Hefeweizen began as rebellion wrapped in comfort. In Bavaria, wheat beers were once restricted, then revived, then refined into something clouded, expressive, and unapologetically alive — beers where yeast was finally allowed to speak in full sentences. Banana, clove, soft citrus, fresh dough: these weren’t flaws to be scrubbed away but signatures to be nurtured, born of open fermentation, specific strains, and a belief that beer should feel human. German hefes prize balance and breath, fruit and spice in quiet conversation, sweetness held gently in check, carbonation lifting everything like a well-timed laugh. American interpretations tend to play with the
Lumberbeard Brewing Cut-Off Flannel IPA, resting on the big rock at North 27th & Mason — where the Mason Trail exhales back into the neighborhood. Walk the trail then enjoy a pint of this IPA at Peaks & Pints in the Proctor District. The Daily Outside: Mason Trail, Point Defiance Park 1.14.26 Wednesday’s Daily Outside slips between errands and old trees — a reminder that some of Tacoma’s best walks don’t require a destination, just a willingness to let the neighborhood quietly turn green around you. Local Trails & Neighborhood Greenways Mason Trail & Puget Creek
Baltic Porter Day lands at Peaks & Pints Saturday. Mashing-In News: Baltic Porter Day, PNW Craft Beer 2026 GOOD MORNING, SOUTH PUGET SOUND! Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026 — Jason Bateman turns 57 today! Tuesday’s craft beer news pours dark and thoughtful, tracing Baltic porter reverence, Pacific Northwest brewing’s steadier next act, evolving style definitions, and the ongoing tension between sustainability ideals and what drinkers actually order when the glass hits the bar. Peaks & Pints Goes All In on Baltic Porter Day Peaks & Pints will celebrate International Baltic Porter Day on Saturday, January 17, with
Tuesday’s New Beer Six-Pack lineup slips in with a sly grin — hazy bravado brushing against featherlight restraint, pilsner precision, and hop-lit ease. Balance, it turns out, tastes better when it surprises you. Peaks & Pints New Beer Six-Pack 1.13.26 Tuesday’s New Beer Six-Pack drifts in with a sly grin — hazy bravado brushing up against featherlight restraint, pilsner precision, and hop-lit ease — a reminder that the best balance in beer comes with a little surprise baked in. FALSE HOPE BREWING MASOCHIST: This hazy triple IPA leans hard into overripe tropical fruit, citrus syrup, and
Ladd & Lass Brewing arrived in Seattle in 2021 wearing a friendly name and carrying an absolutely serious work ethic. Founded in the University District by Nick Ladd — aka The Ladd — and Jessie Quan — aka The Lass — the operation feels less like a business than a beautifully coordinated act of devotion. Nick is brewer, cellar dweller, delivery driver, nationally ranked BJCP judge, fermentation obsessive, former architect, and pug enthusiast, while Jessie handles marketing, design, labels, social media, taproom flow, canine greetings, and the quiet magic of making a space feel human, all while celebrating her birthday
All the ways out are actually ways in — Point Defiance’s trails quietly reminding you that adventure lives five minutes from home. The Daily Outside: Climbing Skills, FeederWatch … 1.13.26 Tuesday’s Daily Outside is about learning how things work — on the wall, at the feeder, and along the trails you thought you already knew. Climbing Skills & Building Competence The Mountaineers — Intermediate Climbing (Tacoma Branch) Tuesday, Jan. 13, 5–9 p.m. Tacoma Program Center, North Tacoma This is where climbing stops being instinct and starts becoming understanding. The Mountaineers’ Intermediate Climbing program offers an evening
Warrenton finally gets its first hometown brewery. Mashing-In News: Battery 245 Brewing, Fair Isle Knitting Circle GOOD MORNING, SOUTH PUGET SOUND! Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026 — Julia Louis-Dreyfus turns 65 today! Tuesday’s craft beer news drifts between first pours and long memories — a coastal town finally taps its first brewery, bottle clubs reopen their secret notebooks, cider and hop water redraw the map of moderation, and old giants like Guinness remind everyone that patience, place, and a good story can still roar back louder than any trend cycle. Warrenton Gets Its First Brewery at Last
Peach season is supposed to be fleeting — a hot blink of August, juice on your wrists, then gone — but today’s flight politely disagrees. The Peaks & Pints Monday Peach Cider Flight treats peach not as a sugar rush or a seasonal cliché, but as a mood: adaptable, expressive, capable of whispering or swaggering depending on how it’s handled. Across these glasses, peach slides between spice and restraint, bubbles and barrels, calm confidence and cocktail bravado, always anchored by apple and guided by balance. This is stone fruit with a little life experience — how to linger, how to
Walk a 30-minute beer tour between Narrows & Matchless at 5 p.m. Thursday inside Peaks & Pints. 6-Pack of Things To Do in Tacoma: January 12–18 Mid-January in Tacoma doesn’t demand attention — it leans in, clicks on a headlamp, pours something dark with intention, and waits to see who’s willing to meet winter where it actually lives. This is a week where myth, motion, music, malt, and mischief quietly agree that the season rewards curiosity, not hibernation. The Daily Outside: Sasquatch Hunt, FeederWatch | Monday, Jan. 12 Attention gets playful on Monday as The Daily
Eight sightings. One legendary suspect. A perfectly ordinary trail suddenly acting very suspicious. The Daily Outside: Sasquatch Hunt, FeederWatch … 1.12.26 Monday’s Daily Outside asks you to notice what’s already out there — whether it’s a rumored Sasquatch on a familiar trail or a very real bird splashing in a backyard bath. Playful Exploration & Park Wandering University Place Parks — Sasquatch HuntJanuary 5–16Chambers Creek Regional Park (Grandview Trail) Somewhere along the Grandview Trail, Sasquatch has been sighted — allegedly. The Sasquatch Hunt turns a walk at Chambers Creek Regional Park into a self-guided scavenger hunt
Breweries are choosing financial stability over extra square footage. Mashing-In News: Sports Bra Lands WNBA Legend, Inside Rochefort GOOD MORNING, SOUTH PUGET SOUND! Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 — Howard Stern turns 72 today! Today’s craft beer news captures an industry recalibrating with purpose—where expansion is thoughtful, closures are strategic, non-alcoholic beer proves its craft credentials, and clarity, community, and restraint are shaping what comes next. The Sports Bra Lands WNBA Legend Renee Montgomery as Investor, Launches Playmakers Initiative The Sports Bra, the world’s first bar dedicated exclusively to women’s sports, announced WNBA legend and Atlanta Dream
Milk stout began life not as dessert, but as reassurance — a beer built to steady the hands and soften the day. In the early 1900s, British brewers folded lactose, an unfermentable milk sugar, into stout not to chase sweetness, but to add body, calm, and the illusion of nourishment. These were restorative beers by reputation and intent, poured for dockworkers, new mothers, and anyone who needed ballast against the grind. Over time, the style shed its medicinal language but kept its soul intact: stout made gentler, rounder, more humane. Lactose didn’t turn stout into candy; it turned it into
Learning how the mountain stays safe, one run at a time — women riding with women, from first chair to last sweep, turning skill, trust, and mentorship into muscle memory. The Daily Outside: SheJumps, Tacoma Light Trail Ends 1.11.26 Sunday’s Daily Outside is about learning how to move through a place with confidence — whether that place is a steep, consequential mountain or a familiar forest path you suddenly see more clearly. Mountain Skills & Women’s Mentorship SheJumps — Calling Women In Ski Patrol Sunday, Jan. 11, 7:30 a.m.–5 p.m. Crystal Mountain This is a full-day
Ten years ago, Steve Luke stepped away from Elysian and struck the match on Cloudburst Brewing, not because Seattle needed another brewery, but because it needed one that refused to behave. Safe was never the assignment. From day one, Cloudburst spoke in one-offs — a restless churn of hop experiments, fleeting recipes, and glorious “don’t get attached” beers that built a national reputation on surprise, precision, and just enough gleeful troublemaking to keep things interesting. Now the 10th anniversary has arrived in full Seattle weather and volume: Jan. 9–11 at the Shilshole location, layered with celebratory pours and good chaos,
In 2025, the Surfrider South Sound crew hosted 500+ volunteers, performed 10 beach cleanups and sent 3000 pounds of debris packing from our beautiful shores. Photo courtesy of Surfrider South Sound. Saturday’s Daily Outside is about showing up where it counts — beaches, hillsides, marshes, and forest paths — doing the kind of work that rarely makes noise but keeps this place breathing. Coastal Stewardship & Community Care Surfrider South Sound — Chambers Bay Beach CleanupSaturday, Jan. 10, 1-3 p.m.Chambers Bay Beach, University Place Start the year with sand under your feet and something useful in
Fresh cans. Slow sips. Winter vibes. Abbey-dark reflections collide with anniversary fireworks, blushing wilds, steady lager wisdom, communal haze, and barrel-warmed dessert dreams — a six-pack assembled to remind you that winter drinking rewards patience, curiosity, and a little well-earned swagger. BLOCK 15 THE PROPHECIES: Velvet-dark and contemplative, this Block 15 quadrupel layers fig, raisin, cocoa hush, and abbey warmth, unfolding slowly like a candlelit sermon meant to be savored, not rushed, 10.3%, 16oz. CLOUDBURST BREWING QUITE THE PARTY: Brewed for Cloudburst Brewing’s 10th anniversary, this IPA erupts with Nectaron, Simcoe, Citra, and Chinook, sending tropical
Perennial Artisan Ales emerged from St. Louis in 2011 with the kind of cellar-lit ambition that doesn’t bother knocking. Built around brewer Phil Wymore and co-owned with Emily Wymore, the brewery set its sights on beers with intention and backbone — saisons with lift, barrel work guided by patience, and dark ales designed to slow you down mid-sip and rearrange your evening plans. Growth followed, but the compass never wobbled; Perennial expanded its footprint while keeping its center of gravity firmly planted in craft, character, and an ever-curious refusal to get comfortable. Then came Abraxas, and the temperature changed. First
Tacoma Tree Foundation is bringing trees to Hilltop Tacoma. Photo courtesy of the Tacoma Tree Foundation The Daily Outside: Green Blocks, Trails Across the Park 1.9.26 Friday’s Daily Outside leans into the long view — the kind of care that begins quietly and pays off when you’re not looking. From requesting a street tree that will one day cool your block, to wandering forest paths you already love, to lining up spring planting and letting winter light reframe the city after dark, this is a day about choosing attention over urgency. Nothing here asks you to
Kicking off 2026 with curiosity, conversation, and a clear-eyed look at where beer is headed — the Grit & Grain crew alongside fermentation expert and educator Shanleigh Thomson, talking what we drink, when we drink it, and why place still matters. Mashing-In News: Grit & Grain with Shanleigh Thomson, Garden Path Sues GOOD MORNING, SOUTH PUGET SOUND! Friday, Jan. 8, 2026 — Jimmy Page turns 82 today Today’s craft beer news surveys an industry in transition, from big questions about beer’s future and who gets to tell its story, to legal battles over transparency, consolidation reshaping
Toffee didn’t begin as candy so much as an act of controlled recklessness — sugar pushed past politeness, butter browned into something darker, heat trusted to do the slow, irreversible work of transformation. Long before it was wrapped in wax paper, toffee was about nerve and patience, about flirting with bitterness until balance finally clicked. Beer learned this lesson early. When malt is boiled long, when sugars caramelize instead of sprinting, when time is treated as an ingredient rather than an inconvenience, toffee simply appears — not added, not announced, just there. It lives quietly inside old ales, Scotch ales,
Sustainability, but make it drinkable. The Daily Outside: Green Drinks, Environmental Services Thursday, January 8 Today’s Daily Outside lives in the in-between spaces — the rooms where conversations turn into decisions, where listening counts as participation, and where the systems beneath our feet quietly reveal themselves. This is a day for connecting people to policy, curiosity to action, and future planning to present reality, all without needing a shovel, a helmet, or a heroic backstory. Pick one, or let the mix remind you that caring for where you live shows up in more ways than one.
Merchant du Vin exists because Charles Finkel — alongside his late wife, Rose Ann — trusted American drinkers with something deeper. Founded in 1978, long before imported beer was fashionable or even widely understood, Merchant du Vin became a quiet act of cultural translation, carrying centuries-old European brewing traditions across the Atlantic with care, patience, and conviction. Charles may have been the public evangelist, but Rose Ann was the backbone and co-architect of the vision, shaping relationships, logistics, and trust with the same steady hand that defined the company’s soul. Together, they believed that beer could be more than refreshment
Today’s Tacoma History Walking Tour may encounter fewer downtown shoppers and fewer cars than in the 1950s — thanks to the Tacoma Mall. Photo courtesy of Richards Studio Photographic Slides (D75923-4), Northwest Room at Tacoma Public Library The Daily Outside: Trail Babies, Tacoma History Walking Tours Jan. 7 Wednesday’s Daily Outside moves at a human pace — from tiny first steps in Point Defiance to long, story-rich sidewalks downtown, with future planning and evening wandering layered gently in between. This is a day about learning how to be outside at every scale: caring for small people,
Awards don’t make a stout great, but great stouts do have a way of quietly accumulating hardware. This Peaks & Pints Award-Winning Stout Flight moves with intention, a steady progression from everyday excellence into barrel-aged depth, guided by balance, patience, and craft that keeps earning its way onto podiums. These aren’t novelty dark beers chasing sugar spikes or shock value; they’re stouts that win the long game, built with restraint, structure, and flavors that know exactly when to lean in and when to step back. From approachable classics you could happily revisit all night to rye- and bourbon-barrel gravity meant
A regular day at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort, upgraded with a side quest. Smith Treasure Hunt Tuesday turns skiing and riding into a game of observation, curiosity, and just enough mystery to keep you looking twice. Photo courtesy of Crystal Mountain Ski Resort The Daily Outside: Smith Goggles, Native Plants … Tuesday, Jan. 6 Some days stretch from mountain side quests to quiet, close-to-home care — today’s Daily Outside does both. It gracefully holds Crystal Mountain and Tacoma sidewalks in the same frame, which is exactly what this list is doing. Adventure & On-Mountain Play Crystal
#PubJanuary asks drinkers to show up for local breweries when winter is toughest, spotlighting taprooms as community hubs with food, events, and NA options. Mashing-In News: #PubJanuary, Flannel Fest GOOD MORNING, SOUTH PUGET SOUND! Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026 — Kate McKinnon turns 42 today! Tuesday’s craft beer news swings from community-minded winter survival mode (#PubJanuary and flannel-and-charity season) to deep-style nerdery and big-ticket spectacle, with American bock history, Utopias’ barrel-aged bravado, and a fresh wave of genuinely good non-alcoholic beers rounding out the mix. #PubJanuary Urges Drinkers to Support Local Breweries Through Winter The #PubJanuary campaign
Winter is when pears finally stop apologizing for being subtle. Apples can shout all year if they want, but pears prefer the cold — ripening slowly, holding sweetness in reserve, letting texture and perfume do the real work. In winter, pear becomes less about juice and more about presence: grainy flesh, floral lift, a softness that feels earned instead of rushed. It doesn’t resist the season; it settles into it, growing calmer, quieter, and more compelling as the light fades. Pear ciders follow that same temperament. They move differently than apple-forward pours — rounder at the edges, gentler on the
The Proctor Farmers Market proves winter doesn’t cancel community, serving up storage crops, warm pastries, local meats, and neighborly conversation in its cozy cold-weather form. 6-Pack of Things To Do in Tacoma: January 5–11 January in Tacoma doesn’t hibernate so much as recalibrate — lowering the volume, sharpening the light, and daring you to notice what still glows once the glitter packs up. This is a week of bird counts and bike lights, beer science and civic listening, earnest cartoons and cold-weather carrots — proof that winter isn’t a pause button so much as a tuning
Hike the Mason Trail in North Tacoma, then plan your next hike down the street at Peaks & Pints. A daily guide to caring for, learning about, and enjoying the outdoors right where we live The Daily Outside began as a simple question, the kind that sneaks up on you while tying your boots or staring out a rain-streaked window: what if being outside didn’t have to mean going far, buying more gear, or pretending you’re someone who owns a roof rack? What if the outdoors was already here — in the trees that shade your
Join knowledgeable volunteers at Tahoma Bird Alliance to practice backyard bird identification today. Start the week close to home with a couple of simple ways to learn, care for, and enjoy the outdoors right where you live. … Monday, January 5, 2026 Birds & Backyard Skills Tahoma Bird Alliance — FeederWatch at the Tahoma Bird Alliance Office Monday, Jan. 5, 2–3 p.m., University Place This is a warm, indoor way to sharpen your outdoor awareness. Join knowledgeable volunteers at Tahoma Bird Alliance to practice backyard bird identification, compare notes with other birders, and contribute real data
More than 29 Oregon breweries, taprooms, bottleshops, and cideries closed in 2025, including Rogue Ales. Mashing-In News: Steve Allen Dies, 2025 in Oregon Beer GOOD MORNING, SOUTH PUGET SOUND! Monday, Jan. 5, 2026 — Robert Duvall turns 95 today! Monday’s craft beer news lands at the crossroads of reflection and resolve, pairing hard-earned lessons from Oregon’s recalibrating beer scene and the passing of a true coastal pioneer with forward-looking conversations about sustainability, supply shifts, community-building, and what it will actually take to thrive in 2026—less about chasing trends, more about proving value, deepening roots, and adapting
When the beer’s 20% ABV, the die is d20, and the hat knows spells. Fancy Pants Sunday: Dragon’s Milk x Dungeons & Dragons — D20 Brew: Silver Edition Welcome to Fancy Pants Sunday, Peaks & Pints’ weekly celebration of beers that arrive not with a pop-top, but with a prophecy. This week’s exalted elixir is Dragon’s Milk x Dungeons & Dragons: D20 Brew – Silver Edition, a 20% ABV imperial stout aged in double bourbon barrels and infused with real-world vanilla beans and fantasy-world grandeur. Brewed by New Holland Brewing in partnership with the tabletop titans
Color arrives first — neon, tropical, unapologetic — splashed across labels, glowing in the glass, embedded in the way Tripping Animals Brewing treats beer less like a rulebook exercise and more like a living art project. Founded in 2018 by four longtime friends — Daniel Chocron, Ignacio Montenegro, Iker Elorriaga, and Juan-Manuel Torres — the brewery carried its creative spark from Caracas to South Florida, landing in Doral with Miami’s sun-soaked surrealism fully intact. From the start, fruit, hops, and imagination were encouraged to roam freely, but never without intention. These beers feel alive, saturated with purpose, equally comfortable being
Vanilla is one of those quiet miracles we forget we’re obsessed with. It began life as an orchid — fragile, temperamental, absurdly labor-intensive — cultivated by the Totonac people of Mexico, traded like contraband treasure, fought over by empires, then slowly absorbed into the global bloodstream until it became shorthand for “plain,” a grave misunderstanding vanilla has endured with monk-like patience. Real vanilla is anything but boring: floral and resinous, creamy with a faint smokiness, capable of rounding sharp corners and deepening shadows. It’s less a flavor than a feeling, the aroma of warmth, memory, and dessert plates scraped clean.
Friday’s new beer six-pack includes foggy farmhouse whispers, winter-dark comfort, and hop-bright sparks all sharing the same breath. The calendar flips, the light shifts, and this New Beer Six-Pack slips in like a bracing January inhale — foggy edges, crisp turns, hop-bright sparks — proof that fresh starts taste better when they wander a little and refuse to stay tidy. COLDFIRE BREWING ELISABETH: Citrus peel and gentle oak glide through this barrel-kissed farmhouse blend, winey and sunlit, unfolding with quiet grace as ColdFire Brewing lets complexity whisper instead of shout, 5.5%, 16oz. HETTY ALICE BEER FREEZING
Abomination Brewing has never been interested in subtlety, and that’s precisely the point. Founded in 2017 by homebrewing friends Joe Feldman and Josh Arno, Abomination emerged from Connecticut’s brewing shadows with a mission that felt part mad science, part sugar-fueled prophecy: take indulgence seriously and push it until it glows. What began as a nomadic, Kickstarter-born experiment quickly became a calling card for plush hazy IPAs, milkshake excess, and pastry stouts that flirt shamelessly with dessert while still remembering they’re beer. Abomination’s real expertise lives in that narrow, dangerous lane where overload becomes art, where hops, lactose, spice, and roast
New Year’s Day doesn’t ask for fireworks or bravado; it asks for water, light, and something that understands the power of speaking softly. The Peaks & Pints Clean Slate Flight is a quiet recalibration, a long exhale after the long night, built around beers that prize precision over spectacle and refreshment over flexing. These are clear-headed pours for foggy mornings — lagers and saisons that rinse the static away, hops that snap instead of shout, yeast that hums rather than howls. Picture open windows, a clean notebook, steady footing. Starting fresh doesn’t require reinvention, just attention. Five beers, no clutter,
Let’s not pretend 2025 behaved itself. This was a year that pinballed between triumph and faceplant, between communal joy and late-night doomscrolling, between “we’re so back” and a long, exhausted sigh. Rather than file a complaint with the universe or scrawl a manifesto on a cocktail napkin, Peaks & Pints suggests the older, sturdier solution: hops, turned up, administered with intention. Before we shut the doors and let the glitter finally settle, we revive a favorite end-of-year ritual with a lineup of unapologetically boozy IPAs, each one built to warm, steady, and carry us across the threshold. This all-day-until-we-close-at-9 p.m.
Prairie Artisan Ales didn’t arrive quietly. It burst out of Krebs, Oklahoma in the early 2010s like a neon flare fired into a sky no one thought to watch, gleefully proving that globally relevant, boundary-pushing beer could come from a place most people only knew by highway sign. From the outset, Prairie fused maximalist flavor with unmistakable visual swagger — bottles that looked like underground gig posters, beers brewed as if someone turned the saturation knob past “reasonable” and shrugged. Imperial stouts thick with dessert gravity, sours splashed with fruit and attitude, everything unapologetically vivid and engineered to linger in
Some Mondays call for fireworks; this one asks you to lower your voice and lean in. The Peaks & Pints Monday Cider With Restraint Flight is built around the idea that cider, at its most compelling, doesn’t need sugar or spectacle to make a point. These are structure-first pours — dry apples, serious pears, living wild ferments, oak used with a light hand, and one old-world curveball that quietly rearranges expectations — chosen not to impress quickly, but to reward attention. This is cider that behaves more like good wine or a thoughtful saison: tannin doing the scaffolding, acid keeping
National Box of Chocolates Day lands exactly where it should — December 28, the holiday’s soft landing, when the calendar loosens its grip and indulgence no longer needs a reason or a ribbon. The frenzy has passed. The house is quieter. Somewhere, one last unmarked piece sits in the box, quietly daring you. That’s the spirit guiding this flight: curiosity without obligation, comfort without ceremony, discovery without pressure. Creams, caramels, ganache, dark bars, and the mysterious final bite translated into beer logic instead of candy gimmicks — texture over tricks, patience over punchlines. Each pour behaves like a chocolate from
Caught in that soft, lawless stretch between Christmas indulgence and New Year’s resolution — when calendars lose authority and leftovers feel like a long-term plan — Peaks & Pints’ Saturday Smoothie Sour Flight happily abandons restraint. This is the week when spoons become acceptable beer accessories, balance is a theoretical concept, and nobody is pretending dessert needs permission. These pours are thick, fruit-loaded, pastry-adjacent marvels built for afternoons that drift into evenings, where sweetness shows up early and lingers with confidence. Call it technicolor nostalgia, blender bravado, and just enough sour snap to keep one foot in beer reality. Lean
Boxing Day has never really been about boxes so much as it’s been about the exhale. Born in the long shadow of Christmas across Britain, Ireland, and the old Commonwealth, it was the day when servants finally rested, tradespeople opened their literal “Christmas boxes” of tips and thanks, churches redistributed alms, and households loosened their grip on ceremony. The feast was finished. The guests had drifted off. The fire still glowed. Boxing Day belonged to the people who made everything work in the first place — generosity after spectacle, reflection after excess, the quiet recalibration that follows a day spent
The Winter Light Deficit has reached critical levels in Proctor. Dark afternoons. Flat rooms. December doing what December does. Directive: Proceed to Marcus Harper GlassWorks in the former True Muse space and secure one of his blue glass snowflakes — hand-blown shards of winter light made from fire in Brown’s Point, designed to catch what little daylight we have left and give it back better. These are not just ornaments.They are mood stabilization devices. 🚨 HOLIDAY GIFT EMERGENCY NO. 12: THE WINTER LIGHT DEFICIT Status: Shimmering and acuteLocation: Marcus Harper GlassWorks — Proctor
