Estrella Pale Ale

Estrella takes its name from a Mexican-era land grant map dating to the 1840s, applied to the area east and northeast of downtown Paso Robles; an 1852 surveyor’s account attributed the name to the way several valleys and their ridge lines converge and radiate from one point like the rays of a star — “estrella” being Spanish for star — and the river running past that convergence took on the same name, giving the district its identity. A town called Estrella was founded there in 1886, and its most visible remnant today is the Estrella Adobe Church, built in 1879 and now a California Historical Landmark near Paso Robles Municipal Airport.

The name carries real pioneer credibility in the wine world too — the Estrella District is now a recognized sub-AVA within Paso Robles, roughly 66,800 acres of valley-floor and floodplain along the Estrella River, where Cliff Giacobine and Gary Eberle established the 700-acre Estrella River Winery and became the first California winery to fully commit to Syrah, later helping establish Cabernet Sauvignon as the region’s signature grape (there’s even a Syrah clone named after it).

Separately, there’s also the WWII-era Estrella Army Air Field established in 1942 about six miles northeast of the city, now the site of the Estrella Warbirds Museum. Estrella Pale Ale is the third and final beer in the Paso Series.