The recent Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival — May 31 in Paso Robles — gave me a case of déjà new.
My fifth time at this celebrated festival echoed many of my previous FWIBF experiences. As in the past, the fest occupied the entire Paso Robles Event Center, aka the California Mid-State Fairgrounds; drew a sold-out crowd of 3,000; and spotlighted dozens of the buzziest U.S. and foreign breweries.
“We come here because of the people, because of the beer, because we love Firestone,” said Miguel Medina, who drove to Paso Robles from his home in Tijuana. “At Mexican festivals, we don’t have this range of beers.”
“This is bucket list for me,” said Kyle Harrop, brewer and owner of Oceanside’s Horus Aged Ales. “I’d never even attended before.”
Yet you could sense a new, uncertain mood. Earlier fests had celebrated craft beer’s surging popularity, as young consumers flocked to hop-forward IPAs like Russian River’s Pliny the Elder and barrel-aged stouts like Three Floyds’ Dark Lord. Now, though, hip drinkers are turning to other beverages — seltzer, kombucha, boutique spirits, wine.
“Young people now are not saying ‘Where’s the Pliny?’” said Chris White, president and CEO of White Labs, a San Diego-based supplier of brewers’ yeast. “They are still drinking. They are not drinking craft beer.”
Nationwide, craft beer — beer from small and independent breweries — stalled in 2021, when production peaked at 24.5 million barrels (a barrel is 31 gallons). Last year’s figure: 23.1 million barrels.
Ripples of this decline have shaken several industries. Just ask Don Moore, at the festival to represent Soufflet Malt, the world’s largest supplier of malted barley and wheat, essential ingredients in beer.
“Production is down globally,” he said. But “U.S. production has dropped from 4.1 metric tons to 3.1 metric tons over the last three years.”
How to reverse this trend?
Go light. “Younger people would rather drink lighter beers with less calories,” said Dan Feely, a brewer at New York’s Ommegang.
Try new styles and ingredients. Brewers at the fest poured Alsatian pilsners, Italian pilsners, rice bocks, beers brewed with ancho chiles, yuzu, watermelon and Hungarian grapes.
Expand your horizons. Of the 65 breweries at the fest, 15 were first timers and 16 came from abroad.
“It’s an honor, a huge thing,” Samu Koskinen, CEO of Finland’s Tuju, said of being invited to Paso Robles. “There haven’t been any Finnish breweries doing American beer festivals.”
Then he poured a New Zealand-style pilsner from a Finnish brewery headlining a California festival. The world of beer was a little bit smaller, and a little bit richer.
Extra Rhythm
Fresh evidence that the San Diego Brewers Guild is recovering its flair for big, ambitious projects:
The Guild, the City of Vista and the Downtown Vista organization today begin 10 days of craft beer-oriented festivities. Highlights include a beverage-centered art show (today through June 30), a beer vs. wine “sip off” (June 27) and a beer and food festival, the much-loved Rhythm & Brews (June 28).
For the complete schedule, see bevartshow.com.
The Next Round
June 24: The QUAFF homebrewers club will meet 6 to 9 p.m. at Deft Brewing, 5328 Banks St., Suite A, San Diego.
Quick Sips: The Suds of Summer
Beer: Spirit of the West
From: Westbound & Down, Lafayette, Colo.
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 6.8 percent
Style: New Zealand-style IPA
Drink or dump: Drink. Bright tangerine and berry flavors enhance this crystal-clear IPA, courtesy of Superdelic hops from New Zealand. This au courant crowd-pleaser is also a multiple medal winner, striking silver at both the 2023 World Beer Cup and the 2022 Great American Beer Festival.
Beer: Invitational Gloop
From: Horus Aged Ales, Oceanside
ABV: 16.9 percent
Style: Barrel-aged Imperial Stout
Drink or dump: Drink. Brewed for the recent Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival, Gloop was aged in a bourbon barrel, then transferred into a second barrel packed with peanut brittle. Gloop smacks of peanuts, cocoa, coffee, whiskey, coconut and a Guess-I’m-Calling-In-Sick-Tomorrow wallop.
Beer: Across the Clouds
From: Radiant Beer Co., Anaheim
ABV: 4.9 percent
Style: Alsatian-style Pilsner
Drink or dump: Drink. On a hot afternoon, this easy-drinking and expertly balanced Alsatian lager went down like water. A trio of French hops injected gentle herbal notes into the biscuity body, which finishes with a slight mineral tang.
