Event Preview: 2026 Firestone Walker Invitational

The 2026 Firestone Walker Invitational will take place on Saturday, May 30 at the Paso Robles Event Center.

2026 has started out as an interesting one, with some big-time acquisitions. While the festival is always a positive celebration among some of the world’s very best brewers, it remains to be seen if there’s an even bigger uptick in energy and enthusiasm in 2026.

Big News Going into the Festival

Three big pieces of news dropped in recent months: First, Firestone Walker and Duvel Moortgat USA acquired the USA rights to Trumer. Trumer was formerly brewed in San Francisco, but will now be brewed in Paso Robles.

Next, the company also acquired the iconic Stone Brewing. Stone beers will be brewed both at Firestone Walker in Paso Robles, as well as at Duvel Moortgat USA’s Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City.

The third piece of news is unrelated to Firestone Walker: Steve Luke, founder of Seattle favorite Cloudburst Brewing, has sold his brewery to Yakima’s Bale Breaker. Luke’s wife took a job opportunity in New Zealand, so their next adventure will take them across the world. Cloudburst is a Firestone Walker Invitational attendee, and a big favorite among brewers and connoisseurs.

Festival Schedule

The beer festival may be the main course, but the Firestone Invitational is really a weekend-long experience. The brewery hosts a block party on Friday from 1:30 to 10 p.m., featuring live music, games, barbecue, food specials, guest taps and special pours. There are also opportunities for brewery tours during this time. It’s a lively and fun atmosphere–a great way to start the weekend.

For those that purchased VIP tickets, the festival opens an hour earlier on Saturday, at 11 a.m. This is a fantastic hour to sample some of the more hyped breweries, or breweries that might be producing beverages that require a lot of serving time (hello beer slushies and cocktails!), as those booths will have longer lines after noon.

At noon, of course, the general admission opens up.

You can catch live music throughout the festival, with the Stones Foxes playing from 1:30 to 3 p.m. and Tropa Magica playing from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m.

Beer stops flowing at the main festival at 4 p.m., but you can still sample taps while listening to Tropa Magica in the Frontier Stage-area. The awards ceremony will take place at 4:45 pm.

Sunday morning, Firestone will host its Brews & Brekky at the taproom from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., with chef specials and beer taps flowing.

Beers and Breweries to Look Forward To

We’ll have more on our favorite beers post-fest, but here are some beers that we’re looking forward to.

Alma Mader Brewing, Kansas City, Missouri – Art of Confusion (2025)

This 15% barrel aged stout focuses on delivering flavors of German chocolate cake. It uses Madagascar and Ugandan vanilla, toasted and raw coconut, and Ecuadorian cacao. The brewery says that in addition to the iconic chocolate cake flavors, the beer also expresses  layers of rich marshmallow, mocha, marzipan and a tannic finish reminiscent of praline and honeycomb.

Bofkont, Kontich, Antwerpen, Belgium – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (2021)

This beer is a blend of 1, 2, 3 and 4 year lambic that aged for over two years in an old Carcavelos barrel. Carcavelos is a DOC-recognized, Portuguese fortified wine known for its sweet, nutty flavor. The name of the beer references the famous 1969 James Bond film, and ties back into the beer since part of the movie was shot in Portugal.

Cerveceria Hercules, Santiago De Queretaro, Mexico – Republica

This is Hercules’ first appearance at the invitational. The brewery has been making noise in Mexico for quite some time. Republica is its flagship Czech-style pale lager, brewed with 100% Czech ingredients and techniques. The brewery recently upgraded to a large-scale, German-made Kaspar Schulz brewing kit at its hotel/restaurant/spa flagship location in Santiago De Queretaro and it’ll be exciting to see the quality of the beers coming out of that new system.

Offset Bier, Park City Utah – Fistful of Death

This is Offset’s second time at the festival. The Park City brewery has a particular knack for making hoppy beers, and this 7% West Coast IPA featuring both PNW and New Zealand hops sounds promising. This 2026 batch was made with Thora, mosaic and Nectaron.

Yoho Brewing, Saku, Nagano, Japan – Yuzu Shio Slushie

Yoho is celebrating 30 years in business and it always brings fun and lively vibes to the fest. It also has one of the longer lines. This frozen yuzu and sea salt ale is a big hit, especially during festival years that are hot and sunny.

Post-fest Coverage

In addition to highlighting some standout beers, we’ll also follow up about some of the big-news items. Will a Firestone-brewed Trumer Pils be available during the festival? How has the Stone acquisition impacted Firestone’s production schedule and staffing in Paso? And what does Luke have planned in New Zealand? We’ll try to get those answers over the next week.