canned Rose is a thing but the results are all over the brewing map. This Colorado Rose was super light, super watery but that water was Rosewater and it was perfumey beer greatness.
Burial Beer / Visual Amaro – This cocktail styled beer had smoky blueberries, quinine, raisins and licorice flavors per the brewer. How that mixture works together is a mystery but this was a lovely spicy dark ale.
Great Leap Honey MA Blonde – 1st beer of the day from this Chinese brewery and it was a great choice. Bright with a big pepper note but still easy to drink. One of the most complex blonde ales I have had.
Side Project A la Table – a super low (under 3% ABV) table beer made with buckwheat, oats, pilsner and two different types of white wheat that is then aged in American oak barrels for six months.
Back home from the FWIBF19 and here are a few photos that I posted to the ‘gram or Facebook or are seeing the light only here.
Since I am in Paso Robles, it behooves me to visit Silva Brewing. It is my annual first stop.
This new IPA from the mind of Chuck Silva was quite interesting. West Coast hop bitter more than expected from a beer using this yeast. A little grapefruit and general citrus notes to it. Has a rustic and rough but not quite Belgian quality to it.
Onto the good stuff, my 2nd day recap of the 2019 Invitational. There was a breeze in the air as I made my final approach into the festival. I always walk around the Mid-State Fairgrounds around the same time to gauge how many people line up a full two hours before they are allowed in. This year seemed lighter in General Admission line and larger in the one hour wait VIP line.
The booths had been changed up a bit. FW keeps people guessing so that muscle memory doesn’t move people to the same spots each year. I will touch on the favorites poured this year in another post but I want to talk about the two panels hosted by the Brewing Network. First was cocktail beers. If there is anything that will bust up the hard seltzer train it will be this area and though Boulevard Brewing brought an actual canned cocktail which I passed on because nothing could reach the heights of last nights Re:Find offerings, I found the Corpse Reviver #2 from Gigantic Brewing to be really good. Burial Beer brought a beer called Amaro from their Visual line and this digestif meets beer was great as well.
The sour panel held a couple surprises too. Crooked Stave had a twelve-ounce can of Sour Rose. Not super sour but boy did it smell and taste like Rosewater, and it was fantastic. Rare Barrel poured Cyboogie which was also canned and also fantastic though calling it sour IPA was a stretch. That panel ended with a table beer from Side Project whose line was long all day and has been since they first came to the festival.
More coverage and photos to follow.
The trip to Bountiful was a little different this year as I had a co-pilot, my wife and a new place to spend the weekend out in the vineyard. Here is the Day 1 report from Paso Robles the Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest…
The initial media meet-up at the main brewery off the 101 was cool. Got to meet Takeout beer writer Kate Bernot which was a check mark on my list of people to network with followed with cans of lager and the new Luponic which was straight up coconut that former Propagator brewer Evan Partridge said was from the Sabro hops.
The Friday BBQ was great as usual. Simple sandwich, salad and beans. I had two Propagator beers. Three Thumbs Up the Highland Park, Green Cheek Firestone threesome IPA. Welcome to LA hoppy lager was really good too. The highlight was that Re:Find distillery was pouring samples. Got to try their Rye and a cocktail as well.
Outside the fest, I made stops at Silva Brewing which was packed and hopping. Also had a tasting at Field Recordings wines. Great space design in Their Tin City digs.
Time to leakage for the Fest
There are many ways to slice the awesome pie that is the Firestone Walker Invitational. I bet that you (yes, you!) have already picked out multiple breweries that you will be mapping out before the doors open to the 2019 version.
I have broken the list down into (4) categories: Untasted, New, Returning Favorites, Just Do NOT Skip and Line is too Long
Untasted – These are the breweries that I, personally, have not had beer from and are new to Paso Robles
Balter Beer – from Australia, lovely and simple can designs and a beer list that looks All American
Austin Pinthouse – not many Texas breweries in attendance.
Casey – Colorado beer returns to the Fest with their open fermentation beers
Great Leap – Chinese beer? Yup, this is great to see.
New – new to FWIBF but I have had in the past and will be visitin’ their booths
pFriem – You could argue they are the high flyers of Oregon
Odell – Old School but rarely seen. Will 90 Shilling be appearing?
Blackberry Farm – Saisons for days. Good combo with Fonta Flora
Returning Favorites – Don’t sleep on these breweries just because the names are familiar
Arizona Wilderness – If they had project in their name, they would be swamped
Sante Adairus – great saisons and experimental beers
Fonta Flora – great indigenous ingredient beers x2
Creature Comforts – there was a reason they had the fest collab beer
Do NOT Miss- They may be old school or overlooked but should NOT be
The Rare Barrel – I have not had a bad beer from them.
Russian River – STS Pils all day.
Barrelworks – special pours and always near the music stage
Lines TOO Long – may have the IT beers but can’t waste time in these lines
WeldWerks, Garage Project, Monkish, Trillium, Side Project
I haven’t been sold on the mix of cider and hops. Maybe I just haven’t had the right one for me. But this summer, Tin City may have the answer…
That answer is blending cider with rose AND hops. If I can find a can, I will see if the Paso Robles cider house has cracked the code.