The release of this month’s Travel Issue coincided perfectly with my trip up to Santa Barbara for UCSB Alumni Weekend. I picked up a few bundles of issues from Mike (kudos to him for handling this month’s increased distro a man down), and headed north. Having not been out of SD for nearly eight months, the open road was a welcome sight. Staff writer Sam Tierney and I (Class of ’09) had been invited to participate in the first annual Taste of UCSB, an event showcasing vintners, brewers and chefs with alumni ties. Fellow Gaucho grads Jeff Bagby (Pizza Port) and Eric Rose (Hollister Brewing Co.) set up shop next door in the beer garden. On tap: PP: Revelations, Cream Ale, Great American Brown; Hollister: Sands Session Ale, Pope IPA, 4th Anniversary American Sour.
Over the weekend I made it to a few spots that Sam wrote about in his latest column. After an appetite-quenching breakfast/lunch at beachside hotspot Sambo’s, I strolled over to The Brewhouse just a few blocks away. Doug, an assistant brewer and member of the SB homebrew club the Santa Barbeerians, was nice enough to give me and a young anniversary-celebrating couple beercationing from Oklahoma a short tour. Although I was nursing quite the hangover, the Saint Barbs Abbey hit the spot. With a killer happy hour and brunch special, I highly recommend stopping by if you’re in the area.
With the travel bug still in my system, I hit the road again and weaved my way up to Firestone Walker Brewing Company in Paso Robles. The two-hour drive from Santa Barbara is worth the trip if you’re looking to try some Firestone Walker beers straight from the source – seldom-seen unfiltered DBA was flowing during my stay; if you’re looking for a bit less travel time, hit the taproom in Buellton.
If you’ve been following Sam’s West Coaster column or his blog, you’d know he’s a recent brewing school graduate who’s been looking for employment. Well, the search has ended! Sam just got hired on as a brewer for Firestone Walker, and had his first day on Tuesday. How’d it go you ask? Sam filled bourbon barrels with Parabola, dry-hopped a couple tanks of Double Jack IPA, and sanitized another tank. Look to read all about his first few months on the job in a coming issue.
On my way back down south, I couldn’t resist the urge to stop by Hollister Brewing Co. for a sampler-sixer, which included the always smooth White Star XPA, the caramel-lined Big Box Brown, the refreshing Beer with Hops (pale ale with single hop varietal – Nelson Sauvin), the slightly smokey Patterson Porter, the true-to-style Abbey Dubbel, and the ever-popular Pope IPA. The stop, which I had convinced myself was necessary in order to wait out downtown’s standard post-5pm traffic, doubled as a fitting homecoming to the spot that fostered my first real interest in craft beer.