SLO Brewing Company has been producing craft beer in San Luis Obispo since 1988, making it one of California's older surviving craft breweries. The original downtown location on Garden Street is a large, comfortable pub with a stage — they do live music several nights a week, which gives the place a different energy than a standard brewery taproom. The beer list runs to a dozen or so taps of their own production.
The space is casual and unpretentious. Regulars sit at the bar; larger groups take the tables. The food menu is solid pub fare — nothing elaborate — and the service is fast enough for a busy Friday night. If you're here specifically for craft beer, the IPAs and pale ales are consistently good. The seasonal releases are worth asking about.
SLO Brewing has expanded over the years and now has multiple locations in the area, but the downtown pub remains the original and the most atmospheric. It gets loud when there's live music and packed on Farmers Market Thursdays, which is when the bar scene tends to blur into the street scene.