The Central California city of Paso Robles, which in Spanish translates as "the Pass of the Oaks", lies north of San Luis Obispo on the Salinas River. Originally the home of the native Salinan people, the area was part of a land grant purchased from Mexico in 1857, at which point it began to attract cattle ranchers, farmers, and winemakers. The first train arrived in 1886, and three years later the city of Paso Robles was incorporated.

Today the city is known for its hot springs, wineries, almond orchards, olive oil production, and of course breweries. I mean, what’s not to like? When I was growing up I often passed through this area with my family on our summer holidays, and we had friends who owned a Black Angus ranch just outside the nearby town of Templeton, where my dad taught me to drive our VW Fastback when I was 14. When I was old enough to (legally) drive and would go camping on the coast with friends, I would often stop at a winery or two in this area where we would pick up a couple of bottles -- or even a gallon jug -- of zinfandel or cabernet sauvignon.

So on my trip a few months ago to California, I was quite excited to be paying a visit to this area with my friend Rick, especially as the very first stop of our Central Coast brewery tour was the famous Firestone Walker Brewery.

Founded way back in 1996 by brothers-in-law Adam Firestone and David Walker, this brewery has become well-known, even in Sheffield where I can buy cans of their brews. Although they now have a second brewery in Buellton and an R&D brewery down south in Venice, this is their main location. Most of the San Luis Obispo operations are powered by the 2.1-megawatt solar array on land adjacent to the brewery, and they treat 35 million gallons of water annually to return to the local aquifer. They also feed more than 20,000 pounds of spent grain to livestock in the area.

As Rick and I entered the taproom through the outside shaded garden, we decided to have our first pint of the day al fresco, and we both decided on pints of Hypnosis West Coast IPA (6.7% ABV). Brewed with Cryo hops pellets and double dry hopped with US and New Zealand hops, this was hop-gorgeous! I felt like an airborne shark gliding through the hop fields. This was a far cry from the still-naive beers of Bakersfield I’d been experiencing. This was a proper, professional brew.

For lunch we shared some Cerveza Fish Tacos which were very good. And for dessert, Rick treated us to two three-ounce sharing tasters. Stickee Monkee (11.4% ABV), a Central Coast Quad, had a nice smell, but there was too much of a residual aftertaste. Named after a flower but spelled like the classic pop group, this didn’t smell like any other kind of beer I’ve ever smelled. It’s brewed with Belgian candi sugar and aged in bourbon barrels. Our other sampler was Anniversary Ale, a blended barrel-aged ale brewed with a combination of other beers. It was 27% Velvet Merkin Oatmeal Stout, 26% Stickee Monkee, 17% Parabola Barrel Aged Stout, 17% Smoked Imperial Walker’s Reserve, 11% Bravo Imperial Brown Ale, and 4% Tequila Barrel Helldorado. It smelled like pipe tobacco and was quite enjoyable. Understandably complicated, it presented a promising approach and offered an excitingly complicated journey with a really pleasant aftertaste. Wow.

The next day we stopped at another brewery two miles south. Barrel House Brewing Company is located on the edge of Paso Robles in the hills. It was another warm day, and this was another beer stop with a great garden with lots of red umbrellas that made us happy to stay outside. As we parked the car and walked into the grounds, we were greeted by a rooster -- red, of course, to match the umbrellas.

Once we bought our pints, we headed out past the impressive rock waterfall to one of the picnic tables and seated ourselves under a red umbrella. We felt as if we were in a mini-Stoneyland, which is what I’ve always called the Stone Brewing Company in Escondido. Not only were we surrounded by giant mostly-red Connect 4 games, but the woman and her daughter sitting at the next table were both wearing red. How wonderful, as it’s my favourite colour.

We shared a pint of West Coast IPA (7.2% ABV), brewed with Simco, Nelson, and Amarillo hops, and one of Hazed and Confused (6.5% ABV), a tropical hazy NEIPA. (An initial taste of the Big Sur Double IPA had tempted us, but at 9.3% ABV it seemed too strong for a lunchtime pint.) The IPA was very satisfyingly hoppy, with a balanced flavour, slightly hazy, enough malt for balance but not overly malty. And the Hazed & Confused was very hazy and interestingly fruity, suggestive of guava, loquat, and mango in that order.

As we sipped our rather delicious pints, we took photos of each other while mainstream rock blasted from the loudspeakers. Just beyond the waterfall, near an old rusty BHBC truck, another woman and her child were trying to play what looked like the classic UK pub game Ring The Bull, where in the traditional game each player tries to swing a metal ring fastened to a rope dangling from the ceiling onto the horn of a bull’s head which is mounted on the wall. Fortunately in this case, the game featured screwhooks instead of a bull’s head, which makes a lot more sense in a 21st century California pub.

Apparently as one drives to the Barrel House from Ramada Drive, they will pass the old San Juan Bautista de Anza Trail, which is marked with a cross on a tall old oak tree. This is the former location of de Anza’s campsite back in the late 1700s, where migrant families stopped on their way to settle in San Francisco. Too bad Barrel House wasn’t there yet, or they could have stopped for refreshments. At least Rick and I, on our way ultimately to San Francisco and Oakland, were able to take advantage of it.

If we had been staying inland, we could have taken advantage of Barrel House’s other three locations, in San Luis Obispo, Visalia, and Fresno. But we had an important date with the Pacific Coast.