Wingman Brewers 5th Anniversary Party photos
Date: April 23, 2016
Event Information
Craft beer, dear reader, is not merely the fermentation of barley and bravado—it is ritual, communion, elixir and exorcism, all swirled in a tulip glass and served at just the right temperature. And when a brewery hits a milestone like five years of sudsy mischief, you don’t so much celebrate as ignite a small hop-soaked rebellion. So it went when Wingman Brewers turned the big 5 on Saturday, April 23, and transformed a warehouse just a few wing flaps down from their Tacoma nest into a cathedral of craft-laced revelry.
There were the faithful—friends, lovers, keg runners, distributors, and yes, the ever-nomadic Bikerobrew posse, parking their fixies long enough to dive into Wingman’s full arsenal of brews. The crown jewel? A 5th Anniversary Quintuple Hops Imperial IPA, a holy howl of Citra, Mosaic, Comet, Simcoe and Amarillo—an olfactory gauntlet of pine resin and citrus dreams that gave way to dried fruit decadence and just enough earthiness to make you feel connected to the soil beneath your dancing shoes.
New to the flock, brewer Mike Dempster—he of Greenpoint (NY), Buoy (OR), and Graff Brygghus (Norway) lineage—held court beside the tanks, charming beer nerds with tales of distant mash tuns and the secret love language of yeast strains. The man had the swagger of a Viking and the heart of a yeast-whisperer.
And like any good Tacoma beer tale, there was a detour: a short stumble next door to Old Soldier Distillery, where the spirits are just as bold, and the grins just as crooked.
As for Wingman co-founder and brewer Ken Thoburn, the man was radiant—beaming the kind of smile usually reserved for lottery wins or perfectly attenuated Belgian Tripels. Captured in the obligatory brewery brain trust photo, Thoburn looked every bit the alchemist-turned-king, basking in the strange magic he helped conjure from grain and grit.
Here’s to Wingman, five years young and already mythic. May their tanks stay full, their hops stay loud, and their warehouses always a little too packed for comfort.