Firestone Unfilted Double Barrel Ale

I popped into the Stuft Pizza brew/pub in Thousand Oaks over the Holidays. (There is not even a BeerAdvocate Beer Fly entry for this location.) This, apparently, was part of the Stuft Pizza chain and did not make the switch to Oggi's five or six years ago. Its beers are contract brewed by Firestone Walker. My first question was whether Union Jack was on tap. No, but I was told that the Stuft Pizza IPA was almost like Union Jack. I had a taster and one man's "almost" is another's "not even close."

The bartender recommended a Firestone Unfiltered Double Barrel Ale. I've had Double Barrel before and thought it OK. I was not that much more impressed with its unfiltered version. To me, it had amost pilsner-type taste, and was not what I was anticipating. It is a drinkable beer, but not at the level of Pale 31 or Union Jack. The best part was the pint was only $2.75 due to happy hour prices. Nice.

The Stuft Pizza is hidden in a strip mall in Thousand Oaks. It has a small bar at the front of the restaurant and a large eating area. In addition to the Firestone-brewed house beers, it also has regular Firestone beers along with several guest beers (one was Sierra Nevada Celebration). It had Firestone's XII Anniversary in 22 oz. bottles for a mere $30.