The Firestone Walker Invitational is familiar to longtime readers of this column.
The annual festival began in 2012 as a way for Firestone’s brewmaster, Matt Brynildson, to cash in on his coterie of personal connections in the craft-beer world and invite them to offer their wares alongside local eateries while simultaneously raising money for Paso Robles Pioneer Day, a nonprofit organization in the area. The result is gustatory heaven, and I’ve been going since 2013—after my friend Jose went in 2012 and commanded us to attend the next one. I cannot be happier that Jose did, because the festival has somehow outdone itself every single year. I keep having the pleasure of being invited by Firestone Walker, and for that, I offer another very sincere thanks.
I hit the Brewer’s BBQ on the eve of the May 31 fest and made sure to catch up with Sean Weir, my liaison to Firestone (and a great guy to talk to), and then find my friend Julian Shrago, now the former brewmaster of Beachwood Brewing. The craft-beer world was rocked by the recent announcement by Urban Roots Brewery and Smokehouse that Julian had joined their ranks as co-brewmaster beside co-founder and brewmaster Peter Hoey. (Watch this space for details, after I have the chance to go up to Sacramento and talk to everyone about this. Suffice it to say that Urban Roots has made a genius move, and Julian’s presence in Southern California will be sorely missed.) I congratulated him, mingled for a bit and retired to get rest for the big day.
I was able to enter the festival an hour early thanks to a VIP ticket. As I promised co-owner Topher Boehm I would do would the night before, I hit the Wildflower Brewing and Blending booth. I fell in love with their lambic-style sour ales at a previous fest, and now I’m compelled to try their gorgeous beers whenever I can. I chatted with brewer Chris Allen while I tried this year’s Motueka-hopped table beer (a most welcome light beer, as it was 93° that day), and the latest version of their Hive: Post Brood Blend (one of the most unique sours I’ve tasted). Next up was St. Thomas—a blended sour ale that was fermented with yeast and bacteria collected off flowers native to New South Wales, with cherries added from the same place, giving it a cherry pie-like flavor with hints of marzipan. Finally, I had the Grass Roots, a sour ale blended with aged shiraz and grenache wine, with cherry juice added. The experience cemented Wildflower as a place I will visit first should I ever get to Sydney.
Next door were a couple of breweries I’ve had a few dealings with here and there, but I’d never gotten the time to just enjoy what they do: Heater Allen, from McMinnville, Ore., and There Does Not Exist, from San Luis Obispo. Heater Allen is dedicated to German and Czech styles on which they put their own stamp. Their Pils de Pils tasted fresh, with a wonderful crispness and a lovely bitter finish—an absolutely perfect beer for the hot day. The Book Club Black Beer was a delicious black lager in the Czech tradition with a rich malt flavor and a bit of roast to round it out.
There Does Not Exist brought a number of beers, but I jumped at the saison called South of Nelson, on tap. It had been dry-hopped with Nelson and Riwaka (two of my favorite hops), and since almost no one makes saisons anymore, I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t have been happier, because it was another mind-blowing explosion of flavor. The hops gave off truckloads of tropical flavors, as well as a flavor that can be best described as “diesel.” That sounds strange, but the brewer was proud—and he should be.
Naturally, I ventured over to a few of the food vendors, both to further overload my senses and keep a base for the beer imbibed. There’s a portion of the festival that happens inside a small, air-conditioned part of the Paso Robles Event Center. It usually has merchandise, but Firestone has been doing sensory panels with various beers, and there is usually food as well. I grabbed a pint of Floe—a dank and fruity West Coast IPA with Citra, Mosaic, Krush, and Nectaron hops from Hop Butcher for the World out of Chicago—and walked inside to grab a cube of each of five different delectable cheeses provided by 15 Degrees C, a wine shop and bar nearby. At this point, I had given up taking notes and just concentrated on the experience as much as I could. I do remember a sharp cheddar that commandeered by senses and made effusive praise come out of my mouth to the employees serving the cheese.
That said, there was so much more. I said hello to Julian at Urban Roots’ booth and met some of his new co-workers, who heaped endless praise on him for fixing a problematic canning line during the two weeks he had been there. I spoke with Marty Scott, the director of Revolution Brewing’s barrel program and a genius at everything barrel-related. I picked his brain a little, and we discussed how he honed his craft with wine-aging; I would love to be able to chat more with him someday. Along with a couple of big but somehow very subtle barrel-aged ales (they are always the top rated beers for me every year), they had a delicate and beautifully done barrel-aged saison.
Although I didn’t make it to some breweries I very much wanted to try, this was one of my favorite Firestone Walker Invitationals yet. At the closing of the festival, those who want to hang out are ushered into the stage area to mill about or sit on the bleachers and enjoy live music (with a westward-facing stage on a hot afternoon—no easy gig). I told my friends how much I was grateful for them coming to experience the festival, because even though I praise it endlessly, I feel like people can’t really apprehend what it is until they see for themselves.
Thank you, Firestone, and see you next year.
Brett Newton is a certified cicerone (like a sommelier for beer) and homebrewer who has mostly lived in the Coachella Valley since 1988. He can be reached at [email protected].
Caesar Cervisia: Yet Again, the Firestone Walker Invitational Proved It Is One of the West’s Great Celebrations of Beer is a story from Coachella Valley Independent, the Coachella Valley’s alternative news source.