The Craft Beer Market
Figueroa Mountain Brewing is a craft brewer located in Southern California that brews Paradise Road Pilsner. The craft beer market has grown rapidly over the last 40 years after Congress legalized homebrewing in 1978. As a result, this inspired many beer enthusiasts to start their own small breweries. However, today the overall beer market is flat and possibly in slight decline. While many small breweries are still opening, about as many are shutting down. Some industry analysts predict a “beer apocalypse.”
Figueroa Mountain Brewing
Figueroa Mountain Brewing has four tasting rooms in Southern California in Buellton, Los Olivos, Westlake Village and Santa Barbara. I have been to the one in Santa Barbara several times, which is located in the “Funk Zone” downtown and is a great place to try their beers. It has an outdoor covered area and live bands and is adjacent to Lucky Penny, which has great pizzas. You can order from Lucky Penny right there and they will deliver it to you.
Figueroa Mountain Brewing was founded by a father and son team, Jim and Jaime Dietenhofer, in 2010. With a passion for craft beer, they set out to pay homage to the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley with handcrafted beer and hand-drawn artwork depicting the local landscape on their labels.
Figueroa Mountain has a large selection of beers, including several IPAs, a Mexican lager, Danish Red Lager, Davy Brown Ale, several non alcoholic beers and more.
Paradise Road Pilsner
Figueroa Mountain does not list Paradise Road Pilsner on its web site and it may have limited distribution. But we were able to dig up some details on the beer, which is described as a Bohemian pilsner that “derives all of its character from the very delicate balance of malt sweetness and hop bitterness. Medium-bodied and malt-forward, the flavor of this beer is reminiscent of honeysuckle and fields of grain with a soft background of hop aroma.” Paradise Road has a 5.5% ABV and a 20 IBU. Calories, carbs, fat and protein info are not available. It has a “Very Good” rating on Beer Advocate.
Our Review of Paradise Road Pilsner
I was back in Santa Barbara for the first time in four months and was able to stop by the Figueroa Mountain taproom and order a pizza from Lucky Penny next door. I really wanted to try something different but succumbed to my desire to have my favorite Danish Red Lager on tap. The beer was so good that I pretty much finished it before the pizza arrived.
So I ordered another beer. This time I decided to try something new and ordered the Paradise Road Pilsner. Maybe it was just because I already had the Danish Red, but I was a little disappointed. It was a fine beer, but nothing special, just a regular old pilsner. I found myself wishing I had ordered another Danish Red, which had a more robust taste and was actually smoother than the lower IBU Paradise Road Pilsner. If I hadn’t had the Danish Red first, I probably would have liked the Paradise Road Pilsner more. I also probably made the same mistake I made when ordering the Merrick Lager with a pizza at Woodstock’s. The pilsner was probably a bad choice to pair with a sausage pizza and is probably best enjoyed by itself or with lighter fare.
For another recommendation, see our review of Figueroa Mountain Davy Brown Ale.
For beer nutritional information of all beers we have reviewed see Beer Nutritional Information.
