As the saying goes, it takes a lot of great beer to make great wine. A Mecca for oenophiles—particularly fans of Rhône varietals—the Central Coast community of Paso Robles boasts more than 200 wineries. That massive level of wine production requires a lot of beer, and over the past few years, a slew of new local breweries have popped up to supply that ale-and-lager fuel. And that liquid artisanality has spilled south to nearby Atascadero, where the beverage scene is blowing up behind breweries, bars and bottle shops. While the region’s vino is world-class, wine country has more going on beyond red, white and rosé than ever before.
PASO ROBLES BREWERIES
Firestone Walker Brewing
1400 Ramada Dr. (Taproom Restaurant & Visitor Center) | 1649 Ramada Dr, Paso Robles (Emporium)
Paso’s most longstanding brewing operation is also its most famous. Over the past quarter-century, Firestone Walker has grown from two brothers-in-law in a makeshift brewery on the backend of a vineyard to a multi-building campus (with offshoot publicly accessible facilities in Buellton and Venice). Originally known for its to-style English ales, the company has branched out in a big way over the past decade and now produces a vast array of hoppy beers, lagers and other international styles as well as barrel-aged sour and high-gravity beers, some of which can only be sampled by coming to the source.
Visiting Firestone Walker’s Paso mothership is a choose-your-own-adventure experience. The Visitor Center within the main brewery is a starting point for newcomers with draft beer and tours of a truly impressive, state-of-the-art production and packaging operation. The cross-street Taproom restaurant is for fans hungry for comfort-driven fare (pub-inspired apps, burgers, sandwiches, tacos, pizzas and a kids’ menu) and beers going far beyond the company’s year-round portfolio. And those in search of merch can find a store-full, more taps and beer available to-go at the company’s Emporium just down the street.
Firestone Walker’s portfolio is headed by year-round numbers like its tropical single and double Mind Haze IPA, a Luponic Distortion line of West Coast IPAs with rotating hop bills, and the sessionable 805 ale and lager duo, but a glance at the Taproom draft list shows how much more this venerable interest has to offer. From archived barrel-aged sours and variations of its vaunted Parabola imperial stout to revived brands like the deep, dark Wookey Jack black IPA, to a biscuity, vanilla-tinged unfiltered version of its classic DBA (Double Barrel Ale) and seasonals like the bready-yet-crisp Oaktoberfest, variety abounds.
Pro Tip: Firestone Walker releases new beers each month via its Propagator Series, all of which can be found at its California locations (or online).
Silva Brewing / Amok Celllars
525 Pine St., Ste B
After surrendering his longtime post as brewmaster for Green Flash Brewing, Chuck Silva hightailed it to Paso Robles. Rather than ride off into the sunset, he forged the next chapter in his storied career, working with his wife, MJ, to open a small brewery sharing space with local watering hole, The Pour House. Since opening in 2016, Silva Brewing has garnered the respect of locals and the attention of beer tourists eager to check in on this passion project’s portfolio, which now includes a plethora of canned options in addition to draft seasonals, bottled specialty beers, and now, house-made wines form sister-op Amok Cellars.
In June, Silva released his first white—a 100% Roussanne with notes of pineapple and Asian pear—to go with a soon-to-be-bottled red blend of Grenache and coastal Syrah. It’s far from Silva’s first creation featuring grapes from local growers. The Pink Stuff combines French oak and saison yeast with Grenache from nearby Denner Vineyards to create a musty “sparkling rosé beer” that’s the blushing companion to Piquepoul Blanc-infused The Bruewt. Both fall in line with exotic offerings like a Belgian ale spiked with Brett Brux called Vē Vä Chē with roots tracing back to a breast-cancer charity beer he first brewed at Green Flash.
On the more traditional end, Silva continues to tweak his hoppy creations. His core IPA, Hop Maniac, sports Valencia orange and pine-tar notes from a new blend of Simcoe, Citra and Mosaic, and the hop-bill for the refreshingly snappy Silva Pils has been finalized to include Hallertau Millefreu and Loral. That lager isn’t its creator’s only namesake beer. Silva Stout gets vanillin-laced booziness from bourbon and rye barrel-aging of base imperial stout, Ouroboros, which is given chocolatiness and a blueberry accent care of an Ethiopian java blend from downtown Paso’s Spearhead Coffee.
Pro Tip: Silva also produces a line of Blast hard seltzers featuring flavor profiles inspired by a trio of cocktails: paloma, mojito and gin fizz.
Kilokilo Brewing
3340 Ramada Dr., Ste C
Pack your flip-flops and an appetite for island flavors when visiting this Hawaiian-inspired tasting room, where “beercation” is the name of the game. Despite having its opening and early lifespan marred by the pandemic, Kilokilo Brewing (the brainchild of a pair of investors in Vista’s defunct Toolbox Brewing) has gained a respectable following of regulars who enjoy modern beer styles served in laidback environs with casual fare from an on-site kitchen, including fan-favorites made with island-staple Spam, including bowls, sliders and “Wasubi Doobies” (Spam and rice rolled in seaweed wrappers).
While Kilokilo’s brewer-owner respects tradition—he likes his IPAs golden-hued and two-row based—he’s looking forward not back. Yes, there are crystal-clear hoppy beers, but they’re not bitter and riddled with old-school C hops. They’re crisp and dry with big aromas and minimal IBUs, and outnumbered by hazy IPAs, including those of the fruited milkshake variety. Smoothie sours and adjunct stouts keep the beer board tilted toward current, youthful beer tastes. That said, it’s not all about beer hipsters.
There’s the POG (passionfruit, orange and guava) Milkshaka IPA, which comes across as a Citra- and Mosaic-studded Orange Julius—in a good way—but there’s also Lil’ Grom, a traditional, crushable Strata and Mosaic pale ale featuring apricot on the nose and papaya on the palate. And a house pilsner is as likely to hit the menu as Cloud Forest, a stout infused with Kona coffee, vanilla and coconut, or the aptly named Blue Hawaiian, an azure-dyed milkshake IPA with pineapple and coconut. And if you set your gaze upon the sunny horizon you’ll spy a maturing stock of barrel-aged beers, including a lambic crafted in conjunction with neighbors from Atascadero’s Wild Fields Brewhouse.
Pro Tip: In addition to house ales, Kilokilo’s tap lineup includes beers from operations such as Fieldworks Brewing and Mission Trail Cider House.
California Coast Beer Co.
1346 Railroad St.
Founded by a pair of lifelong educators who both served as school principals, California Coast is one of Paso’s newest and most visitor-focused beermaking operations. The brewery and tasting room are installed in a former auto shop that served the community for over 50 years. Replete with corrugated metal and outfitted with a wooden bar and high tables, it’s cozy enough, but the real action is out back where a grand-scale, multi-tiered deck made of wood salvaged from the old Pismo Pier provides space for hundreds of patrons to enjoy beer along with the variety of live musical acts and comedians gracing the open-air stage.
California Coast’s’ brewer-owner was shown the ropes by a Four Peaks Brewing vet. He’s been at it several years but is still taking on certain styles for the first time while adjusting those he’s already brewed. His first, an easy-drinking blonde ale hopped with Chinook and Amarillo, is a best-seller, as is a house lager perfect for spectating sessions on the outdoor deck. A tea-like red ale dry-hopped with Willamette and Simcoe is reminiscent of an English bitter, while the citrus character of a Belgian-style wit is amplified by Amarillo hops. IPAs are, of course, in the mix (session, West Coast, hazy, double), but not the focus. A brown ale, American stout and milk-chocolaty porter are given equal billing as their hoppier siblings.
As if a massive outdoor area weren’t enough, California Coast recently took over a karate studio abutting its deck, converting it into an event space with a dedicated stage and a bar pouring house beers. That addition hosts community- and charity-related events falling in line with the company’s motto: “people, pints and possibilities.” A trip to the principal’s office never sounded so fun.
Pro Tip: California Coast’s eclectic music playlist regularly garners compliments from visitors. Like it? Enjoy it beyond the brewery via Spotify.
BarrelHouse Brewing
3055 Limestone Way
Over the past decade, a tight-knit cluster of artisanal beverage producers, eateries and food purveyors has made a thriving hub out of a walkable area four miles south of downtown Paso. It’s known as Tin City, and one of its first inhabitants was BarrelHouse Brewing, which set up shop in 2013, installing an expansive, beautifully landscaped, family-friendly outdoor area that continues to draw locals and tourists alike. That widespread patronage has allowed the company to open up taprooms in San Luis Obispo, Visalia and Fresno, but the Tin City brewery and tasting room remain the center of BarrelHouse’s universe.
Core beers taste dialed in with Juicy Hazy IPA exhibiting a creamy, parfait-like texture to go with lemon-rind and lavender notes, and Big Sur double IPA coming across dank up front and boozy yet dry in the finish. On the lighter side, a fruited blonde ale called Strawberry Daze is refreshing if not a little light on its namesake adjunct. Meanwhile, notes of pineapple and coconut burst forth from a hazy IPA hopped exclusively with Sabro. Pineapple is similarly prominent in a milkshake IPA called Beercation (where have we heard that before?) even if the texture of the beer seems out-of-spec for a MIPA.
BarrelHouse’s backyard, the motif of which resembles Disneyland’s Thunder Mountain Ranch, has grown over the years and now includes an outdoor amphitheater where a constant influx of entertainers draws big crowds. Live music is a Friday-night staple while Saturday performances are ticketed events featuring more prominent acts. With a picture-perfect setting and ales made on-site, it’s a great place to catch a show.
Pro Tip: Headed south on your way home? Make a pit stop at BarrelHouse’s SLO taproom, which sports a speakeasy motif.
Field Recordings
3070 Limestone Way, Ste C
Now that laws have changed to allow businesses to produce beer and wine under one roof, Silva and Kilokilo are venturing into vino. Meanwhile, Field Recordings winery is canning a boutique line of session beers and serving them from a second-story bar outfitted to look like a high-school gym with a patio overlooking Tin City. The winery has long produced beers on a non-commercial scale, keeping alcohol low so that it can be enjoyed by staffers much in the way that monks in Belgian monasteries sustain themselves on table beers. Now, those employees are enthusiastically sharing the fruits that have fueled their labor.
Described as “hoppy ‘n’ dry” and served in a can plainly marked as “beer”, Field Recordings’ farmhouse ale is grassy with a green, floral aroma. The beer was developed in collaboration with Tulsa, Oklahoma brewery, American Solera, care of a friendly owner-to-owner information-sharing network. There’s a similar iteration infused with Mosaic hops, and Field Recordings also uses Mosaic to produce a pétillant naturel.
More popularly referred to as pét-nat, this style of sparkling wine is fermented using a méthode ancestrale approach predating modern Champagne-making techniques. The primary difference is that the base wine’s initial fermentation is purposely paused before bottling, then left to fully ferment without the addition of yeast and additional sugars. Pét-nat is experiencing a renaissance spurred by young, curious drinkers. Field Recordings’ hopped-up version tastes of pineapples and grapefruit that results as much from the wine’s inherent character as its botanical additives.
Pro Tip: Field Recordings’ wine offerings are outlandish as a rule. Take your palate on a joyride with one of their orange-wine spritzers.
ATASCADERO BREWERIES
Wild Fields Brewhouse
6907 El Camino Real
This two-year-old spot is for beer-lover’s who’ve wished the Pizza Port experience was available outside Southern California. In setting up his own passion project, Ryan Fields, a veteran of that award-winning chain of brewpubs (as well as The Lost Abbey and Beachwood Brewing) took a page from the Port’s book where décor and entertainment are concerned, placing an array of picnic tables and arcade games (Skee-Ball or Pop-A-Shot, anyone?) on one side of the room opposite banquettes and a bar giving way to a wall of illustrated placards describing a diverse assortment of house and guest beers. (Sound familiar?)
While worldly and even esoteric styles like a toasty oaked Helles lager dot the menu, Wild Fields’ beers skew unapologetically West Coast. Flagship IPA Mouse Rock bleeds peach, apricot and petrol from Strata, Simcoe and Nelson hops, while pineapple and papaya notes meld with actual fruit in Club Mango DIPA. A pair of pales are equally impressive yet totally different, with Porch Drinkin’ heavy in its Mosaic-hop presence and bone dry, and Make It Snappy delivering earthy hop flavor in a spritzy session package. The latter medaled at the California Craft Brewers Cup along with Atascadero Beach, a perfectly-carbed, crushable Mexican lager, but the highest-profile award-winner of them all is Pine Mountain Monolith, a delicate brown ale that took gold at this year’s Great American Beer Festival.
Award-winning beer and a family-friendly environment—the only thing missing from this Pizza Port homage is the pizza. In its place is a hearty, rib-sticking bill of fare that shows lots of love for sausage (dogs, brats, kielbasa and soyrizo galore), while offering creative options for herbivores, including a carrot bahn mi sandwich and vegan plate sharing menu space with the diametrically meaty, link-laden “redneck charcuterie”.
Pro Tip: Try out Wild Fields’ hop salt, which is made in-house, packaged in tiny grinders and sold at the counter beside bottled barrel-aged beers.
Tent City Beer Co.
6760 El Camino Real
Established nearly a decade ago when there was nary a craft tap in all of Atascadero, this is the city’s longest-operating brewery, but with its assortment of IPAs and lagers, it feels very modern…even if they don’t do hazies. Run by a family with sturdy roots in the community, the business opened as Molly Pitcher Brewing, but a cease-and-desist led them to rebrand as Tent City, a name referencing their hometown, circa-1900, when droves of newcomers to the area camped out while housing was constructed.
Boasting an abundance of both space and spaces, Tent City makes for an optimal place to sit a spell and take life slowly…with a beer, of course. In addition to the roomy, shuffleboard-equipped indoor area, there’s a similarly spacious backyard with plenty of seating and an on-site food truck. And the covered front patio provides views onto the city’s main drag, making it prime real-estate during community events such as Cruisin’ Weekend with its caravans of classic cars, or Dancin’ in the Streets where locals do precisely that.
Tent City’s beer offerings can be split into two camps. Lagers range from traditional Czech and German styles to their take on the suddenly sexy, corn-infused Mexican variety, which is well attenuated and impressively dry. Essential Pilsner is both clean and traditional, and a seasonal Märzen is both bready and highly quaffable. Of the hoppy contingent, the caramely, tacky TCB IPA and Sierra Nevada-esque Standard Pale are ever-present, while rotators like Mostly Talus and the impressive Mostly Mosaic (orange pith and citrus oil with a touch of passionfruit) allow for varietal experimentation. And don’t sleep on must-try Happy Camper, an Idaho 7-forward double IPA balancing bookending peach, apricot and tangerine fruitiness with a bitter backend.
Pro Tip: Thursday through Saturday (and every other Monday) rotating culinary operations use Tent City’s food truck to pump out beer-friendly eats.
Colony Mash Brewing
3164 El Camino Real
The newest brewery to touch down in Atascadero (which was originally a planned utopian colony) proves it’s possible to respect tradition while also marching to the beat of one’s own drum. Together, a pair of homebrewers who met working in the wine industry banded together to erect a brewery that, while small in size, has a lot to offer in the way of variety. The goal is to have a beer for everybody no matter their preferences, all while brewing those ales and lagers with unique tweaks.
Bavarian Weihenstephaner yeast and single-hopping with Czech Saaz adds fruitiness to Early Transitions Pils, while Loral hops lend greenness and a floral perfumy note to Loral Blanc Kölsch. Bubblegum and kitchen herbs are the hallmarks of Rimrock, a saison brewed with the classic Dupont yeast strain and rye from Oregon’s Mecca Grade Estate Malt. Oats sub in for caramel malts in a lettucy, lemony pale ale called Born in the Fire, and a unique minty quality peeks through the earthiness of Immaculate Hexagons, a double IPA brewed with honey from nearby Arroyo Grande.
But not everything is avant-garde. The Hoperator’s brown-bread, yam, nutmeg and banana character is by-the-book and delicious. And the only thing outlandish about a pineapple and pink guava kettle sour called Healthy Harvest is its beautifully restrained tartness. But then there’s ‘Zerts for Breafkast, a wheat ale brewed with oats, wheat, brown sugar, maple syrup, blueberry purée, cinnamon, vanilla, freeze-dried bananas and vegan marshmallows. That laundry list of ingredients could equate to a sugary mess. Instead, a blueberry Nutri Grain bar aroma gives way to flavors of blueberries and cinnamon graham crackers evened out by a surprising yet pleasant wine-tannin quality. Colony Mash is the place to go for a taste of the unexpected no matter the style.
Pro Tip: Each Thursday, sister-business Colony Culture serves up pizzas featuring local meat, cheeses and veggies on fresh-baked focaccia.
OTHER LOCAL BREWERIES
Pair with Dead Oak
5925 Entrada Ave., Atascadero
Four-year-old Dead Oak Brewery has partnered with an influential local chef to offer a creative food menu listing beer (and wine) pairing suggestions for each dish.
Paso Robles Brewing
201 Spring St., Paso Robles
A brewpub offering styles ranging from pilsners to IPAs to a nitro stout along with gourmet smash burgers and assorted pub fare is on-track to open by year’s end.
BREWER’S DOZEN
A list of standout beers sampled during a recent visit to the Paso Robles area:
- Silva Stout, Rye Barrel-aged Imperial Stout with Coffee
- Tent City Mostly Mosaic, Pale Ale
- Firestone Walker UDBA (Unfiltered Double Barrel Ale), English-style Pale Ale
- Colony Mash The Operator, Doppelbock
- Wild Fields Make It Snappy, Session Pale Ale
- Firestone Walker D’Vine Visions, Wild Ale with White Wine Grapes & Black Apples
- Kilokilo Lil’ Grom, Pale Ale
- Wild Fields Atascadero Beach, Mexican-style Lager
- BarrelHouse Sabro, Single-Hop Hazy IPA
- Tent City Happy Camper, Double IPA
- Colony Mash ‘Zert For Breakfast, Dessert Ale with Blueberry, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Maple Syrup & Vegan Marshmallow
- California Coast Porter, Porter
BEER-CENTRIC EVENTS
Central Coast Craft Beer Fest (October 23, 2021)
Sunken Gardens, 15 E. Mall, Atascadero
Each year, brewers from within and beyond the Central Coast converge in Atascadero for a special day of camaraderie and connoisseurship.
Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival (June 4, 2022)
Paso Robles Event Center, 2198 Riverside Ave., Paso Robles
This legendary festival (pictured above) draws top-tier and cult-fave breweries from across the globe. It’s a must-attend-before-you-die event for beer geeks (but tickets sell out fast).
Concerts in the Park (Summer)
Downtown City Park, Spring St. & 12th St., Paso Robles
Firestone Walker sponsors weekly concerts in the downtown square featuring acts spanning multiple genres and an array of on-site beer vendors.
California Mid-State Fair (July 2022)
Paso Robles Event Center, 2198 Riverside Ave., Paso Robles
One of the state’s largest county fairs devotes one night each year to celebrating craft beers from around the Central Coast. Go that night!
SUGGESTED LODGING
La Bellasera Hotel & Suites
206 Alexa Ct, Paso Robles
Newly refurbished and located next to Tin City and just south of downtown Paso, its breweries and recently added beverage destination, The Backyard at 13th.
The Carlton Hotel
6005 El Camino Real, Atascadero
A historic spot within walking distance of most local breweries and trendy taprooms such as Ancient Owl, The Poisoned Apple (cider) and the Raconteur Room.
Courtyard by Marriott
120 S. Vine St., Paso Robles
Holiday Inn Express & Suites
2455 Riverside Ave., Paso Robles
Hotel Cheval
1021 Pine St., Paso Robles
La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham
2615 Buena Vista Dr., Paso Robles
Paso Robles Inn
1103 Spring St., Paso Robles
The Piccolo
600 12th St., Paso