Background
There Does Not Exist opened its door in 2019. Max Montgomery operates the brewery in an industrial area on the south end of the San Luis Obispo.
Max grew up in SLO and worked a variety of jobs before getting into craft beer. One day while working up a new recipe in his garage, a neighbor happened to drive by. Seeing all the brewing equipment he had to take a closer look. That neighbor turned out to be Matt Brynildson, brewmaster of Firestone Walker Brewing. The two exchanged ideas.
Matt encouraged Max to delve deeper into the study of beer, which resulted in Max travelling to Chicago for three months and then to Munich, Germany for two months to attend the Siebel Institute of Technology.
When Max returned, Matt hired him and they worked alongside each other at Firestone Walker for five years. It was at Firestone that Max learned to brew on a larger scale and received support and direction to make the leap to There Does Not Exist.
Experience
On a recent trip to the Edna Valley, we stopped by There Does Not Exist. With that intriguing name, we had to check it out. True to the name, you won’t find any signage pointing the way. From the outside the building looks modern with a great mix of colors and textures.
The tasting room is clean and open, with several light wood tables and a marble bar. We were not sure what to make of the art on the walls, Mao, Che, Castro and Johnny Rotten. All beer fans perhaps. Behind the glass roll up garage door is a lot of Stainless Steel. We grabbed a couple chairs at the bar. There were several beers listed on the wall but they were out of most. They also do not offer flights but you can get half pours.
I did spot what turned out to be a delicious hazy “Hypersphere”. And yes, most of the beer names are creative. I understand they like to have a variety of beers coming and going including Kolsch, saisons, pilsners, dark lagers, and IPAs as opposed a set of flagship beers.
We enjoyed the visit and I look to check them out again when in the area. The tasting room is very accessible. A patio does exist and they do have the occasional food truck. There does exist a Hampton Inn-SLO and a Courtyard by Marriott-SLO not far away.
When in the area check out Oak & Otter Brewing, Central Coast Brewing and Liquid Gravity Brewing.
