Background
Dan Hilker and Gary Ford founded Santa Maria Brewing Co in 1994. The original brewery is in Santa Maria. In July of 2013 Ford retired and a new partnership emerged between Byron & Karen Moles and Dan Hilker. The first change was to move the brewery into a new larger building that enabling them to expand their barrel production. In 2014 SMBC opened a taproom in Nipomo. 2017 saw a new brew pub open in Paso Robles and soon after, a brewery, taproom & restaurant in Atascadero.
In 2018 Santa Maria Brewing Co announced the purchase of Tap It Brewing. They will retain the Tap It brand, staff and brewer and do offer Tap It brews in the SMBC locations. This follows the plans of the group to open a facility in San Luis Obispo.
Experience
We arrived at the Santa Maria Brewing Co location in Paso Robles on a Tuesday around lunch time. The place had a good crowd of locals enjoying lunch. We ordered a flight of both SMBC & Tap It beers to start. My favorite was their NE IPA, Julicious.
The taproom/restaurant has a bar and many tables. The food offerings are pretty wide with hot dogs, burgers, sandwiches, salads and flat breads. We opted for some hot dogs and they were quite delicious. They offer growler fills and do have some bottles to go. We left with a bottle of the Julicious.
When visiting Paso Robles also check out Silva Brewing. No nearby lodging noted.
https://www.santamariabrewing.co
