In July 2018, founders and brewing partners Devin Benware, 31, and Shaun Kalis, 37, opened Ruse Brewing in the old Iron Fireman Collective building in Portland, Oregon’s Brooklyn neighborhood. Benware and Kalis began brewing their Ruse beers on a big system before Ruse was a thing. When not brewing for Tomas Sluiter at Culmination Brewing, whom they originally worked under at the Old Market Pub & Brewery in Multnomah Village, they used Tom’s tanks to make their Ruse beer. Initially focused on farmhouses and IPAs, Ruse now brews styles across the spectrum. This past April, Ruse opened their pizza spot,
In September 2014, after seven years of homebrewing, writing business plans, watching Viking movies, and dialing in their branding, scientist Mark Bjornstad, builder Darin Montplaisir, businessperson Jesse Feigum, and engineer Mason Montplaisir opened Drekker Brewing in downtown Fargo, North Dakota. The brewery name is a nod to the region’s Nordic heritage comprised of the words “drekka,” which means “to drink,” and “drykkr” which means “draft drink,” and “drakkar,” the name for the feared dragon-headed longships that ruled the rivers and seas of Europe during the Viking Age. Their epic adventure began with a 10-barrel system in a 5,200 sq. ft.
Rosé has taken over the summer wine season. And why not? It’s refreshing, delicious and its vibrant flavors come in a range of pretty colors. Pink wines make Peaks & Pints think of the warm and sunny vineyards of the south of France. Originating in the Mediterranean climate — known for a relaxed lifestyle and delicious food — it’s no mystery why rosé and summer are a great fit. Made from red-wine grapes, the juice from a gentle first pressing is given limited time to soak on the skins, yielding pale color and lighter flavors. Tonight, Peaks & Pints offers
Peaks and Pints New Craft in Stock 7.13.22 Wassup Wednesday! Peaks and Pints New Craft in Stock 7.13.22 has these tantalizing delights. … 2 Towns Ciderhouse Two Berry Dream: Northwest blueberries, currants, and tons of zesty key lime for a tangy and fresh cider, 5.3% Brothers Cascadia Brewing They’ve Gone To Plaid: Spaceballs-themed hazy IPA brewed with Galaxy and Mosaic hops to boost the tropical aromas to ludicrous speed, 6% E9 Brewing Sawtooth To Hell: West Coast IPA brewed with Idaho-grown “Pure Idaho” Pilsner malt and massively dry hopped with Idaho Gem and Idaho 7 imparting flavors and aromatics of
Team Grit and Grain — Matt McLaren, Sean Jackson, and Ron Swarner — pose after recording their first episode at the Parkway Tavern in Tacoma. Tacoma beer gurus launch Grit and Grain podcast Three Tacoma craft beer gurus have launched Grit and Grain, a weekly podcast to explore and celebrate the craft beer industry, community, and history in their beloved city, with the help from Tacoma centric podcast hub, Channel 253. Dropping every Friday, Matt McLaren (Orcas Distributing), Sean Jackson (Parkway Tavern) and Ron Swarner (Peaks & Pints) steer Grit and Grain through greater Tacoma’s rich
Art Larrance was no stranger to the Oregon craft beer scene when he established Cascade Brewing in 1998. He 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 owns and operates FlyBoy Brewery in Tigard and Lake Oswego. Mark Becker, Ramie Mount, Brian Kovach, and Greg Laird
Amid the excess of high-summer produce, nothing screams “GET AT IT” louder than the blackberries cascading into local alleys, roadsides, markets, and farm stands like a great dark waterfall. Yes, blackberries are an invasive species, but they’ve become as synonymous with the Pacific Northwest as Douglas Firs, crashing rivers and the Cascade Mountains. They grow bountifully throughout summer and ripen to a plump juicy black color in August. They belong to the rose family, as you might expect from their thorny brambles, along with raspberries, strawberries, the stone fruits, and almonds. Peaks & Pints loves blackberries. So do cidermakers. They
At least we had our Peaks & Pints Campfire Crowler of Old Schoolhouse Brewery Between Peaks IPA at the top of Bandera Mountain. Between Peaks: Bandera Mountain The sound of a heavy rockfall echoes off Bandera Mountain. The sound of smashed rocks sends us a gentle reminder that we are not in charge here — we’re simply visitors — soaking wet and wobbly visitors. And our wobbly legs have nothing to do with the Peaks & Pints Campfire Crowler of Old Schoolhouse Brewery Between Peaks we have in our backpack. What begins as a gentle and
Englishman Adam Robbings’ beer recipes killed at homebrew competitions, including winning the silver medal at the National Homebrewing Competition in 2012, and his talent, along with a Kickstarter campaign that raised close to $11,000, eventually earned him, and his wife, Grace, their own brewery — Reuben’s Brews officially opened in Seattle’s Ballard district in August 2012, which they named after their son, Reuben. Since then, the team has accrued an astounding number of accolades, including more World Beer Cup medals than you have fingers and toes. Today, Peaks & Pints presents a to-go flight of Reuben’s beers — a flight
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 7.7.22 Need an excuse to start your weekend early? Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 7.7.22 has eight just for that! 🍻 Fremont Brewing Cultivision: Collaboration with Bale Breaker Brewing, this cold IPA is brewed with Mosaic, Simcoe, HBC 586, HBC 630, and YCH Cryo Hops Trial Product – Mosaic hops for pine and other resinous notes with grassy and fresh floral aromas, followed by slight sweetness with mild bitterness, 7.5% Machine House Brewery Imperial Coffee Stout: Collaboration with Bottleworks, this stout is brewed with El Salvadorian coffee beans from Seattle’s Onda
Normally condemned to rot in a mediocre ceramic bowl, the fruit cup has finally been given the respectable and stylish home it deserves —Peaks & Pints’ to-go beer flight. That’s right, this is not your mama’s fruit cup. It’s more like a fruit cup on … hops. Once considered a maligned novelty, fruit is now one of the arenas where brewers experiment most, uh, fruitfully. According to archeologists, the Mesopotamians were brewing with fruit thousands of years ago. In 1999, Fruitheads became a type a drinker after they gobbled up gallons of Dogfish Heads’ Aprihop, a fruit beer made with
Tillamook, Oregon, is a sleepy, remote, and often damp coastal town 74 miles west of Portland. It smells of sea air and dairy farms. It’s also home to founder and head brewer Trevor Rogers’ de Garde Brewing, whose singular focus is spontaneously fermented, barrel-aged beers. The brewery, found near the Tillamook Air Museum’s massive blimp hangar, barely distributes, meaning fans must either track down bottles on the Internet or visit in person. Once you’re there, the handful of wild ales and guest rarities on tap and limited-release bottles available to go don’t disappoint. Berliner weisses, Belgian ales, porters, and more
Like oil and water, Elizabeth Taylor and marriage, and Iggy Pop and body fat, some things just don’t mix. You can add drinking and playing sports on the Fourth of July to that list. Whether it was kickball, softball or trying to land a football on a camping chair, ragtag “sportspeople” reclaiming their gym-class glory yesterday are feeling it today. You’ll see them hobbling around with a “pulled” hamstring or maybe an arm in a sling from a separated shoulder — whatever the injury there’s a hangover accompany it. Time to drink cherries. No, seriously. Aside from being associated with
Summer is a perfect time for any light, crisp refreshing beer. Still, doesn’t our nation’s independence deserve better than that? Just like how Halloween-themed beers are dragged to the table each October, Peaks and Pints votes to bring some of the Fourth of July beers to the barbecue today. But what is a Fourth of July-themed beer? No, not a Budweiser can with an American Flag splayed across the can. Independence Day beers are more subtle. With names that hint at rebellion, freedom and other tenants of American awesomeness, many year-round craft beers have a built-in necessity to be drunk
Tacoma Fourth of July Growler Power Hours It’s time to celebrate the anniversary of the United States gaining independence in 1776. To commemorate, Peaks and Pints will celebrate in the only way we know: 20 percent discounted growler fills! Sure, eating and drinking, bouncing around on inflatables, ogling classic cars, watching stunt dogs perform and laying down with everyone and looking at the sky for explosions are awesome, but so are 20 percent discounted growler fills. Peaks and Pints will have limited hours Monday, July 4. Stop by 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for a pint, load up a six-pack
New beer from Deschutes, Fast Fashion, Great Notion, and Urban South Brewery. Peaks and Pints New Beer In Stock 7.2.22 We’re deep into the long weekend! Keep the drive alive with a refreshing pint or two! Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 7.2.22 is ready to be raided! We’re here till midnight! Cheers friends! Deschutes Brewery Black Butte XXXIV: Imperial homage to Black Butte Porter brewed with chocolate, coffee, vanilla, and milk sugar, then aged in bourbon barrels for Tiramisu-like sipper, 11% Fast Fashion Puddin’ Cup: Collaboration with The Eighth State Brewing, this chocolate imperial
Summer is upon us. Congratulations for making it this far, everyone. Among the many things that means — your eight-year-old’s guitar camp, heading to the beach, free summer concerts, calls to the mosquito and tick control company, commit to cleaning out the garage and quit when you find a wasp nest that sprang up overnight, head to a garden store and commit to murdering five varieties of plants — is that summer bangers season is here. But what exactly is a summer banger? Simply stated, it’s a juicily fruity, tartly bitter IPA or pale ales. It’s full-bodied but brightly refreshing,
Smoothie sours are a thing. These beers are often with so much fruit puree that they look less like beer and more like a thick 7-Eleven Slurpee. Most of the smoothie sours have a kettle sour base in which the wort is allowed to cool in the brew kettle. Then lactobacillus (a bacteria in yogurt, cheese, and sauerkraut) is introduced. After a day or so, the mash becomes sour, and the brewing process is restarted with enough heat to kill the bacteria. Many breweries use a tart Berliner weisses as the base beer; then a crazy amount of fruit is
Welcome to Tacoma, The Brewing Projekt! Peaks and Pints welcomes The Brewing Projekt In May 2013, brewer Will Glass went to war. He fought the government shutdown. He fought the TTB. He fought the state of Wisconsin. He fought his landlord. Finally, in April 2015, Glass won the right to open The Brewing Projekt in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The Glass became more than half full of hoppy IPAs, then hazy IPAs, then milkshake IPAs, and now smoothie and fruited sours, which Peaks & Pints snagged a few, plus a hazy IPA. Stop by our Tacoma Proctor
Alan Sprints closed his Hair of the Dog Brewing Sunday. It wasn’t a shocker. Instead of delivering chocolates on Valentine’s Day 2022, he delivered his video farewell message stating it’s better to fade away than burn out, although the pandemic certainly burned him out. He announced he wasn’t selling the nearly 29-year-old Portland institution and had a few more beers in him — including the “Alan” strong ale meets IPA, which Peaks & Pints, Parkway Tavern, Rainier Growlers, Bottleworks and other bottle shops helped brew (stay tuned for its tapping at Peaks). Peaks & Pints picked up a few last
Take these new craft beers camping over the Fourth of July weekend. Peaks and Pints Survival Kit of Beers: 6.29.22 This weekend’s forecast calls for mostly cloudy days with a chance of drizzle. If you’re camping, consider bringing a tarp and lots of cord to string up a shelter to keep your fire from the drizzle. Also, bring the Peaks and Pints Survival Kit of Beer 6.29.22 new craft beers. Cheers! Anchorage Brewing Nothing and Everything: IPA fermented with omega yeasts thiol boosting Cosmic Punch and double dry hopped with Phantasm Powder and Motueka hops for
Happy National Almond Buttercrunch Day! The crunchy candy, sometimes called just buttercrunch but other times referred to as almond buttercrunch, or here in Tacoma: Almond Roca. In 1914, Harry Brown and J.C. Haley started a candy company in the City of Destiny. Brown & Haley’s taffy chews and butterscotch balls became popular with soldiers stationed at Camp Lewis. After this country’s entry into the Great War in 1917, the population at Camp Lewis grew larger. Not surprisingly, the increasing demand for the new company’s sweets kept pace. After the WWI, Camp Lewis’ population shrunk. In 1923, the two confectioners’ efforts
Welcome to Tacoma, VIA Beer! Peaks and Pints welcomes VIA Beer Beer collaborations happen between breweries all the time, but beer collaborations between beer industry leaders that lead to side project breweries rarely occur. Charlie Devereux and Kyle Larsen proved it’s a worthy idea recently opening VIA Beer in Hood River, the city where both men entered the industry. Devereux, who first brewed beer in 1992 under John Harris at Full Sail Brewery, went on to open Double Mountain Brewery in Hood River on St. Patrick’s Day 2007 with fellow Full Sail brewer Matt Swihart. In
View of Mt. Rainier from Debbie’s View lookout on Squak Mountain in the Issaquah Alps. Between Peaks: Squak Mountain If you live in Washington state, you’ve probably heard about Squak Mountain on Seattle’s KING radio and TV stations. After all, those mediums were owned and managed by the Bullitt family for years, and Charles Stimson “Stim” Bullitt built a cabin near the top of Squak — the mountain is part of the Issaquah Alps. Built in 1952, the cabin wasn’t bustling with life and eventually fell into disrepair, vandalized repeatedly, and eventually burned with the stone
New craft beer in Tacoma. Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.24.22 Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.24.22 for the best weather weekend of the year. … BreakThru Brewing Do We Have Your Attention?: Hazy IPA brewed with Citra and Galaxy, then double dry hopped with more Citra and Galaxy, plus Citra Cryo and Strata for citrus and dank notes, 6.5% Chainline Brewing Blockchain: Collaboration with Block 15 Brewing, this double dry-hopped cold IPA is brewed with Strata and Sabro hops for a crispy, hoppy beer, 7.5% Matchless Brewing It Came From Down
The style trend that began with the cloudy IPAs coming out of New England has spread to pales ales. And just like their stronger sibling, hazy pales skip hop bitterness for intense bursts of flavor and aroma. Often described as “juicy,” brewers dry hop the pales with loads of hops for lively, fruity character; the goal is to brew a hoppy pale with soft mouthfeel, low bitterness, and a juice-like, fruit-forward profile. The hazy character comes not just from the large amount of post-boil hops, but also the use of high protein grains such as wheat and oats. The yeast
Technically, hops are flowers, which means basically every beer has flowers in it — but today Peaks & Pints presents a beer bouquet — a to-go flight of beers with floral notes. Floral beers can get aggressive in an Aunt Martha-who’s-been-wearing-the-same-perfume-for-decades sort of way. It’s risky territory when it comes to flowers in the world of beer. We handpicked five floral brews, in a variety of styles, that will leave you feeling more like you’re drinking happiness and less like you’re hanging out with Aunt Martha and her impressive potpourri collection. Stop by our craft beer lodge and grab Peaks
Froth Brewing is now available in Tacoma. Peaks and Pints welcomes Froth Brewing The Peaks & Pints bartenders will be Froth-ing at the mouth after their shifts today. There’s a buzz about our craft beer bar, bottle shop and restaurant in Tacoma’s Proctor District as Orcas Distributing delivered our allocated supply of Froth Brewing beers. Longtime San Diego brewer Jesse McLaughlin opened Froth Brewing in North Buffalo, New York, with business partners Eli and Travis Hale. McLaughlin, Williamsville South graduate attended San Diego State University to study craft beer the city’s brewery scene exploded. After eight
Pride is the civil rights movement of our generation. Fifty-two 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
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.21.22 Here are a few new craft beers for your Summer Solstice celebration tonight. … Aslan Brewing B Proud: Hazy IPA brewed to benefit Bellingham Pride and PRIDE month with an aromatic punch of honeydew and grapefruit, followed by flavors of lemon, wet cedar, and sweet orange with a quenching bitterness washes across the palate beckoning you to take another sip, 6.5% Aslan Mosaic Oasis: IPA with big flavors of mango, fresh blueberries, canned peaches, and a slight hint of sweet onion, 6.7% Fremont Brewing The Rusty Nail: Oatmeal stout brewed with brewer’s
“When I heard, I teared up,” says Michael Dempster after learning a portion of the original Buoy Beer building suffered significant damage last week — a brewery where he spent time brewing their beer. “The portion that collapsed held the small batch brewery, brite tanks, lager tanks, canning line, and blocks the entrance to where they relocated their restaurant. Bad things aren’t supposed to happen to good people, and Buoy people are good people. It’s devastating.” Dempster’s Buoy years were sandwich between his time at Greenpoint Beer Works in Brooklyn and Wingman Brewers in Tacoma — before he went on
In 1906, Cuban and Mexican immigrant José María Rivera Corral founded the Estrella de Galicia brewery and ice factory in Galicia, located in the northwest corner of Spain. His Hijos de Rivera company’s first beer was La Estrella de Galicia, a Pilsen-style beer — unpasteurized in the barrel and pasteurized in bottle format. Today, Hijos de Rivera and its beverage brands — Estrella Galicia, 1906, Cabreiroá, Fontarel, Agua de Cuevas, Ponte de Boga and Maeloc — are consumed and enjoyed in the Spanish market and across more than 50 countries. Since it’s Monday, the day Peaks & Pints presents a to-go flight of hard
Ah, Father’s Day, when all patriarchs become Clark Griswold on vacation and all filial conversations become sentimental diatribes: “Enjoy this, kids. Someday when you have families of your own, you’ll wish you had several hours together in the back of a cop car like this, just to sit and talk.” That’s some advice. Dads have given us a lot of advice over the years: Wear a helmet, get good grades, don’t drive too fast or you’ll end up like Tony from your high school who wrapped his Corvair around a huge oak over by the American Legion. And while we
Peaks and Pints New Beer In Stock 6.18.22 Hey Dad! Consider sharing Peaks and Pints New beer In Stock 6.18.22! AleSmith Brewing Split Aces: Collaboration with Revision Brewing, this West Coast-style IPA is dealt notes of tropical fruit, pine, and berries from Idaho 7, Chinook, and Mosaic hops, 6.8% Bale Breaker Brewing Frenz: Collaboration with Fremont Brewing, and their first time brewing with Fresh Frozen Mosaic Cryo from Yakima Chief Hops, this West Coast hits the nose with dried mangoes, passionfruit, raspberry, and boozy tangerine with notes of grapefruit, pine bark, brambles, and resin, 7.5% Block 15 Brewing The Incredible:
A growing trend in craft beer is the smoothie fruit sour. These beers are often with so much fruit puree that they look less like beer than a thick smoothie. Gone are the times when a pie-inspired beer felt radical. And here, now, is a weird phase in the billion-armed evolution of American beer, where ordering a fruited sour ale that tastes like a Baked Alaska. These beers can clobber you with sugar. They can tread on beer’s natural spirit with aggressive lactose, with a storm of spices. But they can also be beautiful. 450 North Brewing from Columbus, Indiana,
Down south over yonder hills, just outside Eugene, Oregon, Alesong Brewing & Blending focuses almost exclusively on small batches of oak-aged and Belgian-inspired brews since it first began producing beer in early 2016. Alesong has stood out among the crowd with its blending and barrel-aging techniques. In fact, in its first 18 months of business, Alesong’s small batch, barrel-aged blends received more accolades than some breweries will see in their lifetime. Just two months after opening, it won gold at the Great American Beer Festival awards for their dry-hopped farmhouse ale, Touch of Brett. The brewery typically releases four beers
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.16.22 Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.16.22 has the goods for Father’s Day weekend. … Abomination Brewing Wandering In the Fog (Talus): Hazy double IPA bursting with huge aromas of pink grapefruit, tropical citrus rinds, and dank pine resin, 8.6% Anchorage Brewing Not Your Kind of People: Double IPA fermented with thiol boosting yeast and then double dry hopped with Citra, Galaxy, Motueka, and Waimea hops for big blueberry notes, 8.4% Branch and Blade Brewing Double Sinner With Marshmallow: New England hazy IPA with high earthy-citrus hop levels and marshmallow to
Lasell College graduates and rugby enthusiasts Trevor Bonnette and Jesse O’Bryan bonded over beer. New Hampshire residents discovered Trillium Brewing Co. in Boston and Tree House Brewing Co. in Charlton, Massachusetts, which inspired them to homebrew. They were skeptical about turning a part-time passion into a full-time job. Bonnette, 25, worked as a legal assistant, while O’Bryan, 27, had his heart set on teaching. They launched Branch and Blade Brewing anyway in January 2018 in Keene, New Hampshire, named after the image of an eagle grasping an olive branch, with arrows in its talons, on the back of a dollar
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.15.22 A funky sour brewed with yeast from space, a hazy version of this year’s 3-way, an upside down IPA, a new brewery to Washington state … Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.15.22 is interesting, indeed. … Fort George Brewery 3-Way New England Style IPA: The hazy version with waves of nuanced fruit expression into a sea of balanced bitterness for a drink with the density of sunlight, 7% Lanikai Brewing Mission To Mars: Collaboration with Brothers Cascadia Brewing, this funky, floral and fruity wild ale is brewed with yeast captured
In 2010, Alexandra Ortiz started Shades of Pale Brewing with her husband Trent Fargher, a homebrewer for 15 years. He was looking to change careers, and to Alex, it seemed obvious. He loved to brew, and people loved his beer; he was open to the idea, but he didn’t want to do it alone. After a rebrand in 2018, which included shortening the name to Shades Brewing, Alexandra and Trent focused their energy on producing unique, flavorful, and Kveik yeast sours alongside their already robust portfolio. Their Kveik sour series grabbed numerous medals at The Great American Beer Festival and
Not all stouts — a style marked using roasted malts and barley — are created equal, with alcohol levels, recipes, flavorings, and textures running the gamut. From the traditional stouts that emerged after porter rose to popularity in England in the 1800s to today’s kaleidoscope of craft variations, the characteristics found within the category are myriad. Today, Peaks and Pints offers a flight of big coffee stouts. You could technically file coffee stouts under a master umbrella of “flavored stout,” but with brewers finding new and interesting ways to work with coffee as an ingredient, Peaks and Pints believes coffee stout merits its
In 1872, Philip Miller planted apple trees in Wenatchee. Twelve years later, the first commercial planting, Peterson orchard, sprouted. In 1893, the Great Northern Railway Company linked Wenatchee with Seattle, and eight years later Seattle said Wenatchee apples were a thing. In 1902, Wenatchee dubbed itself the “Apple Capital of the World”. In 1970, Texan farmers Gene and Katie Handley plated Red Delicious and Golden Delicious in their new home of Wenatchee. Times were tough and the Handley children spent summer working the orchards instead of floating on rivers. Gene’s father, Harmond Handley also planted orchards in the Wenatchee Valley,
Despite its name, the barleywine is indeed a beer but at wine strength — ranging as low as 7-percent alcohol by volume in British versions and upward of 15 percent in American interpretations. Despite its name, barleywines aren’t made with tons of specialty grains, as one might assume. Historically, barleywines are brewed with pale malt, the same malts used for pale ales. Brewers achieve that rich caramel flavor that’s expected in barleywines by extending the length of the boil, which caramelizes the flavors and imparts that deep color. Yeast and hops vary between English-style and American-style barleywines, but either way,
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.11.22 Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.11.12 for your weekend drinking pleasures! 🍻 Anchorage Brewing Xtratuf x FisheWear: Collaboration with FisheWear and Xtratuf Boots fly fishing suppliers, this juicy hazy IPA comes loaded with Galaxy and Sabro hops for plush peach, tangy orange peel, and mango, 6.4% Belching Beaver Brewery Ride The Pine: West Coast IPA with huge aromas of pine tree and grapefruit along with tropical guava and a dry finish Fast Fashion Tech Time: Double dry hopped pale ale brewed with Simcoe, Strata, and Idaho 7 hops for notes
