A brewer with an international reputation, Gabe Fletcher, the head honcho at Anchorage Brewing, started his career at Midnight Sun, another Alaskan brewing company. After 13 years of helping cultivate an image of creating adventurous beers, Fletcher decided to part ways with Midnight Sun and strike out on his own. In 2011, Fletcher released his first Anchorage beer. Turns out Fletcher’s meticulous attention to detail and brewing expertise combined to make some amazing beer — from fresh-brewed hazy IPAs to mixed culture fermented fruit beers to barrel-aged stouts and barleywines. The brewery took off, eventually moving to its own brick and
Do you feel a chill in the air? Jack Frost nipping at your nose? It’s true; the weather will dip to 77 degrees today. Peaks and Pints will be celebrating the cool weather all day by pouring a five-beer flight of winter-ish craft beers. Cold snaps in the weather make for fine opportunities to sip bold winter beers, bursting with spices, roasted malts, and complex flavors. Take a break from those lighter brews and sip the bold, rich barleywines, barrel-aged browns, and winter warmers that are typically enjoyed during the colder months. Christmas is 154 days away, y’all. Get excited.
Barry Chan, co-owner of Lucky Envelope Brewing, will pour a special Tacoma Beer Week 2024 beer at Brew Five Three Beer & Music Festival at Chamber Bay Aug. 10. Brew Five Three Questions with Barry Chan of Lucky Envelope Barry Chan from the famed Ballard brewery Lucky Envelope Brewing will pour his culinary inspire beer at Tacoma Arts Live’s annual Brew Five Three Beer & Music Festival at Chambers Bay in University Place Saturday, Aug. 10, during Tacoma Beer Week 2024. Chan and his business partner, Raymond Kwan, will join 30 or so regional breweries and
Today isn’t just Sunday; it’s Belgian National Day — a celebration that dates back 193 years, to July 21 1831, and the happy moment when Leopold of Saxe-Cobourg swore allegiance to the Belgian constitution and became the first king of a newly forged European country. In Belgium, the anniversary will be marked with wild scenes and general merriment — or, at least, a few beers and maybe a walk in the park — from Antwerp to Zaventem. At Peaks & Pints, the anniversary will be marked by a few extra Belgian beer on tap and a Belgian beer flight we
Did you know today is International Cake Day? No? You’re not alone. Every local baker we contacted was oblivious to the existence of this “food holiday.” But exist it does. After looking around online, however, the origin of this day is still a mystery to us as well, but there is plenty of information about cake’s history, which dates to ancient times. The word cake is derived from Old Norse “kaka.” Cake then was more like gingerbread due to the availability of refined ingredients. In Ancient Greece and Egypt, cakes were rather heavy and flat and eaten at the end of a
Summer doesn’t really include a major shopping holiday, like Christmas or Valentine’s Day, so there’s no superego telling us where or what to buy. When it’s warm and sunny, we’re given over to lazy impulse buying and bargain hunting; we have the time to more completely enjoy our neighborhood shopping districts and chock-a-block markets and fairs. The annual Proctor Sidewalk Sale kicks off today with Proctor District stores hauling their goods out to the sidewalk through Sunday. Compass Rose, Proctor Arts Gallery, Tacoma Glassblowing Studio, Pacific Northwest Shop, Megs & Mo, Lapis, Chirp & Co., Museum Quality Framing Foxfire Salon
Reuben’s Brews is the most award-winning brewery in Washington – collecting more than 300 medals since opening in 2012. Recently, the brewery took home nine medals at the 2024 U.S. Open Beer Championship, including gold for their Citra Wit and Yakima Pure Hop Water. The U.S. Open Beer Championship judges more beer styles than any other competition in the world. The judging was held at the U.S. Open Event Center in Oxford, Ohio. The U.S. Open became the first beer competition to be held in its own venue which is a 6,000 square-foot Amish pole barn located on a small
Brew Five Three Questions with Gini Sommer of Tacoma Arts Live Gini Sommer manages the breweries and ciders for Tacoma Arts Live’s annual Brew Five Three Beer & Music Festival at Chambers Bay in University Place. She’s been the administrative and volunteer manager at the former Broadway Center and now Tacoma Arts Live forever, but you’ll see her big smile at Brew Five Three Saturday, Aug. 10 as she walks the giant lawn checking in with the brewers and cidermakers. She thrilled to have 30 or so regional breweries and cideries for beer nerds and novice drinkers alike, as well
10 Great Things About Peaks & Pints Tacoma Beer Week 2024 Tacoma Beer Week is fast approaching in early August, and with it, craft beer’s unofficial takeover of Tacoma. Running 10 days, Aug. 9-18, Tacoma Beer Week 2024 offers curated events with everything your greater Tacoma area heart could desire — game shows and competitions, beer and food pairings, city tours and clean-ups, tap takeovers and more. Peaks & Pints’ co-founder Ron Swarner was front and center when the first Tacoma Beer Week, or TBW, launched in 2014, covering the beer scene in his weekly New Beer Column inside the
Nov. 15, 1980: 26-year-old Ken Grossman brewed his first commercial beer, four years after launching his home-brewing hobby. There were just 40 breweries of all makes in the country, with sales dominated by Coors, Miller, and Budweiser. From modest beginnings on a 10-barrel brew system, Grossman now owns and operates the largest independent brewery in America ― Sierra Nevada Brewing. Grossman’s second batch, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, boasted 36 IBUs, at least thrice as high as Bud Light. Peaks and Pints doesn’t know how many times we’ve heard someone say they tried a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on a whim
The glorious mountain regions in Washington state offer all sorts of great climbing opportunities. Belay from a sandy river beach in Olympic National Park rain forest. Choose from thousands of routes in eastern Washington’s rugged canyons and sunny crags. In the Cascades, take in snow-capped mountain views on a multi-pitch route. Washington is a climber’s paradise. The sheer diversity of rock climbing in Washington State is impressive, to say nothing of the quality of its basalt columns, granite crack systems, and expertly set routes. Washington is pitch perfect. Many Washington breweries brew for these climbers due to the brewery’s location
Tacoma Pride will consume this weekend. The annual Tacoma Pride Festival celebrates love, acceptance, and diversity as the community unites to honor and uplift the South Sound LGBTQ+ community in the beautiful city of Tacoma. From vibrant performances to electrifying Queens, there’s something for everyone at this year’s Pride Festival. Tonight, from 4:30-6:30 p.m., the Pride Festival will kick off with a flag raising and LGBTQ+ Community Pride Awards ceremony at the Pantages Theater, recognizing individuals, community-based organizations and businesses that have shown exemplary leadership or service to the LGBTQ+ community. Rainbow Center staff and board members and Tacoma Pride
Jordan Zehner, co-owner of Incline Cider Company, will pour three ciders at this year’s Brew Five Three Beer Fest at Chambers Bay Saturday, Aug. 10. Brew Five Three Questions with Jordan Zehner of Incline Cider Incline Cider will be one of 30 or so regional cideries and breweries blanketing Chambers Bay giant lawn for the 2024 Brew Five Three Beer & Music Festival Saturday, Aug. 10. Presented by Tacoma Arts Live, Brew Five Three not only will offer splendor for beer nerds and novice drinkers alike, but also delicious local restaurants and live entertainment against the
There are a few Northwest breweries that crank out numerous different beers every week. Block 15 Brewing is one of them. And, the Corvallis, Oregon, brewery releases a wide variety of styles every week, too. Offering unique hop-forward ales, crisp lagers, Belgian-style brews, barrel-aged rarities, and one of the Northwest’s most extensive wild and sour programs, Block 15 produces a range of artfully crafted beers, brewed with a nod toward fresh ingredients and fresh thinking. The Block 15 barrage has arrived again to our Tacoma Proctor District craft beer lodge. It’s time for another in-house Block 15 flight, which we’re
Drekker Brewing’s building began its life in 1880 in the earliest days of Fargo, nine years before North Dakota would become a state. It was built by Northern Pacific as a locomotive repair building and foundry, and it’s the last standing piece of what was a large railroad facility that included a 28-car roundhouse and many other buildings. The building went through many uses and owners over the years but fell into disrepair after sitting mostly empty for several decades. Even still, its soul and character were undeniable, and it was where scientist Mark Bjornstad, builder Darin Montplaisir, businessperson Jesse
Born in Massachusetts and raised in Connecticut, New Englander Steve Luke spent the summer of 2005 between his junior and senior year at Colby College in Maine sweeping floors and making boxes at Allagash Brewing Company. Upon graduating with a degree in sociology and economics, Luke accepted a job washing kegs at Captain Lawrence Brewing Company in the Hudson Valley. He then moved to Boston to work in the marketing department at Harpoon Brewery. After graduation, Luke returned to Allagash as a brewer, and later became head brewer of Cambridge House Brewpub in Connecticut, where he had freedom to play with
Sig Brewing will be pouring Deal With Destiny Cream Ale brewed with Almond Roca at the 2024 Brew Five Three Beer & Music Festival Aug. 10 at Chamber Bay. Brew Five Three Questions with Jeff Stokes of Sig Brewing Tacoma brewery Sig Brewing Company will be one of 30 or so regional breweries and cideries spread out on Chambers Bay giant lawn for the 2024 Brew Five Three Beer & Music Festival Saturday, Aug. 10. Presented by Tacoma Arts Live, Brew Five Three not only will offer splendor for beer nerds and novice drinkers alike, but
Tim Sciascia, Connor Casey, and Kelly Caveney founded Cellarmaker Brewing Company in San Francisco’s SoMa district in 2013. After meeting at Marin Brewing Company, they acquired a former auto shop, completely gutted it, and turned it into their brewery and tasting room. Russian River was a big influence on the hoppy beers that Sciascia would go on to make at Cellarmaker. He and his crew are hopheads. He eventually began brewing hazy-to-opaque pale ales and IPAs. In November 2022, Cellarmaker acquired The Rare Barrel and its facility in Berkeley, California. Last year, Cellarmaker was part of the Fort George 3-Way
New July craft beer in the Peaks & Pints 850-plus beer and cider cooler. Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 7.5.24 Grab a pint of the new Fort George 3-Way hazy double IPA and shop for the weekend. Cheers! A RIVER STEEP AND WIDE, No Boat Brewing: Double dry hopped West Coast IPA brewed in collaboration with Yakima Chief Hops and Washington Wild to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness expansions. Brewed with 100-percent LINC/COLD STREAM Malt Genie Pale. Salmon Safe Talus and Cascade Cryo, and Loza Farms Citra for aromatics of
If you sit down at Peaks & Pints today to enjoy our WeldWerks beer flight with Juicy Bits, Extra Extra Juicy Bits and three first-time residents, take a moment to appreciate the brewery’s nine-year journey to becoming an established northern Colorado destination. In 2009, Neil Fisher began home brewing with friends in his garage. Fisher’s driveway held a lot of friends’ cars during those homebrewing days, and they all drank a lot of those homebrewed beers. Then Fisher threw down the gauntlet. He announced to his buds that if he medaled at the homebrew competition attached to the 2014 Big
In 1997, Rob Horn brewed a banana ale called Monkey Whizz, but it was terrible. He kept his day job as a firefighter in New Jersey while he perfected his homebrewing. His wife, Kelly, a teacher, kept encouraging him. After a visit to his cousin in Washington state, and specifically an influential trip to North Fork Brewing on scenic Mt. Baker Highway 542, the Horns knew they wanted to plant roots in the Pacific Northwest. With a baby on the way, Rob began to look seriously for work out west and when a firefighting position with the Department of Defense
Otherlands Beer unofficially began in other lands. Delaware native Ben Howe grew up in western Massachusetts and moved to Boston when he was 18. He met Washingtonian Karolina Lobrow, a Polish immigrant at an early age, while working the front of house at the renowned Cambridge Brewing Co. But life took them in separate directions before they reunited in Portland, Oregon, before moving to Bellingham to open Otherlands in 2020. Their European-style brewpub is more café than European-inspired, lager-centric brewery, but the beer brings folks from other lands. Their cuisine warrants several pulls from their two Lukr side-pull taps. From
In 2013, J.T. Merryweather and Chris Browhan opened Real Ale Revival, or RaR Brewing, on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay in Cambridge, Maryland. The two graduates of Cambridge-South Dorchester High School had left the Eastern Shore for college and followed careers elsewhere before taking their homebrewing hobby to the next level, and by next level we mean a professional brewery in an 80-year-old former pool hall and bowling alley with a goal of producing well-balanced American pale ales and Belgian inspired brews 10 barrels at a time. Another round of RaR smoothie sour beer has landed in Tacoma —
More new beer — including three Mirage beers — in the Peaks & Pints 850-plus cooler. Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock: 6.28.24 You know it’s a good week when three Mirage beers roll through the door! Stock up on these gems and plenty of others that came in this week. Grab a pint and shop for the weekend. 🍻 4TH OF JULY KITTENS, Fat Orange Cat Brew: Limited edition variant of Baby Kittens hazy IPA brewed with Mosaic, Centennial and Simcoe for less bitterness and more sweet fruit, 7.4%, 16oz 10,000 HOURS, Lowercase Brewing:
Like most beer festivals, Brew Five Three: Tacoma’s Beer & Music Festival will begin with a branded taster glass, thirsty drinkers sporting pretzel necklaces, the faint whiff of sunscreen in the air and the view of the saltwater shoreline, urban creek and canyon, and breathtaking mountains and Puget Sound scenery from Chambers Creek Regional Park. But once the organizer Tacoma Arts Live hands the guests the day’s tap list, the mood will shift. Some will grab for golf pencils and started crossing off old familiars while others start circling the can’t-misses from the 30 beer, cider, and mead booths. Many
Hops are one of Washington’s most prominent crops, their farmers powering the global brewing industry by growing almost 75 percent of the nation’s hop acreage in the state, almost all of which is in the Yakima Valley. A handful of craft breweries sit close to said hops, including Single Hill Brewing. In August 2016, Ty Paxton and Zach Turner opened Single Hill in an old JC Penney Tire Center in downtown Yakima. The two first met at a cider pressing party that a mutual friend was hosting in 2013. Three years later, over pints at Bale Breaking Brewing, the two
We know, we know, you’re thinking, “Is there really a food holiday for every day of the week?” The answer: Yes, yes there is. Today, June 25, is National Strawberry Parfait Day, so we’d encourage you on this 78-degree day to head to Peaks & Pints for … strawberry beer. Strawberries have become more and more popular as a flavor component in malted barley brewed beverages. Though it has been pointed out that some hop varietals impart flavor characteristics likened to strawberries, there are in fact actual brews that use the scrumptious fruit to add their own deliciousness. Stop by
New craft beer in the Peaks & Pints 850-plus beer and cider cooler. Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.23.24 What’s better than shopping for beer? Shopping for beer while drinking a beer! Swing by Peaks & Pints, grab a beer on draft, and browse our 850-plus beer and cider cooler. Cheers! B-MOVIE MONSTER, Trap Door Brewing: Collaboration with Recluse Brew Works, this IPA is brewed with HBC 586, Azacca, Citra and Chinook for a tropical citrus profile with a touch of mango and pine, 6%, 16oz FRESH CROP IPA, E9 Brewing: Collaboration with H&L
Art Larrance was no stranger to the Oregon craft beer scene when he established Cascade Brewing in 1998. The founder of Portland Brewing and the Oregon Brewers Festival partnered with Brewmaster Ron Gansberg, who oversaw the design and installation of the Portland brewhouse. Together, they took their more than 40 years of combined brewing experience to create fantastic sour beers inspired by an abundance of Oregon fruit. Each of their beers is then aged on wine barrels from the Northwestern Oregon region. In April 2020, Larrance sold Cascade Brewing to a team that owned and operated FlyBoy Brewery in Tigard
The summer solstice is upon us; today is the longest day of 2024 for anyone living north of the equator. If pagan rituals are your thing, this is probably a big moment for you. If not, the solstice is still pretty neat. Technically speaking, the summer solstice occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer, or 23.5° north latitude. This will occur at noon. Of course, Peaks & Pints has summer craft beer on the brain. In case you hadn’t noticed, American craft brewing prides itself in flaunting conventions and ignoring or breaking traditions, enough so that
In 2018, art took Stillwater Artisanal Ales founder Brian Strumke to Seattle, where he met Matt Storm, owner of The Masonry, the man known for his intensely curated beer list and wood-fired pizza. In 2020, the pandemic paused Strumke’s nomadic lifestyle and, allowing him to dive into Storm’s concept for a new brewery, Fast Fashion. The duo began brewing a series of small batch beers paired with a smart, fashionable Instagram account. Fast Fashion became its own fashion tribe of line-out-the-door beer culture. In the beginning, Fast Fashion operated as a contract brewery, but it now has Head Brewer Stefano
The closest Peaks & Pints has come to anything remotely cowboy is riding a mechanical bull one summer in downtown Tacoma. We have never worn a cowboy hat, not even after our relative left hers on our back seat. Clearly, we’re no Clint Eastwood. If you’re cowboy, or cowgirl, or feeling a little inner-cowboy or cowgirl yourself — or if you just want to break-in your boots — mosey on down to Peaks & Pints today and order our Tuesday flight, Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Cowboy Beer. Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Cowboy Beer Structures Plainsman 4.9% ABV Structures
Penny Pitchlynn and her Oklahoma City band LABRYS rock Real Art Tacoma tonight. 6-Pack of Things To Do in Greater Tacoma June 18, 2024 Peaks & Pints 6-Pack of Things To Do in Greater Tacoma June 18, 2024, includes Cowboy Beer, Almond Roca up close and personal, and Cellophane Eyes below — but first. … Sir Paul McCartney turns 81. THE TACOMA FACTOID Tacoma is locally known as the “City of Destiny” because the area was chosen to be the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad in the late 19th century. THE DAILY WORD lamentable
Your mother? She’s easy. She likes spending time with you. She likes brunch. She would love that new Coach bag … but she’s way too selfless to buy it for herself. On Mother’s Day, you can be the hero. Father’s Day is another story. Your father is not easy. His hobbies mostly involve television, not that we’re stereotyping or anything. And if he needs something, he buys it for himself (or tasks Mom with it). What the heck could Dad possibly want? Beer and you. Peaks & Pints presents a Father’s Day themed beer flight that can be enjoyed with
Celebrate Britain’s national alcoholic drink and spread beery love throughout the land by joining the National Cheers To Beer at 7 p.m. June 15th as millions of people across Britain raise a glass, say “Cheers to Beer” and post a message on social media with the hashtag #CheersToBeer. Beer Day Britain was founded by Jane Peyton, an award-winning beer sommelier, broadcaster and author, in 2015 and is supported by all major organizations within the industry. Regarding beer, Britain was notable in that for almost a hundred years, it resisted the tide of commercial lager brewing that swept around the world
Structures Brewing founder James Alexander wanted to open a second location since opening in 2015 but kept his head down brewing Belgian farmhouse and mixed fermentation beers and hazy IPAs. During the pandemic, Chuckanut Brewery and pFriem Family Brewers head brewer Bryan Cardwell and longtime friend of Structures joined the ownership expanding their beer portfolio. In March 2023, Structures finally opened their second location in the former Chuckanut spot, which was taken down to the studs. It’s beautiful with two massive glass garage doors in that overlook the water, built a wrap-around patio, beautiful front door and added an entire
One of beer’s most remarkable aspects is its versatility. On top of the fundamental ingredients of water, grain, yeast, and hops, a brewer can add almost any extra ingredients (unless you’re in Germany, where there are literal brewing laws about what you can put into beer). Ingredients found in beer today include chocolate, coffee, nuts, waffles, cookies, spices, cocoa, marshmallows, breakfast cereal, toffee, and the focus of today’s Peaks & Pints to-go beer flight — fruit. When brewers add whole fruit, fresh-picked, never frozen, from a nearby farm or orchard to their beer, it’s magic. Yeast and souring bacteria live
In 2016, three neighbors opened Great Notion Brewing in Northeast Portland and opened the city’s eyes. Businessman Paul Reiter convinced his homebrewing neighbors James Dugan and Andy Miller to take their skills pro and basically freaked out the city known as Beervana with their New England-style IPAs and boundary-pushing culinary-style beers. The awards followed: World Beer Cup, GABF, Best of Craft Beer Awards, and Oregon Beer Awards, as well as the 2018 #1 IPA in America from Paste Magazine, Ripe IPA. Great Notion was the first Portland brewery to become known for hazies, and the controversial style, and traditionalists hated
Pride is the civil rights movement of our generation. Fifty-five years ago, this summer, New York City bar patrons of many genders, sexualities, and racial identities trapped a group of police officers inside the Stonewall Inn after they shut down the bar in yet another routine raid. Riots continued the following two nights as the LGBTQ community spread word that something unique was happening in Greenwich Village. But whatever happened that night lit a spark that lasted for several days and propelled America’s gay rights — the Gay Liberation Movement – forward. Every June, Pride Month, we celebrate their uprising
Maybe because it’s a blend, maybe because there’s no point in aging it, or maybe because half-full bottles of it sit wedged into Tacoma refrigerator doors with decorative stoppers jammed in them, but rosé has a dodgy reputation. It’s grocery-store wine. It’s “cougar juice.” It’s simply an embarrassing color. Except, no, it isn’t. Well, get ready for a roséducation. The Greeks and the Romans made rosé. Monks made rosé too. Rosé wines are generally made from red grapes and are very versatile wines. A rosé wine will also be lighter in color than red wine, deeper in color than white
High school dropout turned tech industry entrepreneur Barry Braden met Ballast Point brewer Alex Tweet in San Diego. They became fast friends. Tweet went on to brew at Modern Times Beer. Braden knew Tweet needed his own brewery to flourish. Braden convinced Tweet to move to Northern California so they could open Fieldwork Brewing Company in West Berkeley. They opened Fieldwork in 2014, and adding satellite operations in Corte Madera, Monterey, Napa, Sacramento, San Leandro, San Mateo, and San Ramon. Fieldwork honors Northern California’s magnificent outdoor landscapes with an array of idiosyncratic, highly aromatic and well-balanced beers. Today, Peaks &
Peaks and Pints New Beer In Stock: 6.6.24 Stop by Peaks & Pints and grab delicious beer for this coming sunny weekend. Cheers! COMPUTER, ENHANCE! Ravenna Brewing: Collaboration with Structures Brewing, this modern West Coast double IPA has big citrus and dank pine before a hi-def tropical notes, 8.3%, 16oz DANGER DUEL, Unsung Brewing: Juice forward unfiltered IPA with Strata, Motueka, El Dorado, and Simcoe hops battling for notes of melon and mango, 6.7%, 16oz DISRUPTO, Unsung Brewing: Fruited sour with a blend of blueberry and plum, 6%, 16oz EDDY HOPPER, Old Schoolhouse Brewery: Brewed with Mosaic, Citra, Simcoe, and
If it were socially acceptable to drink beer in the morning, one with Amarillo hops would be the perfect way to start the day — combined with a balanced breakfast (of course). Amarillo provides a super-citrusy aroma verging on oranges, lively citrus flavor, and a medium-high bitterness, that is sure to wake the taste buds. The hop may seem as though they might be grown in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrennes but in fact come from Washington’s Virgil Gamache Farms. And while most strains can be propagated independently through the purchase of rhizomes, Amarillo is not one that you
A rare June weather event with two back-to-back atmospheric rivers hit the Pacific Northwest on Monday bringing record-breaking rainfall and leaving more than 200 000 people without power. According to meteorologists, the storms were fueled by the remnants of a former tropical storm in the West Pacific Ocean, with the first of two waves of rain pushing into the region on Sunday. This first atmospheric river, the more potent of the two, impacted the region yesterday and the second one last night. Today, a front will move onshore over the Pacific Northwest and inland to the Northern Intermountain Region and
