You may remember a few years back when home brewing and
craft beers were all the rage and brew pubs popped up everywhere? Many people
found out brewing their own was fun but not worth the time it took to clean up
everything. Finding friends to help you sterilize the bottles was about as easy
as finding one with a pickup truck and those who'd help you move. But they
still enjoyed beer with a style different than what was in the typical store
reach-in. The other problem was the movement got enough traction that the big
boys started to notice and started either their own in-house labels that would
compete in that segment or just bought the micro-brew brand. Then they
proceeded to make more, if less well made, versions of that brand until they
killed it.
Thus, that (very tiny) piece of the beer market went into a
slump for awhile. Suddenly there seems to be a resurgence of interest in craft
brews and the pubs that go with them. That certainly is the case along the
Central Coast and especially in San Luis Obispo county. The upcoming
Firestone-Walker Invitational, hosted by one of the larger and better known
established breweries in the area, is again a sold out event, drawing an
international group of malt and hops fans and brewers from around the world.
SLO county, which benefits from having both a Cal Poly
campus and lots of guys with the previously mentioned pickup trucks as
potential end users, has seen an average of two new brew pub openings per year
since 2008. This included a rebirth of Dunbar and a relocated SLO Brew, Tap It,
Einhorn Beer Company, Figueroa Mountain, Solvang Brewing, Manrock, Pismo
Brewing and Orcutt Brewing. The latest group has focused on "north
county", or the Paso Robles area vs. those closer to the actual town of San
Luis Obispo. These include Cambria Brewing Company, Paso Robles Brewing, Molly
Pitcher and the open if not quite finished BarrelHouse operation. The latter is
the largest of the newbies and is within sight of the Firestone-Walker
location, just off the 101 junction with 46W. Firestone has also undergone a
renovation to add space for the brewing component but also a larger dining and
tasting room facility.
BarrelHouse is the brainchild of a local contractor, able to
build out the brew house at a reasonable cost. He also benefitted from an oft
used trick in the recent expansion, buying used equipment from failed
operations from a world-wide search and reselling some of that to the
competition. Even the passing of other local brands in the early 2000s has led
to their old parts and pieces finding use in new homes.
If you are a fan of small batch beers, and can't find a
scalper with tickets to the Firestone event, head to the San Luis Brewers
Guild's first annual Seven Sisters Fest, July 12-13, at El Chorro Regional Park
They also will hold the annual Brews & Bites event on August 31 on the
Mission Plaza in SLO. The group does not appear to have a web site but there is
a Facebook page that lists upcoming events and details.
I haven't tasted them all, but I can tell you there are some
amazing specialty beers being made in the area in a variety of styles. Some of
those require extended barrel ageing and rare ingredients and are not generally
seen in the open market. If you are in the area, go direct to the source and
taste some great beers, often available with tasty grub as well.
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