Craft Beers, Wineries & Even Spirits Make This Town A Worthy Stop Along Highway 101
As any traveler who has been on Highway 101 from Southern California through Central California knows – particular those of us who travel this route with any frequency – we know about the town of Buellton because of Anderson’s Split Pea Soup.
That’s because the restaurant has signs every few miles telling you about itself: “100 miles to Anderson’s Split Pea Soup in Buellton.” “50 miles to Anderson’s Split Pea Soup in Buellton,” and so forth. These signs are almost as frequent as the Ron Jon’s Surf Shop billboards that line I-75 in Georgia and Florida seemingly every few feet.
But there’s a lot more to Buellton than Anderson’s Split Pea Soup. There are breweries, spirits distillers and wineries, one of which features regional touring bands in its bar.
I learned all this while at a Travel Massive travel blogger’s event in Hollywood, CA. Lined up at the event were tables of bourbon, spirits, craft beers and local wines and champagne. It was like being at a beer or wine festival; for the first two hours I hardly mingled at all with other bloggers while I sampled all of what these Buellton businesses were offering us and talking with the people to learn more about their products.
But there was no split pea soup. I’ve only stopped at Anderson’s one time, by the way, and that was to use the bathroom.
Yet now I – and you – have a reason to pull off and stay a while. At least overnight with all these libations that certainly will liven up any trip on the 101.
Just past Anderson’s, on the rather drab-sounding Industrial Way, is where the majority of of these businesses are located. There’s Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company (it has a 9.2% double pale ale called Lizard’s Mouth that tastes incredibly smooth), Kalyra Winery (look for its tasting room in Buellton called Helix Tasting Room), Brother’s Spirits, Standing Sun Wines that combines wine with art and those bands, Breaker Bourbon (very good), a Firestone brewery (the main brewery is just north of Buellton in Paso Robles and even includes an adjacent RV park) and the famous Hitching Post restaurant featured in the Hollywood film “Sideways” that also makes outstanding Pinot Noir wines to compliment its steaks.
Here’s something else I learned about Buellton: it gets huge temperature differences between daytime and nighttime; 40 degrees is typical. So an 80- or even 90-degree day can drop into the 40s at night. This, the winemakers say, is what makes Buellton wines so good.
Link: Visit Buellton
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