Once upon a colonial yesteryear—before coffee pods, before IPAs hazier than moral clarity, before we declared war on gluten—cider was what you drank when your well water came with bonus cholera. It was the golden elixir of agrarian life, the bubbly buffer between Revolutionary ideals and dysentery. Fast-forward a couple centuries and cider has gone from “rustic thirst aid” to “impossibly nuanced artisan expression of terroir, tradition, and WTF is a Spitzenburg?” Which brings us, blessedly, to Olympia, Washington, and Three Magnets Brewing Company, where on Thursday, Sept. 17, a perfect storm of apple wizardry will descend in celebration of
The following is what I learned during day two of the California Craft Beer Summit in Sacramento Sept. 12, which included a late afternoon Brewers Showcase Festival featuring 150 California breweries lined up outside between the State Capitol Building and the Sacramento River. According to Dr. Charlie Bamforth, professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences at the University of California Davis, there’s a beer for everybody. “Some people say to me: ‘I don’t like beer.’ That’s nonsense. You just haven’t found the right beer for you yet. If you like Miller Lite, then I’m sad for you. But at least you
As I drove 725 miles through jockeying semi trucks, dusty lakes and sweltering heat toward the inaugural California Craft Beer Summit, I was certain I would be surrounded by astonishing epiphanies offered up by the beer-famous, controlled debauched, hops overloaded spectacle now underway in the Sacramento Conference Center. After all, it’s been a helluva week in their $6.5 billion industry, one that featured Petaluma’s Lagunitas Brewing Co. announcing a 50-50 partnership with Heineken International and San Diego’s Saint Archer Brewing Co. being gobbled up by MillerCoors LLC. Somewhere soon in Amsterdam, Loote van Leeuwen will be kicking back on his
Wet Coast to release Fresh Hop Ale Out in Washington’s Yakima Valley—land of sun-scoured skies, rolling basalt bones, and a scent that oscillates somewhere between greenhouse dreams and dank salvation—something truly glorious is climbing. Twisting. Reaching. Thrusting, if we’re being honest. These are Humulus lupulus, the sacred sister of cannabis, slinging themselves skyward like viny serpents on mission from the beer gods. Thousands upon thousands of hop bines (not vines, mind you—this is botany, not brunch) stretch and tangle in ecstatic vertical ballet, growing with a fervor most yogis would envy. The result? A resiny, cone-shaped flower that looks a
After the turn of September / In the cloudy skies over Tacoma / Came a roar and a thunder people had never heard / Like the scream and the sound of a big war bird. Up in the sky, a beer in a plane / Baron von Huth is its name. Many breweries tried, but two hit their stride / Early October they’ll release it on the countryside. Tacoma breweries Wingman Brewers and Pacific Brewing & Malting Co. have collaborated on an Oktoberfest beer titled Baron von Huth. The idea soared after Wingman head brewer Ken Thoburn and Pacific Brewing
Carl and Stephanie Leach of North 47 Brewing Co. / photo credit: Pappi Swarner Some couples bond over music. Others over hiking, Netflix, or the quiet ecstasy of shared spreadsheets. But Carl and Stephanie Leach? Their love story is stitched together with malted barley, bubbling fermenters, and a shared tolerance for yeast burps. It all began, as these things sometimes do, at Central Washington University—that fertile academic ground where majors are declared and passions misbehave. While Carl studied toward a future that would include the Air Force Reserves, and Stephanie tuned her compass toward tourism and
It was, unmistakably, beer o’clock—somewhere around the sacred hour of 3 p.m.—when the South Sound Craft Beer Festival morphed from casual sip-fest into full-blown hoppy congregation inside the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall. Yes, beer o’clock is now officially a word, sanctioned by none other than OxfordDictionaries.com alongside such linguistic gems as awesomesauce, butthurt, and hangry, all of which could’ve described the vibe if you showed up too late and the IPA kegs kicked. We, naturally, arrived fashionably delayed—thank you fallen trees, rogue sewer drains, and an unfortunate case of barstool manspreading during Parkway Tavern’s simultaneous IPA blowout. But by the
Always looking for an excuse to party, the astronomically inclined people of Earth recently enjoyed the Perseid meteor shower. In the aftermath, many folks anticipate the changing hue of the falling leaves. Others toil under the rapidly diminishing daylight, raking away said leaves. But if the only seasonally affected vegetation concerning you is the particular combination of malt and hops in your pint glass, this is the most relevant blog you’ll read, ever. Until winter. Pacific Brewing & Malting Co., Tacoma The downtown Tacoma brewery will be releasing several German-style beers to coincide with their one-year anniversary party Oct. 3,
Portland doesn’t have the patent on big-fat beer celebrations. Bend can get down too, with more than 70 purveyors sharing their drinkable bounty over the course of four days, with lively DJs and food to help chase it down. The annual Bend Brewfest wraps up today from noon to 8 p.m. at the Les Schwab Amphitheater. If it was anything like yesterday, expect body paintings, multiple wedding parties, dance parties and piles and piles of gourmet fries. Along with the addition of a Sunday schedule, this year’s festival features a “cider row” of eight regional cideries and two Oregon mead
It’s a wickedly simple concept. Gather ye together a large group of craft beer enthusiasts, targeted for their obsessive adoration of hoppy beers and their preference for Malt Lite and their curious taste in T-shirts, and also for their ability to drink under control and self-deprecate and laugh easily and look at each other like each was sort of crazy for his or her weird and borderline obsession with India Pale Ale. But, you know, in a good way. Thirty Washington breweries bring their IPA, maybe two, maybe a double, even a triple. They will also bring a Pale Ale
FRIDAY, AUG. 7 Slingload Pils release, 5 p.m., Wingman Brewers Wingman Brewers releases a special pilsner for the weekend. The reason is twofold: celebrate beer in the northwest and to give 10 percent of all the sales from that weekend to BRAVO 1-214th GSAB’s Family Relations Group at JBLM. “We encourage people to come down to the taproom, buy some beer and help support their neighbors who are going on deployment and also their neighbors who are having to live without their spouses, mothers, fathers who are deployed,” says Ken Thoburn, Wingman co-owner and head brewer. White IPA release, 6
Unless you’re older than 62 or live in a Tacoma Chinese Tunnel, odds are remarkably good that you’ve already shot a selfie or 20, maybe a 100. What’s your default? What’s your favorite go-to expression? Sweet smirk? Goofy grin? Smoochy duck-face? You know you have one. This is what we do now. This is what we deem important. Because life is nothing if not fruitless, outlandish and wonderful, all at once. Haven’t you heard? Have you heard Harmon Brewing Co. will release a sour beer named after a selfie pose resembling the same facial expression many bust out after drinking
THURSDAY, AUG. 6 Seattle Luvs Tacoma Day, 11 a.m. to close, The Red Hot Seattle breweries flood the taps with discounts. Battle of the Gorge, 6 p.m., Parkway Tavern Washington vs. Oregon. Head to Head. You crown the champions. Famed breweries of the Columbia Gorge battle it out in a head to head taste blind test. Everybody’s Brewing of White Salmon, Wash. and Backwoods Brewing of Carson, Wash. vs. Double Mountain Brewing and pFriem Family Brewers of Hood River, Oregon. Friendships will end this night. Red X release, 6 p.m., Wingman Brewers Tacoma Wingman Brewers will be supporting their friends
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 5 3-Way with friends, 5-8 p.m., The Copper Door Brewers’ night featuring Fort George Brewery, pFriem Family Brewers and Georgetown Brewing with an outdoor beer garden, food trucks and free swag. Randall Night, 5 p.m., Harmon Tap Room Gigantic Brewing Ume Umai & Solid Launch, 5 p.m., The Red Hot Gigantic Brewing co-owner Ben Love will be in the house as Ume Umai (black rice and plum beer) and Solid (American hoppy wheat beer) are launched. Hot Winter Night, 6 p.m., The Swiss Restaurant and Pub Christmas is coming early this year. The Swiss will pour two different
TUESDAY, AUG. 4 Ballast Point Sculpin IPA 5-Ways, 5 p.m., The Red Hot The Red Hot will tap kegs of Sculpin IPA, NITRO Sculpin IPA, Grapefruit Sculpin IPA, Habanero Sculpin IPA and a cask of Blood Orange Sculpin IPA. Who will tap the firkin cask? Will it be you? Scotty The Oaktopus tapping, 5 p.m., Narrows Brewing Co. Oaked IPA? You bet. Pin The Beer On The Brewer, 6 p.m., Pacific Brewing & Malting Co. A big photograph of Pacific Brewing co-owner and head brewer Steve Navarro will hang on the wall with an empty beer hand. Blindfolded contestants will
And so begins Day Two of Tacoma Beer Week, where the air is thick with hops, the weather is moody in the most cinematic of ways, and the city’s pint glasses are slowly but surely preparing for battle. The barley has been summoned. The brewers are caffeinated. And Monday night, dear drinkers, is anything but a warm-up act. 🍻 MONDAY, AUG. 3Ales. Wheels. Mystery. Mild Risk of Randall Madness. 🧪 Randall Night — 5 p.m., Parkway TavernEnter the Randall, that mad-scientist vessel of infusions and surprises. Enter Sean, Parkway’s resident beer whisperer and master of the hop-enhanced unknown. And enter
Hop Valley, Top Rung and Diamond Knot in the house. Photo credit: Pappi Swarner Thursday, Aug. 6 is a big holiday: National IPA Day (or #IPADay, if you’re joining the cause on social media). Founded by beer aficionados “The Beer Wench” Ashley Routson and “Certified Cicerone” Ryan Ross in 2011 as a way to link breweries, bloggers and beer drinkers, National IPA Day celebrates this particular style because the India Pale Ale is one of civilization’s saner inspirations for a holiday: it evolved from a means of preservation during beers’ arduous travels from England to India;
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 produced 1 million barrels in 2014 — equal to 331 million 12-ounce bottles. Grossman’s first batch, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, boasted 36 IBUs, at least thrice as high as Bud Light. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone
U.S. Army Rangers, assigned to 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, advance toward their objective during Task Force Training on Fort Hunter Liggett, Calif., Jan. 22, 2014. Rangers conduct rigorous training to maintain their tactical proficiency. Photo credit: Spc. Steven Hitchcock When you brew beer in honor of the personnel at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, you receive a salute on Peaks and Pints. I’ve given props to Harmon Brewing’s Stryker Stout, as well as nods to the ownership at Odd Otter Brewing Co., composed of current and former soldiers. Tacoma’s Narrow Brewing Company just announced they brewed Lead
Some say the greatness of “Area 13” lies in its surrounding visual birthplace grandeur, the sparkling blue spectacle, the nautical eye candy encompassing all waters south of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Others have pointed out how “Area 13” itself is exoticism wrapped in virile prowess slipped into a shiny black sheath of sexy green alienhop. It would appear that head brewer Mike Davis, manager Mary Asami and the Narrows Brewing Co. crew of brewhounds probed every nook and cranny and orifice of extraterrestrial fantasy handbooks to invent the imperialist 9.8 percent ABV lustcreature imaginable. Evidence? Plenty. Let’s start with the
The South Sound is home to 20 or so craft breweries, with a handful of breweries-in-planning here as well — a sign of a growing depth and breadth that makes the South Sound a notable beer region in the country. One of those breweries, the 51-month-old Wingman Brewers, will double its beer-making capacity by the end of August. Last week I dropped by Wingman Brewers for the growth details and found head brewer Ken Thoburn brewing a big batch of his Prop Wash IPA, which is being bottled this week. “We dry-hopped the Prop using the most hops were have
Maybe you’ve seen Michelle Obama’s plate-shaped replacement for the food pyramid, and maybe you’re worried that you aren’t getting enough fruit to fill up that red wedge. A good place was yesterday’s Bremerton Summer BrewFest. The Washington Beer Commission hosted 32 Washington state craft breweries to convince you that fruit beer doesn’t have to taste like Blue Moon. A lot of the breweries created one-off concoctions specifically for this event, such as Top Rung Brewing’s Lacey Lager ran through a Randall full of coffee and raspberries, Fremont Brewing’s Interurban IPA Randalled with grapefruit and Rosemary, and Dirty Bucket Brewing’s Hefen’
I arrived 15 minutes late. The Puyallup River Alehouse was packed. Owners, head brewers and sales representatives from South Sound breweries gathered in the back, near the beer taps. Puyallup River Brewing owner/head brewer Eric Akeson towered above the crowd as if the beanstalk had been cut. I had to squeeze through a narrow tunnel of beer drinkers to order a beer. Securing a Three Magnets Brewing Co. bronze medal winning Barley Wine, I leaned against the wall, listening to the beer community chat. Harmon Brewing Co. head brewer Jeff Carlson shared his annual Fall Ball Imperial Harvest Ale is
There are evenings when beer is just beer, cigars are just cigars, and you are just a humble human being seeking light intoxication and momentary escape. And then there are evenings like Thursday, July 30, when the cosmos aligns over Aficionado Cigar Lounge in East Tacoma and says, “Darling, why not both?” Enter: A night of curated combustion and beer-drenched bliss. The ever-suave crew at Aficionado will host Perdomo Cigars of Nicaragua and Top Rung Brewing Co. of Lacey for a perfectly orchestrated union of smoky, malty, roasted sensuality. It’s part tasting, part education, part leather-and-cedar-scented dream sequence, and it
This is not your cat’s lager. To many better beer drinkers, lager is a dirty word. It’s the beer that we drank as broke, uninformed college kids — the Bud Lights, PBRs and Heinekens of the world. These beers are pale and watery, and made with adjuncts like corn and rice, and the import versions are often skunky and terrible. Ostensibly a nod to the country’s German heritage, the modern versions of these mass-produced lagers would likely be unrecognizable and disgusting to a beer-drinking immigrant of days gone by. But to a growing number of brewers and beer geeks, lagers
Jacob Thacker, head chef at The Swiss restaurant and Pub in Tacoma / photo credit: Pappi Swarner Beer dinners are a great way to explore craft beer’s myriad flavors. Beer and food have long gone hand-in-hand. Beer is, after all, liquid bread. Pairing beer and food allows the flavors of the beverages and the dishes to blend together, offering comparing or contrasting experiences that highlight the individual components of the dishes and the beers. Often, with successful pairings, the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts. The Swiss Restaurant & Pub excels at
There are beers that whisper. There are beers that sing. There are beers that politely ask if you’d like to sip and ponder and maybe write in your journal. And then there’s The Giant Made of Shadows from Silver City Brewery—a Belgian-style Dark Strong Ale that doesn’t whisper, doesn’t sing, doesn’t ask permission. It looms. It seduces. It wins bronze medals at the 2015 Washington Beer Awards like it’s collecting lost souls, and it does so with notes of dark fruit and caramel and roasted coffee murmuring like an ancient monk in your glass. But wait. The story gets darker.
Ah, Wednesday, July 8, 2015 — a date that will live in frothy, amber-hued infamy, when the Pacific Northwest’s midsummer sun flirted with the horizon just long enough for Tacoma and Puyallup’s beer faithful to gather, clink, sip, and maybe pretend they weren’t slightly tipsy by 8:15 p.m. Let’s begin in Puyallup, where 21st Amendment Brewery Night took over the Puyallup River Alehouse, and the crowd pulsed with a heady mix of San Francisco-born brews and locals eager to tell you just how many times they’ve been to the brewery’s original location. “I had Hell or High Watermelon before it
The second annual Tacoma Beer Week officially runs Aug. 2-8 — if you’re counting, that’s actually 7 days. The celebration is all things to the beer enthusiast, with special tappings, competitions, beer games, personal appearances by many local brewers at numerous Tacoma area restaurants and taverns, culminating at the Broadway Center’s Brew Five Three Blues & Brews Festival in front of the Pantages Theater in downtown Tacoma. See the Tacoma Beer Week schedule of events below. Tacoman Zoe Brackney founded Tacoma Beer Week in February 2014 after Narrows Brewing Company and several other Tacoma breweries asked her to organize an
Top Rung Brewing Head Brewer, Jason Stoltz His first beer arrived not as revelation but as cautionary tale: a room-temperature MGD, smuggled into a backyard while the parents were gone, fizzing softly in the heat like a bad idea clearing its throat. “I hated it,” Jason Stoltz admits. “Dumped it. Hid the can.”Thus began a beer journey founded on rejection, secrecy, and a strong instinct for self-preservation. And yet — because beer loves irony — that unloved can would eventually lead Stoltz straight into firehouses, brewhouses, classrooms, competitions, and medals. Somewhere between that backyard betrayal and
You’ve heard of Gose. It’s German, a sour beer. Pronounced “Go-zuh,” like the thing that wrecked New York in “Ghostbusters.” Reported to be between 200 and 1,000 years old, it’s sour and salty, a low-ABV session beer, which means it won’t get you sauced. Wingman Brewers has Lime Gose in its tanks. “The Lime Gose is just about done,” Wingman co-owner/head brewer Ken Thoburn told me this morning. “Sours take a bit of time and sometimes to get them to the perfect pH you need an extra week. But, right now, the coriander and sour flavors are perfect so we
Sure, you love beer. When you head to the bar for happy hour with friends, you carefully consider the draft, can and bottle lists. You often order something you’ve never tasted, just to see what it’s like. You might have gotten into the habit of filling a growler at a brewery every weekend, or stopping by the neighborhood bottle shop two or three times during the week. Perhaps you’re comfortable with spending $17 on a special beer every now and again. But have you stood outdoors in 96 degree heat for a four-ounce pour of some rare beer that either
Three Magnets Brewing head brewer Pat Jansen caught in the act of brewing. Photo credit: Pappi Swarner Three Magnets Brewing’s head brewer Pat Jansen checks his Strawberry Saison. Photo credit: Pappi Swarner There are plenty of reasons to be excited about Three Magnets Brewing Co., which opened in early November last year. It’s located at the corner of Legion and Franklin streets in downtown Olympia, a stone’s throw (granted, a rather muscular one) from Darby’s Café, which Three Magnets co-owners Nathan and Sara Reilly also own. Head brewer Patrick Jansen is sour-obsessed;
Engine House No. 9 Le Pelerin Saison Ale is now in bottles. Engine House No. 9 released its first bottles this past March — Raspberry Wild Ale and a Farmhouse Style Saison. Saturday, E9 head brewer Shane Johns leaned over and a Washington Beer Awards gold medal was placed around his neck for the Raspberry Wild. He leaned over again for a bronze for his Nefelibata sour. Saturday, June 27, E9 will release its next round of bottles when the doors open at 8 a.m. The restaurant and brewery at Sixth and Pine in Tacoma will
Cue the ceremonial hop confetti and raise your tasting glasses to the sky—Gig Harbor just got a little wetter, a little hoppier, and a whole lot more deliciously drinkable. Welcome to the South Sound suds scene, Wet Coast Brewing Company. Yes, that’s the actual name, and yes, we’re already in love. Now officially open at 6820 Kimball Drive, Wet Coast is your new sacred stop on the Highway of Fermented Intentions, nestled snugly in Gig Harbor like a citrus-forward secret waiting to be whispered into your pint. This is not a drill. This is not another “coming soon” sign taunting
Woot! Day One of the 10th Anniversary Washington Brewers Festival is in the history books; a glorious affair nestled between a grassy field and beautiful skies. The state’s granddaddy of beer festivals has returned to Marymoor Park in Redmond, with 105 breweries pouring 400 different beers, plus a lot of free bags of Tim’s Cascade Chips. Day Two of the Washington Brewers Festival kicks off at 11 a.m. at Marymoor Park. Last night’s adult-only opening of the three-day festival was a blast, and the next two days promises more fun with more breweries and more kids. Yup, the next two
Maritime Pacific Brewing Co. opened in 1990, making it the oldest brewery in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. The brewery sold 400 barrels that year. In 2010, they packed up the goods and sailed down the street to a location just west of 15th Avenue. Today, their Jolly Roger Taproom — a brewpub meets pirates’ lair, complete with a treasure map painted on the floor — is a beloved fixture in the neighborhood, and the 40-barrel brewhouse produces around 8,000 barrels per year for its taproom and distribution throughout the Puget Sound and Eastern Washington. Last night, the Maritime Pacific crew dropped
A Very U.S. Open Redhook Putt Putt Golf Pub Crawl Sequel Cue hushed announcer voice, preferably Bill Murray in full Zen mode. Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. Swiss bartender Josh Hill, wind in his hair, pint in hand, putter trembling with destiny. The crowd holds its breath. The beer gods lean in. Could this be the moment he ascends to the glittering heights of mini-golf immortality and becomes the 2015 U.S. Open Redhook Putt Putt Golf Pub Crawl Champion? Wait for it… Clank. It has hit the cans. It has hit the cans. It has gloriously, righteously, beer-drenchedly hit the damn
Rye has a long history as a brewer’s grain, but its prevalence in whiskey production has, until recently, overshadowed its use in beer. The explosion of craft brewing has seen rye become a more popular grain that gets used in both traditional styles and new hybrids. Brewers prize the unique dry and spicy character it lends to a beer’s flavor and aroma, and the proteins in rye can also provide a fuller mouthfeel and aid in head formation and retention. The Rye Beer Fest, a celebration of the revival of rye beers, was held at EastBurn on East Burnside yesterday
As if Portland’s status as Beervana was in danger of lapsing, the fifth annual Portland Beer Week brings a whole slew of chances to celebrate Oregon suds. I previewed Portland Beer Week a few weeks ago here. I have also listed a few highlights again below. Every year, PDX Beer Week organizer and New School Beer website founder Ezra Johnson-Greenough adds eats to the week’s beer treats. I ventured south for dinner during yesterday’s Portland Beer Week’s opening day festivities. The special Beer Week cake doughnuts made with Hopworks IPA were sold out at Blue Star Donuts on Washington Street.
One of the most incredible things I’ve witnessed covering the craft beer industry is the willingness and ability of its member companies to help out charity causes, campaigns and non-profit organizations. Prime example is the ParkWay Tavern’s Pints With Purpose Collab-A-Gasm Saturday, June 13. ParkWay manager Sean Jackson has elicited the help Of Columbia Distributing and six of the distributor’s client breweries/cideries. Hop Valley Brewing Co., Two Beers Brewing Co., Seattle Cider Company, New Belgium Brewing, Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits and Georgetown Brewing will take over the ParkWay’s taps, host raffle drawings and help raise money for The Lost
This year’s Sasquatch Brew Fest moved down the street from Ninkasi Brewing to Hop Valley Brewing’s distribution parking lot for the second year in a row of sunny weather. Folks huddled under a spray tent indifferent that their program guides listing the 45 participating breweries were soaked; they were too busy studying the more than 75 available beers from local Eugene and Springfield, regional Oregon breweries and even Fish Brewing from Olympia. All the fun of Sasquatch — the beer, Friday night’s beer dinner, a home brew contest, silent auction, food trucks and live bands The Sugarbeets, Mexican Gunfight, Halie
Hey Peaks & Pints, you just won the Washington Beer #DrinkWaBeer Instagram contest — what are you going to do next? We’re going to Disneyland! No wait, scratch that. We’re going to Marymoor Park, obviously — because it’s Father’s Day weekend, and the Washington Brewers Festival is turning 10, and what better way to celebrate paternal influence than by drinking 100+ beers in a public park surrounded by hopheads, food trucks, and lawn chairs that may or may not support your weight after a triple IPA? First: a hoppy, heartfelt THANK YOU to the fine, fermentation-loving folks at Washington Beer
Close you eyes. Now think about your favorite beer being poured into a glass vessel at the right, chilly temperature. Think about the first sip, the touch of frothy head and rush of effervescence, the flavor balanced between sweet and bitter notes. Now, open your eyes. You’re in the brewery where this beer was brewed. Bags of grain are piled in the corner and bottles are stacked in another. In front of you, a stainless steel tank holds thousands of gallons of this precious liquid. You can hear the light gurgle of liquid fermentation. There are posters promoting their Tuesday
