Firestone Walker Brewing Company Wandering Don

Firestone Walker Wandering Don

The Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest was born from a dream of creating a world-class festival featuring some of the best brewers in the world. Each year, we invite one of these brewers to join us in creating a special beer to reflect the fest’s sprit of connection and collaboration. We now proudly present our latest, made with our esteemed friends at Fort Collins’ Odell Brewing to celebrate the 2025 Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Fest.

The name Wandering Don is inspired by my grandfather and longtime ceremonial Firestone team member, Donald Brynildson, who regularly attended the Great American Beer Festival and famously took the awards stage with us more than 10 times! He was also known for ‘wandering’ off on the festival floor—a little concerning since he was 90+ years old, but he always managed to stay safe and make friends.

One year, he was gone a bit too long and was found a few hours later partying with the Odell crew. I’ve had a special place in my heart for my friends at Odell ever since, and with this collaboration, we are keeping Don’s wandering ways alive with an IPA he would have loved.”

Brewed In Honor of Don
11/15/1923 – 12/26/2019
USMC WWII
Rest In Peace

HOPS
-Chinook
This Chinook is grown by Billy Goat Farms, a two-time Cascade Cup winner in Colorado

-Krush
The newest named hops from HBC is a tropical powerhouse. This hop can stand alone but works best when blended with others.

-HQG 4
Hop Quality Group #4 is a yet unnamed public varietal that was developed by the Hop Quality Group. Firestone Walker is a founding member of this organization that promotes good hop growing practices throughout the world.

MALT
The base grain is malt grown in Colorado.