Firestone Walker 13 Release Party Pictures

This past weekend, my newborn baby, wife and I rolled up to Paso Robles, Ca to check out the Firestone Walker 13 release party. I have never made the trek four hours north of TheFullPint head quarters but this was the year I would take the plunge to see the method behind the madness.

Before I share some cool pictures, I want to let you all know that Firestone Walker’s Brewery is much different than anything I’ve visited in the San Diego or Orange County area.

The brewery is tucked away in rural wine country, which was very surreal to me, and secondly, the folks visiting the brewery were largely not beer geeks/beer experts/beer snobs. The folks I met at the release party were very laid back, and super friendly. Not to say the people I have met weren’t friendly at other breweries, this just had a different vibe.

The party itself was very welcoming.  They had Firestone 13, Firestone 12, Black Xantus, Double Double Barrel, Cask Unfiltered DBA and Cask Walkers Reserve Porter. They also had the coffee roasters, Joebella (responsible for the Coffee in Black Xantus) as well as a cake made with Firestone 13.  But wait, there’s more! They had pulled pork sandwiches with sides and a Reggae band.  There were not more than 50 people at this gathering, and we all got to meet and greet with Brewmaster Matt and Head Brewer Dustin.

While I felt weird being a beer lover dead in the middle of wine country, Firestone Walker made me soon forget I was amongst the richie rich goblet swirlers (oh wait, I drink my beer out of a swirling goblet!)