As we celebrate 25 years of brewing on California’s Central Coast—and I reflect on my decade as a brewer at Firestone Walker—here are a few thoughts about our never-ending chase for perfection.
Beer is better with friends. Hosting our own invitational beer festival has been an ideal way to get a bunch of our favorite brewers to visit for an amazing weekend every spring. I’ve lost count of the exceptional beers and inspiring conversations I’ve had at these events with fellow brewers and beer enthusiasts from around the world. Each fest has been a snapshot of the best of the industry at that time. You never know which new beer or connection will change everything and send you down a new path or line of inquiry. While we had to take a few years off because of the pandemic, the fest is returning in 2022. I can’t wait.
Taste your beer next to your favorites in the same style. Do it blindly. “House palate” is real, and blindly throwing your beers in with some of the best out there will humble you and keep you fired up. We often put new trial batches in front of our panel, mixed in at random with beer from other breweries, to get feedback that’s as objective as possible. This kind of tasting is often insightful and inspirational.