Two Do Right: Firestone Walker and Russian River Brewing

The welcoming fronts of Russian River Brewing's Santa Rosa, CA brewpub
and Firestone Walker's Barrelworks facility in Buellton, CA

Those who have read my blog before know that we are huge fans of two well-known California breweries in Firestone Walker and Russian River Brewing.  With the former, we had visited their two co-joined facilities in Buellton (their taproom and then their sour-focused Barrelworks facility - this blogpost details how we ended up visiting each separately), and for the latter, their iconic Santa Rosa brewpub seems is something of a mandatory stop when we're in the area, even if it is just to buy a couple of bottles of Pliny The Elder or one of their lovely sours to bring back to Ohio.

One would think that we're traversing over well-trod ground by writing about these two breweries again, but two recent developments for each brewery offered an opportunity to explore some new ground for us, and we were only more than happy to venture in again.

Going Back To Buellton: Firestone Walker/Barrelworks

The Hans Christian Anderson Museum, one of popular attractions that
brings visitors to Solvang and the Santa Ynez Valley yearly

Yes, the thought of leaving sun-drenched lands such as San Diego did give my spouse a tinge of sadness; this feeling was further enhanced as the skies grew more overcast and the a persistent mist to light drizzle met us as we traveled out of the greater Los Angeles metro northward.

Yet, we actually still had something to look forward to on the long trip back to the Bay Area, courtesy of a detour we knew we needed to make, to complete a journey over three years prior that had been derailed by an inadvertent early arrival to a prime destination on an otherwise excellent Christmas-time trip down to the Santa Ynez Valley some three years ago,

We were headed to Buellton, and if things went to plan, this would be a rather tart affair.