Things are always changing at Third Window.
We’ve brewed our last IPA in our Santa Barbara brewhouse. Going forward, our IPA will be brewed in collaboration with our friends at Wild Fields Brewhouse in Atascadero. This new partnership came about organically in tandem with another big decision we recently made: Third Window is coming to Atascadero.
These three things are more connected than they might initially seem.
The decision to move our IPA out of our brewhouse is part of a larger shift in how we’re thinking about what we want our brewhouse to be. In many ways, this feels like a return to our roots and to the intentions we had for Third Window from the beginning: to focus our brewing on beers that are connected to this place and made with ingredients we farm.
Harvesting the wheat we grew on FP Ranch in Los Olivos.
BREWING WITH INTENTION
We’ve always admired the traditional breweries of Europe—breweries whose beers are deeply shaped by their surroundings. That connection to place naturally leads to specialization. It’s a model we aspire to embody more fully at Third Window.
We believe it’s time for breweries to specialize again.
For us, that means focusing on beers that are dictated by this place and incorporate ingredients we’re growing ourselves—beers that we can make uniquely well. It’s no coincidence that many of the beers we’ve been recognized for in competitions are our lagers and saisons, brewed with grains and hops from our farm, or fermented naturally through exposure to microorganisms and wild yeast native to this region.
We aspire to make beers that couldn’t come from just anywhere. This shift isn’t about making less beer. It’s about making more of the beers that are distinctly Third Window because they’re distinctly of this place.
From hop bine to glass, we specialize in brewing beers of this place.
A NEW CHAPTER FOR OUR IPA
Though we're shifting the focus of our own brewhouse, don't worry. There will be more —and fresher —IPA than ever. We’ve spent years developing the IPA we serve at Third Window, and we still want to keep refining it and seeing where we can take it.
That’s where our friends at Wild Fields Brewhouse come in. When we decided to open our next location in Atascadero, we realized there was an opportunity right next door.
Wild Fields Brewhouse is about 300 steps from our future Third Window location, and with broader, shallower vessels, their 10-barrel system is particularly well suited to brewing IPA. Their smaller system also allows us to brew much more frequently. Instead of brewing IPA every three weeks or so in our brewhouse, we’ll now be brewing it every week or two with Wild Fields.
That means the IPA we serve is unlikely to ever be older than ten days old—and we’ll have twice as many opportunities to brew, taste, adjust, and keep improving it.
TWB x Wild Fields IPA is a collaboration. We’re excited to partner with Ryan, an amazing brewer, as part of an ongoing, iterative process—and to continue developing the beer together.
The first batch is on draft now.
Ryan (Wild Fields) and Joseph (Third Window) brew the first batch of Third Window x Wild Fields IPA.
THIRD WINDOW IS COMING TO ATASCADERO
And that brings us to the other piece of the story.
We’re excited to officially share that Third Window is coming to Atascadero.
Kris lived there throughout middle school and high school, so it’s a place that holds a special connection for us.
We’ve acquired the former Tent City space, and work is now underway to clean up and renovate the property.
We’ll have more to share as things take shape. For now, we’re excited to become part of the Atascadero community and see what this next chapter brings.
Follow along for progress updates on Instagram at @thirdwindowatascadero.
Our future home in Atascadero. The work has begun.