Event Information

Ah, sweet sacred rites of hops and high fives, of malted memories and fermentative fire—Top Rung Brewing’s second anniversary Beerbalation was not so much a party as it was a jubilant, sud-soaked sermon preached from atop a gleaming 10-barrel pulpit. Held Saturday, April 16, this was no casual toast—it was a full-blown beer revival, packed wall to mash tun with true believers.

Thurston County’s brewing cognoscenti came out in their finest taproom swagger—Three Magnets, Triceratops, and O-Town all filing in like apostles to pay homage to firehouse founders Casey Sobol and Jason Stoltz, two gents who turned a garage-brewed dream into a Lacey landmark, and who still, probably, know how to wield a Halligan tool.

The centerpiece? A triumvirate of boozy divinity: Pyrolysis Imperial Stout in its freshly bottled majesty, flanked by its moody, brooding cousins—one aged in bourbon barrels, the other luxuriating in the dusky embrace of red wine oak. It was liquid proof of the brewery’s dual nature: equal parts firefighter discipline and brewer’s bravado.

The house was thumping. The vibe was righteous. Glasses clinked, stories poured, and someone, somewhere, whispered reverently: “This beer tastes like smoke and redemption.”

Here’s to Top Rung—two years in, eternally ablaze.