Tag: Paso Robles

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Report from #FWIBF17 – Part 1

Greetings from Paso Robles! I have been in this fine city since Thursday afternoon and it is past time to update you, the fine reader, on what I have been up to since procuring a rental car and driving up from L.A. for the Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival.

I went a little nuts. I had a tasting flight of wines at Herman Story where descriptions include barbwire and kirsch marinated pancakes. Obviously, they like to poke fun at the verbal pomposity of wine. My favorite was the Milk & Honey. A pretty even mix of Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.

From there, I went to Silva Brewing which shares a building with The Pour House bar. The rectangular brewery smelled of grain even on an off brewing day. I will talk more about their beer in a separate post.

I also walked between Earth and Fire and Toro Creek breweries. I liked the candy citrus pale at the former and the coffee stout at the latter. I liked the vibe at Toro more though. Laid back. Comfy couches and vinyl records spinning.

Also a cool vibe was Tin City Cider in the growing Tin City beverage destination. Located next to Barrelhouse Brewing, the cider serves up a wide variety range of spins on traditional cider. None really struck me though one had a lovely potpourri aroma.

Next year might include more beer as I saw a sign in a Downtown window with the name Santa Maria Brewing on it. Now I am set to walk over to the fairgrounds for the showcase event. More posts to come.

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Review – And Chill from Field Recordings Wine

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This wine meets beer from Field Recordings Wines is more accurately a Chenin Blanc meets Gose. It pours a sharp pee yellow. To me this is wine with grapefruit rind. A rind that is accentuated by a liberal dose of sea salt. Two others tried it and said it was more hoppy and 50/50 wine to beer.

Either way, this experimental can that I was given when I visited the Paso Robles brewery last month is not boring at all. From the super cool koozie as label design with all the grape, vineyard (Jurassic!) , barrel and beer-y ingredients plus the canned on date on one side and some Keith Haring style art on the other, this is a thought out limited edition. I wish most beers had this detail with what they are made of.

When I hit the lottery, I am joining the can club for sure. Experiments like this may be polarizing but they are worth trying.

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On the Way Home from Paso Robles

On the way from Burbank to Paso Robles, it is all about getting there. I take the 5 and do not stop until I reach my destination.

Coming back after the FWIBF is different and I had multiple plans for where to brewery stop on the return 101 journey. I finally settled on a stop in Paso that was non-Firestone related and a stop in Santa Barbara.
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There is a great little winery grouping off Marquitas Road near Firestone’s main expanding campus that also includes the rapidly expanding Barrelhouse Brewing. I stopped as the “other” brewery opened and sampled their new, big DIPA, Big Sur which I found to be quite good. Didn’t quite land in a dank or citrus or floral style box but rather ticked off a little from each. I also had a sampler of a pre-release of one of three new sours that will be released soon to mark the occasion of the new building across the gully. Eleanor was made with prickly pear and had a lovely red, sparkle to it and it was puckeringly tart too. I only wished it wasn’t so damn hot out. I wanted to relax a bit near the rock work and bubbly fountain.
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I walked from Barrelhouse around the corner and down the street to Field Recordings for some wine. Because, the Central Coast is wine country too, plus Field Recordings cans some of their wines and in fact uses the Beer Monks who help some SoCal breweries can too! Even more cool is that they have a can club (that you should join) where you can get wine that uses additional beer ingredients. I tasted their version of a Chenin Blanc meets Wit Bier and it was really refreshing with both the wine and beer aspects making their presence felt. I really enjoyed their Chardonnay. You can find their wines at Silver Lake Wines where you can also find the koozy as label wine/beer hybrids (when available)
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Then a long drive with flashes of the ocean to Santa Barbara and the new Third Window Brewing. Tucked next to a winery space on the corner of Haley & Laguna in a brown, tin shack looking building it can be hard to find since the logos and signage blend into the exterior like a chameleon.

Once inside, there is a lovely little space and some interesting beers to sample. Despite the heat the Chocolate/Orange Stout was excellent. Tasted just like the ball shaped chocolate that I would get for Christmas. The other Belgian-style riffs were all light and tasty. Speaking of light, their pilsner is called Light and is a really solid version.

I will have to do a Santa Barbara brewery crawl in the coming months to check them all out.

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#FWIBF16 – Quick Notes

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That is just the first four beers on the app for the Firestone Walker Invitational or to be put easier FWIBF16.  Here are my thoughts on the day.  Sort of like a Livestream but in words and not live and posted a day after. But first a quick recap of….

…Friday which started with a drive from Burbank to Paso Robles through 100 degree heat. Arriving at my hotel to a room that could double as a walk-in cooler. I didn’t have much time to waste and walked the few blocks to the Event Center to pick up my credentials. The press check-in had been moved but with typical grace, FW employees golf carted me to where I needed to go and then back to the pre-fest BBQ where the core beers plus Luponic Distortion 01 were being poured. After that and hot mini-donuts, a group of us marched over to the afterparty hosted by Societe and The Rare Barrel which would have been worth the trip alone. Cucumber/Mint Sour and Elderberry Sour being my winners along with Tropicalia IPA from Creature Comforts. Then to bed by midnight because Saturday is a long day.

1. Damn hot! You could stand in masters and still sweat.
2. I am fascinated by lines. I guess if Project is in the name you are automatically popular.
3. The fest is so well run. Cannot emphasize that enough,
4. Even with planning the choices are near paralyzing.
5. Revered breweries missed: Founders, Lost Abbey, Bell’s and many more.
6. Favorite beers: Tipopils, Pony Pilsner on gin barrels, Yuzzila Phantom Gose, Poppin’ Pils
7. Donuts and beer. Very good. As was the selection of food available.
8. STiVO pils did not impress me but the fest was Pilsner laden.
9. Habanero and Rosewater can mix.

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Bootlegged & Blindsided – Full(ish) Recap

Firestone Walker Blogger Trip
Firestone Walker + L.A. Beer Bloggers = #FW3.

There comes a point where surprise becomes the new normal. Firestone Walker has reached that point.

The now annual trip has featured tractor rides to an organic farm. Blending my own gin and this year the historic barns of the Central Coast. That may sound facetious or trite but these trips north from Los Angeles have given me so much. Not only as a beer blogger but just as a total person.

That is why I feel compelled to post multiple times across so many social media platforms. Literally, it is the only time that I post on Instagram. My least utilized app.

That is just prelude to what I learned on the 2015 trip (aka LA2FW3) which I will list out because I don’t want to leave anything out:

Sour Opal (which will be “liberated” on the 25th of this month) is yet another winner from Barrelworks. It is a close second to my all-time favorite of Bretta Weisse.

Just the fact that it was mentioned, partially in jest, that Bretta Weisse would be canned made my day.

From the Barrel might not get the love that the Invitational gets but if I had more time and seating options, it would be really close. Firestone Walker knows their way around a tentpole event.

I now know much more about acidity in sour beers. And Olalliberries.

I hate coming in last in a competition especially when the winners get cardboard Firestone Walker crowns.

I could really get used to tasting wine. There is something about the setting of Thacher Winery that just relaxes a person automatically.

BBQ and wine go really well together as do beer and cupcakes.

Beer at 10am is fantastic. Especially nitro cream Velvet Merlin.

I like Easy Jack and 805 more than Pivo Pils.

Oh, and I do not have the talent to chug a beer. Probably a good thing.

(I will go more in depth about From the Barrel later on this blog and tomorrow is a recap of the Acid Trip with Jeffers over on Food GPS)

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Bootlegged & Blindsided – Day 2

Firestone Walker Blogger Trip

Whiskey and beer and wine.   Firestone Walker has treated the L.A. Beer Bloggers very well for #FW3.

And Day 2 was no different. Starting at 10am with a tutorial on Ph. Acid. Malic, acetic and citric.  The most lasting impression from these weekends are the lessons learned. With sour beers, it is about balance. Is s level of four OK?  Or is it eight?  Tasting the base acids and then tasting Li’l Opal, Agrestic and SLOambic was a great way to see that complexity is better than puckery.

Lunch was next but was a prelude to another learning experience. Blending. A test of eight groups to see who could produce a reasonable facsimile of an Anniversary beer. Paired with Kip Barnes and Tomm Carroll, I fancied my chances. But our Velvet Merkin based blend was not in the top three, though I did like it.

After a short break it was off to dinner. At a winery no less. Thacher Winery hosted a tasting of GSM. A trio of red wines with grapes from different vineyards. Tasting wine is foreign to me but quite enjoyable because I don’t have knowledge that would lead me to overthinking. More blends came with names like Controlled Chaos and Resident Alien. Then done serious BBQ. All in a beautiful, bucolic Paso Robles hills. All very relaxing.

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The night concluded with a scene you do not get in L.A. A lightly roaring fire. Sitting on hat bales with a snifter of beer and a cupcake and the stars above.

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Bootlegged & Blindsided – Day 1

Firestone Walker Blogger Trip

Off to Firestone Walker the L.A. Beer Bloggers go for #FW3.

The bus left the still in build-out mode future home of FW Venice mid-day yesterday and pointed north to Paso Robles with the destination being From the Barrel at the historic Santa Margarita ranch.

First though, a quick stop at Barrelworks to see “Sour Jim” and Jeffers and sample some beers. A little backtrack first, each trip with FW has started with a sneak peek at a beer not yet released. Two years ago was Bretta Weisse. (Still a favorite of mine) and last year was Bretta Rose a delightful sour fruit beer. This year we got another winner, Sour Opal. Woody and tart.  Simple and flavorful.

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With an eye on the clock we re-boarded the bus and headed to the hotel to dress up for the party. The end of prohibition was the theme and the whole troop was in period outfits.

From the Barrel might not get the love that the Invitational does but it offers a different brand of fun and libations. You enter the large and historic barn (a halfway stop between missions) and get your glass, plate and program. In front of you are seemingly table after table of food, spirits and beer.  Moonshine to sliders to Pizza Port beer then you might find port, hand rolled cigars and dessert.

All of the food I tasted was quite good, of course it had to do battle with the drink.  You could get a barrel aged Manhattan or Blueberry Sour from Crooked Stave.

The intersection of an old barn of stone, wood and brick and the night sky of the country with the company of the LA Beer Bloggers made for a great night.

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Where (and when) the Wild Things will be Released

If you thought tickets to the Firestone Walker Invitational were hard to get and worth every penny then how about the special Barrellworks beers?  One new one is coming out shortly, Agrestic which has been seen in the past but is now coming back in 375ml bottles.  Believe it or not it is a weird spin off of a DBA base.  Just with a bunch of what FW calls “a proprietary collection of microflora.”
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Then of course aged for a bit and blended just so to the point where even super beer geeks are wondering what sort of magic they do.  But that is not all….

Feral Vinifera
Feral Vinifera is an ultra-limited release also being liberated on September 20. Feral Vinifera was born of a collaborative effort with local grape growers and winemakers in Barrelworks’ backyard of the Santa Ynez Valley. Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Orange Muscat grapes were co-fermented with wheat-based wort, then inoculated with proprietary wild yeast to create this trailblazing hybrid.

SLOambic
SLOambic is Barrelworks’ foray into the funky world of lambic style beers. It was inoculated with brettanomyces lambicus, brettanomyces bruxellensis and lactobacillus, then infused with ollalieberries to create a distinctively, dry, cidery, fruity, vinuous and oh-so sour beer. November release date TBA.

El Gourdo
El Gourdo is what happens when the local pumpkin patch calls the barrelmeisters on the day after Halloween, asking if they want some orphaned gourds. Not only did the barrelmeisters take the leftover pumpkins last year, they roasted them in a pizza oven with brandy staves, bay leaf and walnuts before tossing them into a base wheat beer for secondary fermentation prior to oak barrel aging. We’ll just leave it at that for now. November release date TBA.

Reginald Brett
Big, malty, and alcoholic, this hefty brew is supported by a firm oaky backbone and slight tartness from its time in French oak barrels in the discreet company of a certain B. Lambicus. Scandalous! Release date TBA.

 

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Firestone Walker + L.A. Beer Bloggers + RE:Find Distillers

What truly sets apart the trip that Firestone Walker provided the L.A. Beer Bloggers group is that it isn’t all about beer.  Yes, there is plenty of Easy Jack and Pivo Pils flowing but these guys want to showcase all that the Central Coast and Paso Robles in particular has to offer.

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Last year, the spotlight was on the bio-dynamic farming of Windrose Farms and the wines of Herman Story.  This year Andrew Murray Vineyards was showcased along with an amazing dinner and spirits extravaganza at Re:Find Distillery.

Alex and Monica Villicana are winemaker’s first.  But they wanted to find a use for grape juice that got bled off to enhance the finished wine.  What to do with what is technically called saignée.  Well, they went the distilling route.  They make vodka and gin and brandy and limoncello all from grape juice!

Now Firestone doesn’t just stop at the introduction.  I should have been hip to that after the Friday we enjoyed.  No.  We not only got to taste the vodka and gin.  We got to try our hand at blending our own gin for our own gin and tonics!  Now my first two stabs at it were over lavendered and way over Angelika Root’d.  My third attempt yielded a passable gin.  But now I know much more of what makes spirits so good and what goes into making and blending them.

But folks, that was not all.  Re:Find had been in contact with Firestone about our trip and they went even further and made us a white whiskey from a wash similar to the 805 lager recipe.  With the appropriate name of Writer’s Blanc.

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They could have stopped there.  Told us to get back on the bus and find our own food and we would have been happy.  But then out comes a five course meal from Chef Thomas Yun?

There was octopus which I tried but didn’t super enjoy but there was a glass of Opal saison to drink.  There was a lamp chop and a rib eye cap and, well… here’s the menu….

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It was an amazing melding of food, spirits and beer and people.

And we in the beer blogging community should be hailing passionate producers of cheese, lettuce, wine or whatever because they are the same as our brewers.  Artisans who are raising the bar on how we see our food.