Take a SLO County beer tasting tour
San Luis Obispo County may be wine country, but there is plenty of room for beer. Take a SLO County beer tasting tour and learn about all the craft beers and ales made right here in our back yard. Hope in a comfortable limo and let your driver do the rest. Here is a sampling of the best breweries in San Luis Obispo County.
SLO Brewing Company
SLO Brewing Company in the heart of downtown San Luis Obispo is a fun and casual bar and restaurant that make several varieties of beer for tasting. Reach for your favorite pint of IPA, lager, wheat beer, oatmeal stour, porter, honey blonde, or blueberry ale, to name a few. If you plan your tour right, you might catch some of the live music entertainment that plays at the brewery. This is a great place to start or end your SLO County beer tasting tour. SLO Brewing Company is located at 1119 Garden Street, San Luis Obispo, CA, (805) 543-1843.
Tap It Brewing
Tap It Brewing Co. is a family owned and operated microbrewery known for handcrafted and award-winning ales, brewed in the heart of the Central Coast. Their brewmasters are fueled by the goal of producing fresh and distinguishable, all-American beers that are deliciously unforgettable. They say they like to take a laid-back approach to almost everything they do, but there’s one thing we’re absolutely serious about: The beer.
Join the team in their tap room and watch the brewers in action while you enjoy one of their award winning beers on an eclectic patio. They offer a diverse and expanding beer selection, providing a brew to satisfy every palate. Whether there is local live music on the patio or a special tasting of our barrel aged limited releases, there is always something new and exciting to experience at our brewery. They are located at 675 Clarion Ct., San Luis Obispo, CA 93401, (805) 545-7702.
Firestone Walker Brewing Company
Firestone Walker actually started in a winery, in 1996, before it evolved into an award-winning brewery. The idea to make beer started as a winemaker experiment in the back of the barrel room at Firestone Winery & Vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley. The operation quickly grew to need its own facility and dedicated staff. But moving the operation to the current location in Paso Robles, which last year unveiled a new restaurant, The Taproom, in addition to recent brewhouse expansions, didn’t put an end to its connection with wine.
Firestone Walker offers beer tasting tours in the Tap Room restaurant and complimentary guided tours of their brew house and cellar by appointment throughout the week. Tours last about 20-30 minutes, space is very limited and reservations are required at least 24 hours in advance. You must be at least 12 years old to go on the tour and for your safety, you must wear flat, closed toe shoes or you will NOT be allowed in the brewhouse. Please arrive 10 minutes prior to your scheduled tour time and check-in with the bar to ensure your spot will not be given away. Reservations for groups of 10 or more may be reserved up to one month prior, groups of 10 or less may make reservations no more than two weeks out. Firestone Walker Brewing Company is located at 1400 Ramada Dr. in Paso Robles, CA. Call Firestone Walker for more information and reservations (805) 225-5911 x 8.
BarrelHouse Brewing Company
Barrels are obviously also at the heart of the business at BarrelHouse Brewing Company. Founded by three friends and home-barrel-brewing compadres, Jason Carvalho, Kevin Nickell and Chris Vaughn, the brewery opened in February 2013 to much fanfare. Also in the heart of Paso Robles wine country, and down the street from a wine tasting room, their brewery offers the beautiful grounds—waterfall included—that you might expect from a winery (and in fact they do host weddings and other private events). But you needn’t look far to see this tasting room is all about beer. Barrelhouse Brewing Company is located at 3055 Limestone Way in Paso Robles, call (805) 296-1128 for more information.
