In San Diego, there are more than 100 operating brewhouses putting out hundreds of award-winning beers, and each month features a plethora of quality beer fests. Given this, what would make San Diego craft enthusiasts sit at their computers, hitting refresh like heroine-charged rats at a feeder bar, trying feverishly to get tickets to a beer festival roughly 350 miles away? Why go to so much trouble with so much beery goodness here at home on a daily basis? All it takes is one visit to the Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival (FWIBF) to figure it out.
Last weekend marked the fourth annual edition of this event, which always sells out mere minutes after tickets become available. Hosted by Firestone Walker Brewing Company at the Paso Robles Event Center, a short drive from its brewery headquarters, this was the first year I was able to attend. It required going through the narcotic-fueled vermin scenario, but it was worth it for a number of reasons—first and foremost, the beer. The 53 breweries that participated in this year’s FWIBF didn’t just bring their A-game, they scored A-pluses with college credit; the stuff 5.0s are made of.
Upon entering the event area, the first booth I encountered belonged to beer geek heroes 3 Floyds Brewing Company, an interest that doesn’t distribute its wares to Southern California, making the chance to try the various versions of its vaunted Dark Lord barrel-aged imperial stout, Zombie Dust pale ale and a Flemish sour playfully dubbed Big Tiddy Assassin, all the more exciting. Firestone Walker co-founder David Walker echoed that when stating a big motivation of the FWIBF—a mammoth undertaking that causes a great deal of thrash for the company’s employees—is attracting the breweries and beers he and his colleagues want to have around.
Among the far-off producers on-hand in Paso Robles this go-round were Vermont’s Alchemist, North Carolina’s Wicked Weed Brewing, Florida’s Cigar City Brewing, Colorado’s Funkwerks, Texas’ Jester King Brewery, New Mexico’s Marble Brewery, Missouri’s Side Project Brewing, Indiana’s Sun King Brewing, Germany’s Braufactum, Australia’s Bridge Road Brewers, Italian outfits Birrificio Del Ducato and Birrificio Italiano, and New Zealand’s 8 Wired Brewing Company and Garage Project. They joined the likes of darlings both enduring—Russian River Brewing Company, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery—and youthful—The Rare Barrel, FiftyFifty Brewing Company, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project. It was all killer no filler, and that extended to the beers.
Whereas most festivals are a chance for companies to acquaint themselves with potential customers, many of which may be new to craft beer, this event is for nth-level ale and lager fans looking for rarer, more out-there offerings. As such, there were sours galore, a wide variety of barrel-aged beers, vintage library selections, one-offs and prototype brews. This extended to the San Diego breweries at the FWIBF. Green Flash Brewing Company busted out the barrel-aged ales of its newly debuted Cellar 3 facility, The Lost Abbey uncorked bottles of its Track 8 barrel-aged “oatmeal cookie” quadrupel, Ballast Point Brewing and Spirits poured an apricot and raspberry stoked version of Sour Wench, and Stone Brewing Co. treated attendees to archived cult fave collab Chris Banker/Stone/Insurgente Xocoveza Mocha Stout.
What makes these breweries go all out? Aside from being a part of something extraordinary and helping raise funds for Paso Robles Pioneer Day and the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, Firestone Walker makes it well worth their while. Brewers are granted accommodations that include meals and fun events including a brewers-only barbecue and a morning-after “wine down” at a local winery, complete with food, drink and games (competitive team-structured corn-hole, anyone?). It’s an event that’s every bit, if not more fun for the brewers as it is the people who come from far and wide to sample their suds. The latter receive unlimited beer samples and food from an assortment of Central Coast restaurants plus live music. Because the event isn’t oversold, there is enough room to move about the fairgrounds, and though there are some very long lines (the Alchemist line went more than 60 people deep most of the day), it’s never tough to get not only a beer, but a very good beer.
Even for someone living in the beer wonderland that is San Diego County, the FWIBF provides unique flavors and prized offerings in a multitude no local beer festival can match. It’s difficult to get in on, but most truly special things require a little extra work. Rest assured, effort expended on this endeavor will not be in vain.