Peaks & Pints 6-Pack of Things To Do: July 21–27, 2025

Welcome to the week where history drinks with the present, where yeast gets philosophical, where stadium lights glow tie-dye, and where the air of Tacoma—notorious, beloved, occasionally misunderstood—is ready for its moment in the spotlight. This 6-Pack is your backstage pass to a week drenched in storytelling, salsa steps, sensory exploration, and sacred suds. We begin with Belgian bubbles and end with the clink of a 90-year-old pint glass, with just enough funk, flair, and fermented wonder along the way to make you forget July is halfway over. Grab your best glass, your loosest hips, and your most forgiving shoes—because this week in Tacoma isn’t just an itinerary. It’s a living, sipping, dancing, laughing mood.

Belgian Independence Pour | Monday, July 21

This Monday, Peaks & Pints swings wide the abbey gates and raises a chalice to Belgian National Day—a holiday that began with a king but endures for the yeast. It’s called Belgian Independence Pour, and it’s our gloriously frothy salute to the sacred fermentations of the Low Countries. No speeches, no crowns—just tulip glasses, gilded bubbles, and the occasional hushed whisper about Brettanomyces in the corner table. We’re tapping six Belgian marvels—Trappist epics, saison sages, and funky sours. Plus: a curated beer flight for those who prefer their enlightenment in five stages. Swirl. Sip. Contemplate. Repeat. Belgian Beer Flight, all day, Peaks & Pints, Proctor Tacoma, no cover, $12 flights

T-Town Swing Salsa Lesson | Monday, July 21

Ah yes, Monday—the calendar’s sigh. But in Tacoma, salvation comes in the form of hip swivels and bachata beats as T-Town Swing transforms the gilded Avelon Ballroom into a velvet-draped temple of rhythm and accidental eye contact. No partner? No clue? No problem. Just show up with your dignity loosely attached and your shoes built for sideways motion. The beginner lesson at 7 p.m. is as warm and welcoming as an old bolero, followed by a social dance where you can forget your inbox exists and finally remember what shoulders are for. Sensual? Yes. Humbling? Often. Worth it? Absolutely. Salsa Lessons, 7 p.m., Avelon Ballroom, Tacoma, $5-$10, photo courtesy of Facebook

Peaks & Pints Cooler Beer Postfunk: After you’ve spun, dipped, and accidentally body-checked a stranger to the tune of Celia Cruz, nothing cools the salsa-induced glow quite like Reuben’s Brews South Sun Mexican-style Lager—a crisp, citrus-kissed lager that tastes like a slow exhale on the Peaks & Pints patio, where your two left feet are forgiven and your beer hand reigns supreme.

Grit & Grain Podcast Double Header | Wednesday, July 23

Prepare yourself for a sensory symphony of malt and hop reverie as the Grit & Grain Podcast records not one but two back-to-back episodes in a glorious fermentation fugue at Peaks & Pints. For the first time ever, Brian Estes of LINC Malt (yes, that Brian—the one name-dropped more than yeast in a saison tank) joins Rikki Welz of John I. Haas, who returns for her third appearance with her encyclopedic hop nose and contagious botanical zeal. Together, they represent the elemental yin and yang of brewing—grains and cones, roots and shoots, base and bloom. It’s a rare behind-the-pint look at how flavor is built from the soil up. Grab a barstool, sip something intentional, and eavesdrop on Episodes 153 and 154 being born, one terroir-drenched truth at a time. Beer Podcast, 3:30-5:30 p.m., Peaks & Pints, Proctor Tacoma, no cover

Peaks & Pints Cooler Beer Pairing: Bale Breaker Bottomcutter is the kind of imperial IPA that doesn’t whisper sweet nothings—it reads you a love letter written in Yakima Valley hop oil and toasted caramel, then drops the mic. Sip it during the Grit & Grain Podcast and marvel as the malt backbone holds steady beneath lupulin sermons and industry reckoning—it’s not just a beer, it’s a co-host with better taste.

Grateful Dead Night | Thursday, July 24

Alright, cosmic road‑trippers and minor‑league mavens, this one’s for the tie‑dye triangles of your soul: the Tacoma Rainiers channeling pure Grateful Dead vibes under Cheney Stadium lights, Thursday, July 24. Gates crack open at 5:30 p.m.—accelerate your heart, snag that limited‑edition Dead T, and flex your inner Deadhead before the first pitch lands around 7:05 p.m. Expect psychedelic flair woven into the baseball experience: trippy themed jerseys up for auction, merch to deck your inner pilgrim, and a mellow, “one good ride” energy pulsating through the ballpark. It’s baseball meets Bay‑Area spirit meets shimmering nostalgia—a triple scoop of “found family” teamed with foul balls and funky vibes. Tacoma Rainiers, 5:30 p.m. merch, 7:05 p.m. game, Cheney Stadium, Tacoma, reserved-seat ticket packages are approximately $26.90 in person or $29.40 online, and include a ballpark meal

Peaks & Pints Cooler Beer Postfunk: E9 Brewing’s Shadoobie IPA is a fuzzed-out guitar solo in a can—ripe with tropical distortion, dank reverberations, and just enough citrus snap to make your third-eye blink under stadium lights while Jerry sways in the ether and a foul ball arcs toward eternity.

The Aroma Is Tacoma | Thursday, July 24

You’ve smelled it. You’ve joked about it. You may have even blamed the mill or the tide or that suspicious stretch of I-5 near Nalley Valley. But on this particular Thursday night, Tacoma’s scent-soaked legend gets its reckoning. Enter Chris Staudinger of Pretty Gritty Tours—Tacoma’s own bard of bourbon and brick dust—who returns to Edison Square with his signature cocktail of historical deep dives, live music, and sly emotional sleight-of-hand. “The Aroma is Tacoma” isn’t just a nose-forward roast of the city’s olfactory reputation—it’s a warm, wry fireside confessional with jazz lounge overtones, elegant drinks in hand, and just enough fragrant truth to sting the eyes. $25 for stories you’ll actually remember. Pretty Gritty Theatre Experience, 7 p.m., Edison Square, South Tacoma, $25 – available at edisonsquare.com

Peaks & Pints Cooler Beer Prefunk: Single Hill’s Vapordome Hazy IPA is the kind of pre-show elixir that slips in like a fragrant wink: lush with Mosaic, Nectaron, and Riwaka hops, it exudes a juicy haze that feels like inhaling Tacoma’s brine‑and‑brick soul in a glass—bright, bold, and strangely nostalgic before Staudinger’s city‑scent odyssey begins.

Parkway Tavern 90th Anniversary Bash | Saturday, July 26

Ninety years. That’s how long Parkway Tavern has been slinging pints, swapping stories, and slowly soaking into the DNA of Tacoma’s soul like a well-earned beer stain on your favorite flannel. This Saturday, the grand old pub of North I Street throws itself a raucous, rootsy birthday bash with live music starting at 12:15 p.m., featuring Artesian Rumble and Rowdy Friends Band, plus the kind of daytime revelry that doesn’t require glitter or wristbands—just good beer, good people, and 90 years of well-worn barstool wisdom. Come early, stay long, and toast to the institution that’s outlived disco, Y2K, and more than a few IPAs. Anniversary Party, 12:15 p.m., Parkway Tavern, Tacoma, no cover

Peaks & Pints Cooler Beer Prefunk: Good one!

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