A dozen years ago, I received what remains one of my most coveted invites ever: to be the first-ever journalist allowed to cover and participate in Firestone-Walker Brewing Company’s annual Anniversary Ale blending competition. This tradition, which was started by brew boss Matt Brynildson back in 2006, challenges teams of mostly Paso Robles–based winemakers to craft that year’s winning cuvée from a lineup of their existing barrel-aged beers such as Velvet Merkin, Parabola, and Stickee Monkee.
As I learned firsthand back in September of 2014 — yes, the winemakers ditched an afternoon in the heart of harvest season to participate — each team gathers around tables of pipettes, graduated cylinders, and small samples of different, very strong ales, employing their professional palates to test various combinations in search of harmony. The competition is fairly fierce, and the winners’ reward of handcrafted, ever-more-decorated crowns is — albeit somewhat silly in appearance — treated with serious respect.
That year, I was paired with football-star-turned-winemaker Terry Hoage, who’d never won but always placed in the top three. Well, except that time. We failed to reach any podium with our blend — Hoage seemed displeased with my performance — while Sherman Thacher (a former brewer, convenient) and Daniel Callan of Thacher Winery took the crowns, which they were tasked with protecting and enhancing over the ensuing year.
Unsurprisingly, I did not get the call to return the next year. Or the next year, or the next, and so on.
But then an email popped into my inbox in February, requesting my return to this year’s blending battle. In fact, it’s Firestone Walker’s 30th anniversary in 2026 — just a decade behind the Santa Barbara Independent’s own 40th celebration — so this year’s Anniversary Ale would be even more exalted than usual.
I could not turn this down and arrived right on time on February 18, joining the couple dozen wine pros in the barrel room, where Brynildson explained the Anniversary Ale’s history and then announced the six teams. There were plenty of returning stars, such as Russell From of Herman Story and Matt Trevisan of Linne Calodo; a healthy showing of female winemakers such as Maggie Tillman of Alta Colina and a rather pregnant Riley Roddick of Hubba Wines; a French squad fronted by Guillaume Fabre of Clos Solene; and even a S.L.O. Coast rep in Mikey Giungi from Scar of the Sea.
I was hitched up with competition veteran Mark Adams of Ledge Vineyards (who recently, somewhat randomly, sent me an academic book called The Ethnology of Salinan Indians) and first-timers Brian and Stephy Terrizzi, owners of Giornata Wines and Etto Pastificio. That was fitting, as I’d just seen Brian at Etto Pasta Bar while eating lunch an hour ago, and recently wrote about their pasta in Goleta schools.
We christened ourselves “The Noodlers” — for the pasta, obviously, but noodling also applies to writing (me) and music (Adams is a guitarist/singer/sound engineer) — and went to work, sipping through the eight base ales provided and mixing them up carefully in the various measuring devices. The pouring-into-pipette part was easy enough, but the fractional math converting millimeters to barrels of beer was more complicated, thankfully handled primarily by the Terrizzis.
After about an hour, every team’s entry was submitted, so Brynildson’s crew crafted the proposed blends and then poured them into six samples. We all tasted them blindly, then voted for our top three ales, which were tallied in the back room.
Brynildson returned to announce the winners, giving nods to the third- and second-place finishers before revealing the gold medalists. “Our first place this year is C,” he said, referring to the third sample, which was the lightest of the batch and one of our table’s collective favorites when we voted. “The Noodlers.”
“Whoa ho ho, we won!” I shouted, and high fives exploded around our table. We were presented with our two crowns and four brand-new championship belts, all of which we must further adorn in advance of next year’s event. They made me take one of the two crowns home, proud that it would reside in Santa Barbara County for the first time ever. The multi-tiered, bejeweled beast now sits in the entryway to my house, atop my late grandfather’s old typewriter, greeting house guests with half-naked photos of Russell From, lots of sparkles, and stickers from past winners such as Tablas Creek, Denner, and Castoro Cellars.
If you’d like to try our winning blend, Firestone-Walker will release its 30th Anniversary Ale in early May. That’s just in time for the 2026 Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest on May 30. As usual, the main event sold out very quickly, but there is also a block party the night before on May 29 and the hangover brunch on May 31, both at the taproom in Paso Robles. See firestonewalker.com.
In the meantime, I’m suggesting a special Santa Barbara release party as well. Stay tuned.
The column originally appeared in the February 26 edition of Matt Kettmann’s Full Belly Files newsletter. See independent.com/fbf.
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