Central Coast Family Outing

It has become a November tradition for us to travel down to the southern part of the Central Coast to explore what is new in their beer scene. This year, we took the opportunity of Merideth being off work on Veteran’s Day to make the journey to San Luis Obispo County to visit two new breweries.

On a rainy morning, we piled Porter and Stout into the car and headed  south. Wanting to make the day a family outing, our first stop was a park in Pismo Beach to walk the dogs. Unfortunately, my research turned out to be faulty. What I thought was an off-leash park, turned out to be a leash-only park. My mistake was compounded by a light rain beginning to fall. After a short on-leash walk, Porter and Stout looked very disappointed as we bundled them back into the car.

It was a short ride from the park to downtown Pismo Beach. This was our first time in the city center of this well-visited tourist community. Pismo Beach Brewing is conveniently located on a side street a block from the main drag.

The cozy tasting room was sparsely populated. Merideth and I grabbed a seat at the granite-topped bar in front of the TV so I could watch the USA v France soccer match.

There were six beers to sample in their taster set. From several sources, we had heard Pismo was having brewing “issues” and this came out as a distinct “house”flavor in the beers. Both Merideth and I found this flavor to be a bit odd, especially in the lighter-bodied beers. For me, the IPA was the most drinkable, as the nice hop bite overtook the house flavor.

I certainly hope Pismo works out their brewing issues because I took a liking to the place. We’ll give them more time and make another visit in the future.

Tap It Brewing, located next to the San Luis Obispo airport, was the second stop on our outing. Walking into the small tasting room, we were greeted by the friendly bartender. Explaining that we wanted to watch the soccer match, she led us from the front room to a much larger orange-colored space that included the brewery and a bevy of orange-colored tables. Merideth and I found a seat in front of the big TV and set down to watch the second half of the USA v France match.

Tap It had two beers on, a Pale Ale and an IPA. They were very enjoyable with a similar citrus hop character. Of course, the IPA was my beer of choice.

The star of our Tap It visit was the very friendly brewery cat. As soon as we sat down, the cat jumped up on our table to check out our beers. Within a minute, the cat was purring on my lap. I felt bad for Porter and Stout, who were sitting out in the cold car.

At the end of the match, we finished our beers and bade farewell to our new kitty friend. It was time to begin the journey home. Our trip to San Luis Obispo County was short but it is always a fun experience seeing what our Central Coast brethren are up to.

View all the images from our Central Coast outing…