Local Brews Shine at the 2023 Firestone Walker Invitational
Story and Photography by Katy Budge
The 2023 Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival (FWIBF) unfolded in fine fashion, with a stellar schedule, sold-out crowds, and perfect Paso Robles spring weather in June.
The “I” in FWIBF could easily stand for “International” given the far-flung lineup of breweries. In addition to dozens of stateside suds, beers from 10 other countries were showcased over the weekend.
Against that backdrop, the small-but-mighty San Luis Obispo County brewing scene was well represented at the Saturday tasting. Among the 65-plus breweries pouring were local favorites Wild Fields Brewhouse, There Does Not Exist, Liquid Gravity, and of course, the host label, Firestone Walker Brewing Company.
In fact, among the favorite beers on tap was the “No Vacancy” collaboration between Firestone Walker and Alvarado Street Brewery in Monterey. This crisp and slightly tropical West Coast IPA delivered all the expected hoppy notes without being overpowering, much like its inspiration — Alvarado Street’s signature My Tai IPA.
Atascadero’s Wild Fields Brewhouse got a lot of deserved attention on Saturday. The family-owned and –operated brewery scored some major bling in 2022, including several gold medals. Two of those beers were on tap Saturday, and the WF team also put up a special festival single-barrel release of a blackberry sour dubbed “Please Don’t Berry Me.”
There Does Not Exist absolutely does exist in San Luis Obispo. TDNE showed off its versatile brewing range at FWIBF with bookended pours of their German-style “MittPils” lager and their self-described Citra-bomb “View From Tomorrow” double IPA, plus a couple of saisons to boot.
SLO’s Liquid Gravity was a bit hard to find given the long lines at the booth next door: last year’s People’s Choice winner, New Zealand’s Garage Project. Thankfully, the awesome FWIBF app map showed LG’s exact location so fans could shimmy through to taste owner/brewer Brendan Gough’s lineup of six beers. Among them were four solid IPAs, including the playfully named “Fluffy Mittens” hazy.
The fun was barely tapped out at FWIBF before everyone started anxiously awaiting next year’s event. Be sure to sign up for Firestone Walker updates so you can snag some sought after, always sold-out tickets for 2024!
