That’s a Wrap on the 2024 Firestone Walker Brewing Invitational Beer Fest
Story by Gail Cayetano, Edible San Luis Obispo Publisher
It is hard to score passes to the Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest. Tickets go on sale every February and the event sells out within minutes. Getting tickets is like trying to buy a hot new gaming console on its release day. You have to be online at the exact moment they go on sale, and even then, the competition is fierce. If you hesitate for a second, they’re gone.
That may sound inflated but as those in the beer world know, this festival, better known as the ‘Invitational’, is in high demand because it’s not peddling to the masses. It was designed instead for the brewers, who have in turn showed their love year after year, now twelve years in, by bringing their A-game. It’s one big bash for the breweries involved; an opportunity for them to hang with their industry friends from around the world at various scheduled events, and then pour at the Invitational beers they are most proud of, for a captivated audience of craft beer lovers.
Best of all? The proceeds help to maintain and preserve Pioneer Day, a long-standing tradition in Paso Robles that celebrates the town’s heritage.
The 68 breweries in attendance are carefully curated by Firestone Walker Brewing’s brewmaster Matt Brynildson, who over the years has established himself as one of the leaders of the craft beer movement and has mentored, or at least be-friended, hundreds of fellow brewers along the way.
It is Matt (along with his very capable team) who brought the brewers altogether for the Invitational; each participating brewery was hand selected. For first-timers BKS Artisan Ales from Brookside, MO, they received their emailed invitation with initial skepticism, thinking it was spam mail. As one of the smallest breweries in attendance, owners Brian and Mary Rooney did not at first believe they were invited.
But indeed they were, to a weekend filled with not only Saturday’s festival at the Paso Robles Event Center, but accompanying weekend events including a Brewers Day at the Ravine Water Park, which was closed to the general public (picture it: hundreds of brewers floating down the lazy river, beer in hand. If that doesn’t put a smile on your face, I don’t know what will), a Beers and Brekkies pre-party, luau with pig roast, and impromptu camp site parties; all breweries are invited to camp together through the weekend.
And for the lucky 4,000 beer lovers who did get their hands on Invitational tickets, they were treated to a day of craft beer-lovers beer from beloved-industry names like Garage Project from Wellington New Zealand, Creature Comforts Beer in Athens, GA, Urban Roots in Sacramento, CA and 65 more – with my personal favorite being Yoho Brewing from Nagano Japan. (Need some convincing that the team from Yoho Brewing are stars? Check out this reel. Enough said.)
Not so surprisingly, Green Cheek Beer Co from Orange, CA was named the festival’s Audience Favorite – you could have taken just one look at their setup at the Invitational – with their tattoo station, frozen beer and jello shots – and immediately known that this brewery was a party. Green Cheek’s founder and brewmaster Evan Price walked around with an insulated backpack on, at a beer festival filled with literally 250 high quality beer options at his fingertips. So whatever he had going on in there must have been pretty special. I can only imagine it was filled with all the supplies needed to take the party on-the-go. (Fun fact: I first came across Evan over ten years ago when he was hired on as head brewer of Noble Ale Works, one of Orange County’s craft beer darlings. Back then he had recently come into the position and a party was being thrown at the new brewery space down the road from Angel Stadium. Evan’s mom was walking around, feeding everyone her delicious home-baked cookies – she must have baked hundreds of them – a few of which she gave me a baggie for to take home. It seems that the whole glitter-sprinkling-vibe runs in the family.)
For attendees, the fun isn’t contained to what’s going down at the festival. Impromptu bottle shares popped up at many of the area hotels. Efren Galindo, who makes the four-hour trek to Paso Robles from his home in Torrance, CA every year, says “it’s one of the best parts of the weekend.” He advised that the Adelaide Inn is one of the most popular – guests flood to town and bring their bottles to the hotel’s lobby to share, mingle and meet fellow beer fiends.
Walking around the Invitational, it was not hard to spot Firestone Walker Brewing’s impact on the craft beer industry. Many breweries from around the world have created collaboration beers with Firestone over the years, pumping money back into the local economies, and a number of brewers who trained at Firestone have gone on to other successful breweries, both near (There Does Not Exist, Liquid Gravity Brewing Company), and far (Creature Comforts Beer). That Firestone impact even extended into the food, as the Audience Choice for best food at the fest, out of 25 restaurants serving, went to Etto for their radiatori pasta featuring beer braised brisket with crispy capers. The meat was sourced from the farm of a local Firestone employee.
This Firestone interconnected system benefits the small 30,000 resident town of Paso Robles, while also creating a resilient and thriving craft beer community. So while the main takeaway this year, and every year, is that there was much fun to be had, there is also a deeper outcome to the madness – the tentpole event has found a way to uplift the locals, and a whole industry. And that makes me feel good about drinking all the beer.
