Bang The Drum Brewery

The beer is so fresh, and this place has fantastic gluten-​free beer (which is so hard to find). They also have plenty of games to chose from, including cards and humanity I will definitely be coming back

They had 6 beers on tap today. We enjoyed most, especially the galaxy pale ale and the draca porter with chipotle. Great outdoor space and unique beers.

I really would like to rate this hidden hang-​out higher. It’s off the beaten path (read «not a downtown student bar») with great outdoor seating and limited interior space that opens to the outdoors. It’s comfortable and unpretentious. It could be great, but essentially it’s a craft brew pub with no beer! Been here three times now, and each time the beer selection is very limited and the offerings are unimpressive, at best. On our first visit there were a total of 2 beers available (yep, seriously, two) — one was a stout and the other a porter. Really? Most recent visit had more selections, but none really worth a second glass. The outside area has been improved and expanded, but how about now investing some effort into the beer? Why not offer a few rotating guest taps if you don’t have the capacity, time or resources to brew enough on the premises? This place would take off, but I get the sense that the ownership is not that motivated or driven to do more. Which is too bad, as there are some good alternatives (see Tap It Brewing).

Fabulous hidden secret… who knew??? Find it and visit! Fabulous outdoor area, inside area is open to the outside. Warm and friendly host and bartender. Great beers!!!
I can’t say much more but look at the photos and go enjoy some great brews and ambiance here. What a wonderful place to enjoy the day!

We live with in walking distance to Bang The Drum and after yet another disappointing visit (5 total) we probably will not be back. The idea, location, and look is all great but if your a brewery having beer to pour and sell is key. The last time in on a Saturday night around 9:00 pm they only have three beers to serve? Three beers? The only one I enjoy King Mate is out ad always. Out of the 5 times there it has only been available once! That is a joke if your best selling beer is always out. The other comments about lack of staff, cold vibes from the owner is very true. With all the other options in SLO for cold beer and great service it’s just not worth it.

«I don’t want to work. I want to bang on the drum all day.» Yep, sums me up, but exchange drum for ‘drink beer’ and then you have me hanging out at bang the drum brewery.
Located a little on the outskirts of downtown SLO, this small craft batch brewery is serving up delicious beers in a really wonderful setting. I love the outdoor patio. I literally could drink beer there all day. Great for groups, a ton of seats and alcoves, flower boxes and a ton of character; super well designed if you’re into that thing.
And, what great beer it is. Some of the beers do change seasonally, including my at the moment favorite — the strawberry wheat, and I don’t even like wheat beers. They use fresh, local strawberries to make the delicious juice they use for the beer and it’s subtle and delicious.
I opted for the flight vs pint and had an opportunity to sample 4 or 5 beers and really was impressed with them all. Not only is Bang The Drum Brewery a great place to drink, but it’s also serving up some delicious beers — it’s a double win.

Very quiet and down to Earth place. They have a lot of outside seating and heat lamps to keep you warm. I had a white stout that was brewed with coffee that was delicious and the bartender there, Megan, was very nice and welcoming. We stayed until last call.

Cool little hidden gem in SLO. Beer was ok; however, one in particular tickled my fancy. «Surprise Me» did exactly that.
This is a light stout brewed with coffee and resembles Fig Mountain’s «Zero to Sexy».
Been living here for years and never been here… instantly reevaluated what I’ve been doing. Amazing spot to hit before hitting the stop or on a weekday. 4 solid stars.

Kick back, Open, awesome little place that is super dog friendly, which of course we LOVE! Great beers. We loved the Gluten Free IPA. Not that we are Gluten Free but kinda fun to try something different and it was very good. Love the service, they are super friendly.

Order the King Mate IPA, just for the experience if not for your next favorite beer. This lovely little brewery has a wonderful atmosphere. There are a few tables inside, a few more outside. They don’t have outside service — you go inside to order your beer. Typically the servers are very friendly and quick. Outside is dog friendly, and there are board games to borrow — including Cards Against Humanity — which makes for a really fun get together with friends. Sometimes they have food available for purchase in the evenings.

Absolutely love Bang the Drum! It’s the perfect laid-​back hangout for any purpose. I’m surprised some folks say the beer isn’t unique – I would say the complete opposite! The beers they have are unlike anything I’ve seen anywhere else.
They’re also dog-​friendly, have clean restrooms, great service, and their adorable patio can’t be beat. Seriously, if you haven’t checked them out, you have no idea what you’re missing. I can’t wait to see what else comes out of this awesome little place in the future!

Came here in the evening on our way home from L.A. to break up our drive time. Arrived after sunset and the weather was quite chilly. They have a nice sized parking lot that seems to fill up quickly, or be full for other reasons but, have no fear there is plenty of street parking.
We love the fact that it is dog friendly as we try to take Zeus with us everywhere we go when we are traveling. They have a nice variety of beers on tap and reasonable prices. There’s tables both inside and outside. They seem to have a small selection of board/​card games you can play while you’re there. They had live music on a stage outside and someone was barbecuing food.
The employees here were hospitable and genuine. While the bathrooms appear grungy from the outside being in a shipping container, they’ve done them up nicely and who knew a bathroom could be beautiful.
If it is a chilly night be sure to layer up and/​or bring blankets with you as drinking beers when it is freezing for us is no fun. We’ll come back next time we’re passing through and I suggest others to do so as well. Thanks Bang the Drum for being so awesome and quite the hidden gem!

This brewery was fantastic, and very low-​key.
I was visiting the area for, unfortunately, a friend’s funeral this past weekend. When we rolled into town Saturday night, we weren’t ready to go to bed, so we found this brewery near the house we were staying at, and decided to drop in for some craft beer.
We arrived right after a musical performance had ended, around 9:45/10pm and noticed many hand drum pieces around the performance space. Awesome, bang the drum literally has drum circles. It was rad, the guys were chill.
I decided to order the Maté IPA, which was about 7.1%, and $ 6.
The aroma hinted at the maté but it wasn’t over-​powering because the hop notes were more frontal than the maté. The beer had a good frontal flavor, and the bitterness was surprisingly low on the back end. There wasn’t much maté in the flavor, but again, I think the hops over-​powered that.
We hung out for a bit and finished our beer, we were starving and had just missed the kitchen, so we didn’t stay more than an hour, however, we came back the next night because we really enjoyed our experience.
We came back Sunday night, and I first ordered the Rye IPA (9-​something%).
It was great, a wonderful, clear aroma of malty hops. The flavor profile was fantastic, a very dark and bold IPA with an easy-​going frontal flavor of the roasted rye, and a citrusy hop with mild bitterness ending the taste.
I also had the Russian Imperial Stout (10-​something%), and it was pretty true to the name, but didn’t stand out to me as aggressively as perhaps some of the other RIS’s I’ve had in the past. Great toasty aroma of dark walnut, mahogany, oak barrels, and a bit of chocolate. The flavor was slightly acidic and bitter, but the oak, malt backbone and roasted characteristics immediately came to the flavor party. The liquor from the barrel aging process was more prominent in the aroma than the taste, but I’m not unhappy about it. Over all, it was a very delicious beer.
The entire beer menu didn’t wow me, everything was pretty basic, but I think that is the beauty of this brewery. It’s small and low-​key. Our bartenders were adorable and so so sweet, and we had a great time and were able to relax.
Just for the record, we started a huge Cards Against Humanity game Sunday night, which I always highly recommend.
We had 5 people (strangers when we started) picking answers, and another group of brewery guests picking the winners, as well as a mystery card from the bar that we threw into each mix. At one point, the ‘bar’ was winning. It’s great fun, and pairs perfectly with the beer.
Cheers!!!

A small brewery but they’ve got a some good brews on tap. You’ve got your standard pale ales and IPAs, but at 10.7 percent ABV, the Russian Imperial Stout is where it’s at.
All beers are extremely small batch. They’re made directly next to the tap room, on the other side of the wall. It can’t be bigger than a 3 barrel system, maybe I’m wrong.
You can enjoy them on a spacious patio equipped with propane heaters to keep you warm.
They’ve got live music during the week and on weekends.
I choose a nice brewery over a bar any day of the week.

A pretty sweet, fairly new start up brewery.
Like other people have said, stellar spot with an amazing outdoor space and really friendly people but I just can’t get behind the beer 100% — it was just meh. I REALLY wanted to love the beer but I just couldn’t get past the lack of flavor or uniqueness. I hope this gets better as they grow because I want to come back here!

This could actually be a really cool spot. It’s a bit eclectic with different seating options indoor and out. There is a ton of potential but it fell flat on my recent visit. The service was abysmal, music didn’t start (nor was it even set up) on time and they were out of a few key brewery staples.
One person, pouring beer, clearing tables, cashing patrons out and going outside to help people light the patio heaters. She was completely slammed, not bad at her job, just in need of some help on a busy night. There was live music scheduled to start any minute but they weren’t even close to having the equipment ready. Then there was the beer… or lack thereof.
Tapped out of the King Mate IPA and the Honey Blonde leaving five brews on tap. One of which was the Gluten-​Free IPA, ain’t nobody drinking that sorghumy unpleasantness. And then there were four. But, their Imperial Stout is limited to one small pour per person at $ 6. Now we’re down to three. Next up, Kumquat Saison which was on special at $ 1 off. Why? Because it’s not good. It came down to the hef and smoked porter. Neither of which was worth sucking down while waiting for the music to start. So what did we do? We left. Party of five: tastes five beers, purchases two small pours for $ 12 and hits the road.
That’s just poor planning. If you’re going to schedule entertainment and a food truck expecting a crowd, it would be ideal to schedule more employees and not run out of beer before said entertainment even starts.

It was a Saturday night in SLO, a little past 9pm, and we were in the area for the night. We were looking for a good rated brewery to stop before calling it a night. This was already the 4^th stop of the day, and we were pretty disappointed from our last stop before this. After looking through Unilocal,we decided on Bang the Drum Brewery, since another place we wanted to try was closing by 10pm, even on a Saturday?
Anyways, we arrived at the place, which is a little far from Downtown SLO itself, thank goodness for Über. First impression was, I love the lights! The outside seating is cute and perfect for the little date I was on. There was a DJ playing music. We decided on sitting outside, which had heaters. Their beer was really good to. I forgot which ones I tasted, but the two I had, I couldn’t complain about.
I would definietly come back here again when I’m in SLO. It’s good for intimate dates sitting outside, or large groups to just hang out.

Without question, one of the best microbrews/​hangouts in all of SLO! The King Mate IPA is brewed with Yerba Mate and is unlike anything you’ve ever tried!
On Saturdays, the place takes on a loungy/​dancy vibe that flows just right.
Open ’til midnight on Saturday Night!

My boyfriend and I stopped in here on a pretty calm Saturday night — we live off of Orcutt and Broad and had slowly watched this place evolve from a tin shed to a pretty beautiful brewery. Happy to have such a nice place within walking distance of home! If you’re looking for an escape from the downtown bar/​club scene, Bang the Drum is a relaxing place to sit and have a few beers.
The two lovely ladies serving us that night were very friendly — we enjoyed the music they had going while chatting about the area as we shared a flight. A 4-​tasting flight is $ 7, we did 5 for $ 9. I’m a huge fan of the Hef and the sour, but they also had very coffee-​rich, chocolatey porters/​stouts. They had run out of their IPA, which was no problem for us. It’s a small, family-​run operation, and they’re turning out some pretty great beer.
They have board games and bongos to entertain yourself with, as well as plenty of outdoor seating to hang out with friends. They accept credit cards and have a large, free parking lot. Looking forward to coming back — wishing these guys the best!
Cheers!

Finally open, Bang the Drum Brewery is a great little spot off Orcutt near the train tracks. With a nice open outdoor patio, chairs, tables, heating lamps and lights strung all over it’s a great spot to enjoy a beer while the sun goes down.
The bartenders I’ve dealt with so far are really warm and happy to serve their delicious brews.
$ 5 pints all day is a terrific price and their flight options are just about as cheap too.
A nice selection of beer styles, Barleywine, Ale, Smoked Porter, Saison, IPA, you name it they just might have made it. With a nice stock set of beers and one or two rotating seasonal offerings this is the kind of spot you know will always have something new.
They only serve their beer, and no food. This is the perfect place to come and really get into the particular style and craftsmanship of a single brewery.
The sell bottled mead as well, but I did not see any way to try before you buy which is a shame, but I love the idea.
I’ve been twice in the last week and am sure I will go many more times in the weeks and months to come.
Tasty, varied, fun, laidback, and unique. All I want in a beer and brewery.