Parting Paso Pales 22Jul17

I could not leave SLO without trying the notable brews in the county. Kala (yep - she was the only brave one) & I hit Libertine for the wild (sours) ales after a fine lunch at Novo on the creek. Neither of us are big sour fans and the Wild IPA was OK but did not move us to stay long. I especially wanted to hit Firestone Walker, who is #4 craft brewer in Cal and did sell out to Durval. Still, they are one of the early and few great west coast hoppy ale houses so I was excited to get there; it's right in Paso Robles. We didn't tour the brewery but saw a cool campus as we made our way to the taproom. We did learn that these boys revived an olde English style of brewing employing oak barrels - part of their signature taste - so cool. Once seated at the busy bar I focused on trying the beers borne from "the crucible of conflict" between the Lion and the Bear (Adam Firestone and David Walker), who now are experimenting in producing new brew... one way to keep innovation alive in an acquired entity is to keep the founders interested but dispatched along a new vector. We had the Fortem and Adversus DIPAs and the Ekuanot IPA... Wookey Jack won't be missed as the unfiltered Adversus is very good. I shared some already with friends and it harkens back to Deviants as they are 16oz cans of DIPA. Some of my mates may argue the packaging but to me this is perfect in many ways. The place was fun but crowded, mid-Cal regional fair was held very near by; the beer was excellent.