Firestone Walker Brewing Co. / Paso Robles Taproom

Floydster

California

3.43/5  rDev -10.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4 | $$

First stop of our last day up along the Central Coast, walk in and see a bar with ten taps, mugs, shirts, and other accesories for sale to the right of it, then some tables, and an outdoor patio on the other side, can see the brewery through the windows and walk upstairs to look around too, the bathroom is actually in the brewery pretty much, crazy how much equipment they pack into a small place, I ordered a snifter of the Bourbon Barrel Aged Double Double Barrel Ale for six dollars, my girlfriend and her friend got a sampler with four beers including Hemp Ale, Hefeweizen, Unfiltered Double Barrel, and Union Jack, for six dollars and it came with a free souvenir pint glass, other beer choices were Double Jack, Pale 31, their porter, Nectar IPA, and standard Double Barrel, sat down and had a bag of Rold Gold pretzels with the Firestone mustard for fifty cents, walked around a little bit and were on our way, the guy working the bar was pretty rude and in a hurry when nobody else was ordering, asked him one another question and got a very short answer, cool place and especially for this area, as you know Matt brews some great stuff, too bad I missed Slo-Lambic by a few days, I will revisit here when I am in the area again for sure, cool atmosphere with a lot of tourists, they do tours Saturdays too, recommended

09-02-2009 03:45:34 | More by Floydster

MilwaukeeCrusher

Wisconsin

4.09/5  rDev +7.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3 | $$

Got here late about an hour before close. Place had a pristine modern feel... a cleanliness to it I generally don't like in brew pubs but for some reason seemed to work here. The selection was OK, but not on a level I had hoped for as far as out of season stuff. There were a few rarities, but nothing earth shattering that I had hoped for from a great brewery. Service was good. Will probably go here again but for the most part it would have been from the prestige of the beer alone anyway.

03-15-2013 22:43:42 | More by MilwaukeeCrusher

VegasBill

Nevada

4.28/5  rDev +12%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

As I was going right by and as they have beers on tap that are not available elsewhere I had to stop. Atmosphere, well its hard
to describe, big with a nice bar. For beer I had the Pale 31, it was excellent and the Wookey Jack, a Gold Medal winner but not my style of beer, my fault for ordering it.
I did eat here and had the BBQ Smoked Brisket sandwich, again excellent.
The bar was not busy so service was good and I was even given some suggestions of places to go in SLO.
I wish this was closer for me as I would go out of my way to stop but its just to far away.

12-22-2012 21:06:19 | More by VegasBill

Beerandraiderfan

Nevada

3.93/5  rDev +2.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$$

Really cool setup, you have the big ass restaurant and bar area on one side of the street, you have the smaller tap room & gift shop on the other.

Tap room has I dunno, around a dozen taps, some real cool gems like Helldorado (awesome) were available. Lots of polished metal around the area, some neat spots away from the bar w/ small tables to sit at. Tomme from Lost Abbey came and sat a few feet away from us. I recall Largadeer was in between. Gift shop prices were all over the place, some stuff was inexpensive (festival trucker hat $10) some was expensive (oxford companion to beer $50). Service at the taproom was better than it was across the street, despite having less help and a bigger crowd. Props to the taproom girls. Even the thicker ones have it going on if you follow.

On the other side of the street, eh, less people, more bartenders, slower service. Food was good, good burgers, good fish, good steak, good everything. Televisions around the bar. Huge vaulted metal shed type walls and ceilings.

While its not quite Sierra Nevada or Stone in terms of a beer mecca destination type of amazing acreage or lot its on, I'm telling ya, this place is close, and definitely the best option within hundreds of miles.

07-12-2012 22:58:03 | More by Beerandraiderfan

Offa

California

4.45/5  rDev +16.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 5 | $$

We ate at the restaurant taproom, which is a full pub/restaurant with bar.

The place itself is nice, having a bit of a pseudo-industrial-chic character that works well. It is fairly cavernous but decorated interestingly and enjoyable when busy. The lighting is good and nicely accents the bottles moving along the conveyor belts, as above the bar.

Beer quality is outstanding, especially the Unfiltered Double Barrel Ale.

Service is good, effective and pleasant.

Selection is very good, but Firestone Walker does keep to a rather small range of beers, which is ok because the quality is usually very high. It is nice that they have some good special beers in addition to the bottled range, and have the UDBA as a standard beer.

Food was great. Steaks, vegetables, kids' menus, all being very good and quite a bit above the usual brew pub standard. with good choices to be paired with the beers.

06-22-2012 05:24:49 | More by Offa

elNopalero

Texas

2.45/5  rDev -35.9%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3 | service: 1 | selection: 3 | $$

I stopped here with a mixed group of beer drinkers and craft beer enthusiasts. It was my second visit at the brewery and I was eager to share the experience with others.

Skipped the food as the options didn’t excite. Picked up some swag in addition to a series of tasters and pints.

The waitstaff was off putting, something that I experienced and was dismayed to find out that others in my party had also felt. Its one thing if you are by yourself and you have a bad experience at a place you like, but it’s another thing when your friends also have that experience. Especially if it’s a special stop. I can’t place my finger on what it was exactly for me—perhaps the server’s inattentiveness, or the ignored requests, or even the automatic tip deduction from the bill. They keep busy, and I’m willing to overlook things in light of rush crowds but taken together it wasn’t an enjoyable visit—which is a real shame, since I’m such a huge fan of their beers and everyone I’ve ever met from FW at tastings, festivals and release parties from the top down have been nothing but friendly folks.

01-03-2012 04:20:47 | More by elNopalero

adsomers

California

4.51/5  rDev +18.1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | $$

Pit stop on my way from LA to SF. I make the drive often and FW will be a growler-fill stop as often as possible.

$2.50 10oz. pours of the house stuff is a great deal IMO. Growler re-fills are $15 or $20 depending on what you get--reasonable.

I tried the Velvet Merkin (Oak aged doubled-up version of Velvet Merlin [?]). Very good. I wish it was a little less expensive ($6 for 11oz. pour) but I'm not gonna second guess the economics of selling one-off beers on site.

Really wish they had at least SOME food besides bags of rold-gold pretzels.

12-19-2011 20:09:04 | More by adsomers

jwhancher

Pennsylvania

3.85/5  rDev +0.8%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$$

Came by on 6/13/11 after a day trip to Big Sur on my way back from Long Beach. Was in the area so why not. Visited the restaurant yesterday and felt like closing the loop.

Walked into a display of a little overpriced Firestone merchant area. Looked at a beer tasting book. Would come in handy but at $5 a pop not reasonable IMO.

Beer list the same as the restaurant with what looked like one new addition. Was looking for Parabola but no dice. Woman behind the bar was very informative but after asking her if tours were available today on a Monday she gave me a long descriptive answer. A simple no would've sufficed.

Nice to see a Cicerone certificate displayed behind the bar. Didn't try the food. Noticed a couple of pizza options were unavailable.

Overall, a nice side trip. Didn't feel all that quaint, but was visiting by myself. Perhaps if the room felt a little smaller, I felt I could have struck up a conversation with a fellow beer nerd. Glad to have stopped by to check the place out. Would have loved to do the tour - maybe next time.

06-22-2011 22:41:09 | More by jwhancher

Retsinis

California

4/5  rDev +4.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

After an afternoon of wine tasting in Paso Robles with my wife, I insisted to make a trek down the street to Firestone Walker (as we were staying in the Paso Robles Inn just a few blocks away) as I had my fill of the local wine, and needed some great beer.

The tasting/tap room is fairly small, but clean and organized. The beers are listed to the right of the bar, close to all the swag for sale.

We shared a flight that come in these FW snifter glasses in a custom wooden paddle. Ended up buying 4 for those to take home for tastings, but sadly the paddle is not for sale, so I've been on the lookout to have one made ever since.

At the time, they had Unfiltered Double Barrel Ale on draft, Velvet Merkin/Merlin, Black Xantus, Union Jack, and the Robust porter.

Service was good as the place closed about an hour in a half after we got there, and was somewhat slow, and we sat at the bar. Didn't get a chance to try any food, perhaps next time. If your in Paso or a nearby area, (as there are very few options in the area ) it's worth a visit, but also its Firestone Walker, and at least 1 visit is in order.

06-16-2011 23:53:43 | More by Retsinis

BigB415

California

3.45/5  rDev -9.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 2.5 | selection: 3.5 | $

I went to Firestone Walker on a rainy saturday afternoon on my drive down to San Diego from Northern California to take the 1:30 tour. You can see them from the highway and they are pretty easy to get to. I walked in to the bar and on my left was the dining area. This isn't a restaurant they just had light food like snacks. They do have a restaurant more south though but I didn't go. In the bar area you also have a small cooler with beers to go and a little gift shop with shirts, glasses, etc. I bought a standard pint glass. At the bar you have the usual options, a sampler, half pint, regular pint, flights. With the flight you can get a regular flight with all the regular Firestone beers or you can customize it. Each flight was $6 whether it was customized or not. They have all the Firestone flagship beers like DBA, union jack, etc and some nectar ales. When I asked if they had Black Xantus on tap the bartender looked at me like I was from another planet and then I had to clarify the kind of beer it is and he said no. Maybe I mispronounced Xantus and he didn't understand. Then I asked for a customized flight and before I could say what I want he pours me a regular flight, it made me a little frustrated that he didn't listen but I tried the flight and then I went back and got a sampler of the barleywine for $1.50 then I went on the tour which was free. The tour was a lot of fun and the person hosting the tour was very nice and very knowledgeable. She took us all over the factory and gave us the Firestone Walker history with pictures. The place ended up packed while I was there so people like going to get good beer on a rainy day in a town with not much to do. If you're in town or passing through check them out.

03-24-2011 02:08:24 | More by BigB415