6-Pack of Things To do in Tacoma: Dec. 8-14 2025

6-Pack of Things To do in Tacoma: Dec. 8-14, 2025

This second week of December doesn’t simply land in Tacoma — it blossoms open like a velvet-lined snow globe hurled by some benevolent holiday trickster, scattering cider-bright solstice fire, mountain-born nostalgia, resurrected otter magic, world-class brewery stardust, folk-sung remembrance, and border-kissed Christmas radiance. Every event hums like its own tiny gravitational anomaly, tugging you closer until you can feel the season vibrating under your boots.

Peaks & Pints Crimson Winter Cider Flight | Monday, Dec. 8
The week ignites with a cascade of ruby light as Peaks & Pints unveils its Crimson Winter Cider Flight, five pours that refuse to let winter go monochrome. Berry voltage sparks awake across tart cranberries; cinnamon drifts like ember smoke; Douglas fir exhales alpine cool; amaro stirs its dusky glow beneath it all. These are ciders that burn through the gray, turning the shortest days into jeweled little rebellions in a glass. Monday cider flight, 11 a.m.–10:15 p.m., Peaks & Pints, 3816 N. 26th St., Basecamp Proctor.

Hunt Middle School Ski & Snowboard Club Fundraiser | Tuesday, Dec. 9
Then Tuesday arrives carrying the ghost-scent of neon nylon and predawn bus rides to Crystal Mountain — the awkward, glorious rites of youth that lodge themselves in your ribs forever. Peaks & Pints channels that old-school mountain magic by donating 15 percent of all draft sales to help fund Hunt Middle School’s Ski & Snowboard Club, sending fifty kids into a five-week winter adventure with Snoqualmie Summit, SOS Outreach, and anyone who raises a pint for a good cause. Think of it as fuel for the first wobbly turn that transforms into a lifetime of winter joy. School ski bus fundraiser, 4–8 p.m., Peaks & Pints, 3816 N. 26th St., Basecamp Proctor, no cover.

Grit & Grain Live: Odd Otter Head Brewer Shelby Bible | Wednesday, Dec. 3
Midweek turns mischievous as the Grit & Grain Podcast sits down with Odd Otter’s head brewer, Shelby Bible — the quiet architect behind the brewery’s resurrection and the steady pulse animating Ottzel Quatzel, Optimus Pine, ODDitea, and the otterverse’s entire second era. His story reads like a Tacoma brewing fable: a beloved downtown taproom teetering on closure, new owners stepping in, and Shelby returning to coax life back into the tanks one Mosaic-bright pale, chai-warm brown, and gold-medal lager at a time. Expect tales of survival, strange yeast, purple corn, karaoke nights, and the strange satisfaction of reviving a brewery with nothing but stubbornness and stainless steel. Grit & Grain Podcast taping, 4:30 p.m., Peaks & Pints, free to listen and sip.

We’re pFrieming of a Craft Beer Christmas | Thursday, Dec. 11
By Thursday, the whole lodge glows as Hood River’s pFriem Family Brewers sweeps into Proctor carrying a tap list so stellar it could make an elf crumble. This year’s haul reads like a brewer’s fever dream: a Green Cheek collab West Coast IPA, immaculate pilsner, electric La Mûre, stonefruit cuvée, rye-spiced lager, bright Nelson pale, tropical hazy, brooding CDA, plus the holiday holy trinity of Belgian Christmas, Cognac strong dark, and the meditative Distiller’s blends. Farmer Matt Kotwasinski joins in full wizard-of-the-grain mode, ready to talk soil, malt, and miracles. Holiday tap takeover, 5–8 p.m., Peaks & Pints, 3816 N. 26th St., no cover.

Steve & Kristi Nebel with Jim Page | Friday, Dec. 12
Friday softens into an acoustic dreamscape as Steve and Kristi Nebel join Jim Page in the Roosevelt Room, conjuring the spirit of pre-grunge Northwest folk nights when Victory Music cafés doubled as confessionals. The Nebels’ harmonies drift through decades of travel, loss, riverbanks, and resolve, while Jim Page — Seattle’s fearless troubadour of truth — brings the kind of songwriting that’s been covered from Christy Moore to the Doobie Brothers and still cuts straight to the bone. Live at the Eleanor becomes part listening room, part folk séance, the kind of place where a single chord can hush the entire room. Acoustic roots concert, 8 p.m., Tacoma Armory Roosevelt Room, $23.75 or free with Tacoma Arts Live membership.

Jarabe Mexicano | Saturday, Dec. 13
The week closes in full technicolor as Jarabe Mexicano transforms the Armory into a bilingual holiday altar pulsing with Bordeño-Soul — a glorious concoction of mariachi heart, Norteño swagger, Latin rock heat, and cumbia-bright joy. Harmonies soar in English, Spanish, and that perfect Spanglish middle zone where holidays actually happen, carried on the back of guitarrón heartbeat, requinto shimmer, and drums that feel like family gatherings set to rhythm. It’s Christmas remixed through borderlands memory and musical fire — festive, tender, and unmistakably alive. Holiday concert, 7:30 p.m., Tacoma Armory Parade Floor, 1001 Yakima Ave., tickets $46.