Part of SCCBB’s “Summer of Beer” series
by Guest Blogger Eleanor
Last weekend on the eve of our anniversary, Chauncey and I left Stolo Vineyards in Cambria, where we’d had a magical experience wine tasting, and traveled over to Paso Robles for an early dinner and a beer at Firestone Brewery. The trek to Paso was exciting with me at the wheel navigating a narrow twisting road up a mountain or two and down into the wine region so many true oenophiles have embraced.
Chauncey and I staked out a table on the patio at the Taproom and ordered food and beers via an app. First, let me say that Firestone Brewery is a huge operation! Their blockbuster pilsner, 805, has put them on the map and clearly provided the funds for multiple buildings on multiple streets dedicated to the art of brewing beer.
The Taproom consists of an enormous indoor space with high ceilings and a basic patio for those of us who prefer to be outdoors. Unfortunately, there was a guy power-cleaning another part of the patio which not only made it difficult to hear the Seventies hits piped in through the speakers but blocked out whatever Chauncey was saying about the beers he was considering.
Chauncey and I kept it simple as we’d already had some wine tasters and wanted to make it back to Cambria in one piece. I ordered a Mind Haze, which, as you can guess, is a New England-style IPA. The color was golden. The aroma lemony. And the taste as expected. A good, standard hazy IPA but nothing special.
Chauncey ordered a winner–Cali Squeeze–a tropical POG Hefeweizen which both of us thought was the best POG we’d had so far this year. Not too tart. Not too sweet. A fruity taste with a kick and nice biscuit finish.
Though we would’ve liked to try Firestone’s West Coast IPA, Union Jack, and Parabola, a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout, we used our better judgment and explored the environs on foot, a little put off by the vastness of the empire.
Cheers (and there’s no place like home),
— Eleanor
So Cal Craft Beer Blog 