In October 2008, Brian Ewing launched Twelve Percent Imports selling imported beer to New York out of his Toyota Prius. The first beer he imported was Gaverhopke Extra, a 12 percent Belgian ale, thus the name of his distributing company. Ewing began distributing an unusually heavy roster of nomadic brewers and contract brewed beer such as Hoof Hearted from Columbus, Ohio, and Fat Orange Cat Brew Co. from East Hampton, Connecticut. He eventually partnered with Alex Blank to form Twelve Percent Beer Project, a contract brewing facility at State Street Brewing in North Haven, Connecticut. Many of Ewing and Blank
TUESDAY, JULY 18: New craft beer in the Peaks & Pints cooler. Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 7.18.23 Tuesday is an awesome new brews day. Grab a pint and shop Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 7.18.23. Cheers! Block 15 Brewing Ice Knife: West Coast and New England style hybrid IPA brewed with cutting-edge hop technologies, including Co2 extracted Salvo and cryogenically frozen Strata CGX for vibrant factions of sticky and pungent hop characters with a razor-sharp hop showcase of bright citrus peel oils and dense resin, 7% Block 15 Kumo: Dry, Japanese-inspired
Every July 18, locals in Brussels take to the streets for the “Day of Beer,” a raucous parade in honor of their beloved national beverage and Arnold. No, not Schwarzenegger, Palmer, or Matsuo “Arnold” Takahashi, but rather Saint Arnold of Metz, a saint of the Roman Catholic Church and the patron saint of Brewers, as well as Arnold (Arnoul) of Soissons or Arnold or Arnulf of Oudenburg (ca 1040–1087), the patron saint of hop-pickers and Belgian brewers. We honor the Arnolds with five beers from Belgium in today’s in-house beer flight, Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Arnold of Belgium. Arnold
In late 2010, Corvallis homebrewers Aaron Sarnoff-Wood and Lee Larsen filled a gap in the college town’s drinking scene — cider. The duo opened 2 Towns Ciderhouse crafting unique ciders brewed with the traditional English and French-style’s tannic apples, Oregon grown, of course. Named after the cities of Corvallis and Eugene (Larsen’s a Beaver; Sarnoff-Wood a Duck), 2 Towns believes “… that the long history of cidermaking demands respect and deserves to be done right,” states the cidery’s motto. Since it’s Monday, and Peaks & Pints offers a to-go cider flight on this day every week, enjoy Peaks and Pints
Peaks and Pints will pour apple wine based Craftwell Cocktail Thursday, July 20. Craftwell Cocktails Night at Peaks & Pint Thursday, July 20, the Peaks & Pints bartender will write “Cocktail Night” on our outdoor sandwich board. Yes, Peaks & Pints will pour 20.5-percent cocktails — but the plotline thickens with apple wine, which is essentially apple juice that has gone through the same process as you would making wine. Craftwell Cocktails blends apple wine with real fruit and ingredients to recreate the cocktail experience. In 2017, ready-to-drink cocktails became a thing. Then, the pandemic pressure
Why another Fort George Brewery flight so soon? The Astoria, Oregon, brewery just released their Beta 33.1 and a collaboration with Black Raven Brewery. Founded by brewers Jack Harris and Chris Nemlowill, the two combined their brewing expertise from previous Oregon coast gigs at Bill’s Tavern and Astoria Brewing Company to open Fort George Brewery in March 2007. Harris and Nemlowill drove their first 8.5-barrel brewhouse — nicknamed “Sweet Virginia” —from the East Coast and through a tornado to open a small pub in the Fort George Building on Duane Street in Astoria, Oregon. In 2009, they bought almost the
Named after both its founding region in New Zealand and the Sauvignon Blanc grape, Nelson Sauvin is an exciting, distinctive hop varietal that hit the kettles in 2000. Hailing from a small bay on the north coast of the country’s South Island, the hop sports a compact cone shape with a tapered end. Nelson Sauvin hops have vigorous spring growth and can lend either a dominant hop character to a beer or something much more subtle. Aromas and taste range from citrus to mango and gooseberry, which are supplemented by hints of pepper and allspice. Known to impart a cool
During the pandemic, Conrad Andrus left his five-year brewing job at Culmination Brewing to join head brewer Mat Sandoval at Modern Times Beer’s Belmont Fermentorium, a Portland location for the San Diego brewery. After Modern Times in Portland shutdown in February 2022, Andrus and Sandoval opened Living Haus Beer Co. in the shuttered Belmont Fermentorium with former pFriem Family Brewers’ Head Brewer Gavin Lord joining the partnership. The Living Haus trio transformed the space into a sleek, modern brewery and taproom while keeping the building’s character, which dates to the 1930s. Saturday, Living Haus celebrates their first anniversary with special
Major League Baseball’s 2023 Home Run Derby is set for tonight at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park. Headlining the eight-player field is New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso, a two-time Home Run Derby winner (2019 and 2021). Alonso is looking to join Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. as the only three-time champions in Derby history. Also participating in this year’s bracket are Randy Arozarena (Rays), Mookie Betts (Dodgers), Adolis García (Rangers), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays), Luis Robert Jr. (White Sox), Julio Rodríguez (Mariners), and Adley Rutschman (Orioles). In celebration of the 5 p.m. big fly fest, Peaks & Pints presents
The hefeweizen has been around a long time. Some beer historians say it was brewed as far back as the 11th century. In German, hefeweizen (pronounced HEH-feh-vite-zen) means yeast wheat, so called because the beer is traditionally unfiltered, leaving the tiny particles of yeast sediment to turn the golden beer cloudy and turbid. It may be this suggestion of solidity that leads Germans to occasionally refer to hefeweizen as bottled bread. The beer style can have a variety of flavors including clove, vanilla, apple, banana, even bubblegum. They have low amounts of hoppiness. Hefeweizens are made with more than 50
In early October 2022, Two Seattle beer scene veterans opened Bizarre Brewing with the goal of brewing lower ABV beers in a bona fide community space. Derek Brown and Colette Boilini met working at Fremont Brewing in 2014. Boilini has also served at Holy Mountain and both Cloudburst locations. Brown was the first outside brewing hire at Holy Mountain where he went on to lead their respected barrel-aged beer program. Bizarre Brewing recently opened their taproom inside the building Urban Family Brewing occupied in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood before moving to Ballard. Today, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house flight of
Peaks and Pints Tap List Friday, July 7, 2023, includes Fort George 3-Way IPA Hazy Chico on our Western red cedar tap log. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Friday, July 7 2023 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 850 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee, and hard seltzer as those delights are on tap too. To follow our tap list live
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 craft 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
Peaks and Pints Friendship Is Magic Party at 5 p.m. tonight stars the Bale Breaker Brewing and Sierra Nevada Brewing Frenz IPA friendship collaboration. In addition to enjoying Frenz IPA and other Bale Breaker and Sierra Nevada beers on tap — including a blend from the two breweries — Peaks & Pints will also host friendship bracelet crafts and best friend approved swag. This celebration of friendship benefits GLAAD, a non-profit organization focused on LGBTQ advocacy and cultural change. In celebration of the Bale Breaker and Sierra Nevada Frenz IPA release party, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house beer flight
Now that Structures Brewing has opened their second location, their beer is flowing back into the market. 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 and pFriem Family Brewers head brewer Bryan Cardwell and longtime friend of Structures has joined the ownership expanding their beer portfolio. In March 2023, Structures opened their second location in the former Chuckanut Brewery, which was taken down to the studs. It’s beautiful with two massive glass garage doors in that
Founded in August 2020 by CEO Caitlin Braam and crafted by Head Cidermaker Monique Tribble, Yonder Cider makes savory, subtly sweet and high ABV ciders in Wenatchee with a taproom in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, which is shared with Bale Breaker Brewing from the Yakima Valley. Crafted using a blend of bittersweet cider apples and juicy dessert apples, Yonder ciders are hardly simple, and never straightforward, but you can always count on them being interesting. “Cidermaking is a playground of the pretty and the ugly, the bitter and the sweet: It’s never a one-note song when done well, says Braam. “Our
Peaks and Pints hosts Bale Breaker Frenz IPA: Sierra Nevada release party Friends Bale Breaker Brewing and Sierra Nevada Brewing collaborated on Frenz IPA, and Peaks & Pints hosts its release party 5-8 p.m. Thursday, July 6. In addition to enjoying Frenz IPA and other Bale Breaker and Sierra Nevada beers on tap — including a blend from the two breweries — Peaks & Pints will also host friendship bracelet crafts and best friend approved swag. This celebration of friendship benefits GLAAD, a non-profit organization focused on LGBTQ advocacy and cultural change. Competition is fierce when it comes to making
Peaks & Pints new beer in stock including Gigantic Brewing and Von Evert Brewing’s Enjoy House! IPA. Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.30.23 The first round of new beers in the Peaks & Pints cooler for your extended weekend fun. … Anchorage Brewing Visitor: Amazing juicy hazy IPA brewed with Nectron hops and Cosmic Punch yeast for big orange, tropical fruit, and emoji heart check-in, 6.4% Anchorage Replaced: Good replacement for sweet pineapple and piney hazy double IPAs brewed with Nectaron, Strata, and Nelson Sauvin hops that don’t fill your mouth with fluffy pillows,
Hops are a perennial vine with the scientific name Humulus lupulus, which means “small wolf,” a reference to its aggressive climbing nature and tendency to take over other nearby plants. There are more than 250 different hop varieties used today. To be a true fan, the appeal of hops must be more than just bitterness. Hops offer a range of flavors and aromas that resemble herbs, pine, tropical fruits like grapefruit and tangerine and more. Citra hops, well, the name says it all. Released in 2008 by Hop Breeding Company of Yakima, Citra adds the trademark blend of juicy citrus
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who like pineapple-and-ham pizza and those who are pitied by the first group. Granted, the idea of eating pizza with pineapple on it sounds a little funky — until you try it. Once you do, the gates of understanding open and the pizza-delivery vehicle drives straight through to the brain’s pleasure center. The same can be said about pineapple flavored craft beer and cider. After the first sip, the gates of understanding open and the beer-delivery vehicle drives straight through to the brain’s pleasure center. Fruit lends a perceived sweetness
It’s Monday, which means Peaks and Pints celebrates the taking of apples and pears and making them alcoholic and drinkable via a cider flight. Today, we focus on Portland, Oregon. While Portland is known for having more breweries than any other city in the world, amazing wines from the nearby Willamette Valley and a host of craft distilleries, the latest beverage trend in town is hard cider. Sure, the city has a penchant for drinking, but maybe also because of Portland’s proximity to some of the world’s best apples that it’s quickly become the place to go for the country’s fastest-growing
For such a geographically small country, Belgium sports quite an impressive number of beer styles — and tasty ones at that. Belgian beers are primarily ales with a heavy emphasis on malts and a lot of fruity yeast flavors. Overall, Belgian beers impress beer enthusiasts with their light body, low bitterness, and yeasty taste that often includes spicy or fruity notes. Belgian beers include pale, golden, and dark ales, farmhouse ales and saisons, Trappist ales like dubbel and tripel, and fruit and sour beers such as lambics and Flanders ales. All are crafted with centuries of brewing history and offer
In 2017, ready-to-drink cocktails became a thing. Then, the pandemic pressure cooker catapulted the segment into overdrive. The Oregon-based team behind 2 Towns Ciderhouse joined in grabbing the steering wheel and pushed hard on the accelerator, releasing Craftwell Cocktails, a line of apple wine-based cocktails made with real fruit. Prioritizing taste above all else, the ready-to-drink Craftwell cocktails rely on the expertise developed over a dozen years using real fruit to make their cider. The initial launch featured four distinct flavors — Pineapple Margarita, Grapefruit Paloma, Blueberry Cosmo, and Strawberry Margarita — served in cans. Similar to its canned cocktail
In 2008, Nick and Kristen Arzner opened Block 15 Brewing in the 1926 Gazette-Times newspaper building, just blocks away from Oregon State University and its prestigious Fermentation Science program. The Arzners took full advantage of Willamette Valley’s agricultural abundance, which, of course, includes hops. Block 15 built a reputation for first-rate IPAs and other hop-forward ales, rock-solid renditions of classic recipes from around the world and a dazzling variety of Belgian-style brews, including cask-conditioned specialties featuring wild yeasts and exotic flavors. Today, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house flight of Block 15 craft beer that we call Peaks and Pints
Peaks and Pints Tap List Wednesday, June 21, 2023, includes Aslan Brewing’s B Proud Pride IPA on our Proctor Pride Tap. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Wednesday, June 21 2023 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 850 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee, and hard seltzer as those delights are on tap too. To follow our tap list live from your
The summer solstice is upon us: today is the longest day of 2023 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 and 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
Nearly everyone loves to eat a good strawberry. When strawberries are in season, there is almost nothing as satisfying as walking out into the garden and harvesting a colander full of these sweet, fragrant, and beautiful fruits. But damn you strawberries! You’re only fresh during June and July in Washington state. Then, they become ticking time bombs. Within a day you have withered; in three days you are moldy. Still, your flavor lives on from the freezer, or in hard cider. The fresh taste of strawberries, soft and deep red, backed by mouth-watering sweetness and previous alcohol. Today, Peaks and
Peaks and Pints Tap List Saturday, June 17, 2023, includes Stillwater Wavvy Triangle Hazy Double IPA. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Saturday, June 17 2023 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 850 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee, and hard seltzer as those delights are on tap too. To follow our tap list live from your phone, click here for iPhone and here for Android.
Holy Mountain Brewing is in their final stretch to open a taproom at 7009 Greenwood Ave. N. in Seattle’s Phinney Ridge residential neighborhood. The new location will offer a pet- and kid-friendly spacious environment with sidewalk seating available when weather permits. Expect rotating Holy Mountain taps with proper half liter mugs of lager poured from their side pull tower, housemade hop waters and spritz-inspired drinks, Whitewood Cider and Timber City Ginger pours, and sweeping views of the Puget Sound and Green Lake from the rooftop will be the backdrop for some intimate dinners in the future. Until then, Peaks &
Fat Orange Cat, Hoof Hearted, and Nightmare Brewing return to Peaks & Pints — and they brought friends. Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.16.23 It’s the weekend, and Peaks & Pints has a ton more delicious beverages in our 850+ cooler. We also have plenty of tasty options on draft to enjoy while shopping the cooler. Cheers! Fat Orange Cat Welcome To Harga: New England-style double IPA greeted by copiously amounts of Nelson and Motueka for notes of grass and Sauvignon Blanc grape juice blowing in the breeze, 8.5% Fat Orange Cat Walkabout Tangelo
Stillwater is the brainchild of Baltimore native Brian Strumke, whose past life as an internationally renowned electronica DJ and producer led him down a path to crafting some of the world’s most unique and highest rated beers slapped with haute couture can and bottle labels. A homebrewer turned pro in 2010, nomadic brewer Strumke slapped his Stillwater sticker on many a brewery’s cooler around the world before the pandemic nudged him to place roots at the Talking Cedar Brewery & Distillery in Thurston County, Washington. Today, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house flight of Stillwater beers — a flight we’re
The Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium’s conservation fundraising unit, Drinking For Conservation, hosts an Australian Wildlife benefit at Peaks & Pints tonight. For every draft pull from 6-9 p.m., Peaks will donate 50 cents to the Wildlife Conservation Network Australia. To set the tone, Peaks will tap several beers brewed with Australian hops. Galaxy, Ella, Vic Secret, Enigma, Eclipse, and Topaz and many other Australian grown hops bring wild, tropical, and overwhelming bright, fruity characteristics. Today, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house flight of craft beers brewed with said hops — a flight we call Peaks and Pints Beer Flight:
Craft beer is best fresh. If you drink a fresh hop IPA the day it is bottled or canned, it will be at its peak. Never again will it taste so good. Day by day, by degrees, its lushness will fade. Beer, unlike vinegar and Pop Tarts, is not a fixed food product. So why then do brewers barrel-age beer? Because the barrel’s porous, wood allows for very slow oxidation, which can make darker, malty beers more complex. The barrel’s former resident — the wine or bourbon or whatever that first made its home there — is also important. While
First, today’s weather in Tacoma calls for cloudy skies becoming partly cloudy in the afternoon with temperatures reaching 69 degrees. Second, stouts are better suited than many light-colored beers for pairing with summery foods like charred vegetables and barbecued meats. Think about it: Their earthy flavors and rich, toasted aromas mimic the ones already billowing out from your backyard grill. And stouts benefit from the weather — as the beers warm, their complex, smoky undertones begin to unfurl. Since Fremont Brewing just released their annual The Rusty Nail bourbon barrel-aged stout, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house flight of three
Cider became the most widely consumed alcohol in Northern Europe and Great Britain for a very long time. When the English settled in America, they brought cider apple seeds with them. By the late 1800’s cider production began to decline due several factors including the increased consumption of beer and later, prohibition. Luckily, cider has made a massive revival and is available everywhere in excellent quality and variety … and with other fruit in addition to apples. Once considered a maligned novelty, fruit other than apples is now one of the arenas where cidermakers experiment most, uh, fruitfully. Normally condemned
New beer arrivals in the Peaks & Pints massive cooler. Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.11.23 Hello Sunday. Hello Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.11.23. Aslan Brewing B Proud: A dry, citrusy IPA brewed to benefit Bellingham Pride and Pride month, 6.5% Avery Brewing Island Rascal: Lusciousness of a Belgian-style wheat ale with juicy of passionfruit, 5.4% Bale Breaker Brewing Clarity Rarity #11: A hazy IPA featuring aromas of pineapple, melon, nectarine, pine resin, and citrus from El Dorado, Simcoe, Citra, and Mosaic hop additions, 7.1% Fair Isle Brewing Hanami: Saison steeped
Childhood friends Jim Solberg and Roger Worthington reunited in 2008 to create Indie Hops and reboot Oregon State University’s hop-breeding program with a huge donation. They were determined to do something new and enlisted Shaun Townsend, a PhD in breeding and genetics, to lead the effort. They gave him the mandate of breeding a hop that could flourish in the Willamette Valley, produce a hop with associated with strawberry, passionfruit, grapefruit, bubble gum, sage, and cannabis. Eventually X-331 emerged, which was later named Strata. Today, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house flight of beer brewed with Strata hops — a
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.8.23 It’s Thursday and that means it’s time for fresh delicious new arrivals to the Peaks & Pints cooler. Swing by, grab a pint and shop Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.8.23. We’re here until 11. Cheers! Belching Beaver Brewery Death By Blueberry: Wheat ale brewed with fresh blueberries, 4.5% Belching Beaver Fall of Troy: This Mosaic hop laden double IPA is smooth and juicy with notes of orange and vanilla, 8.8% Birrificio Italiano Tipopils: The OG Italian pilsner dry hopped with Spalter Select for special citrusy, lemon-zest touch, 5.2% E9
After being relentlessly hounded by a spamming ice cream marketer — which conjured up horrific mental imagery of biting the bottom of an ice cream cone off and the chocolate ice cream covering the white shag carpet — we are capitulating. We will inform you that today, Wednesday, June 7, is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day. In the spirit of National Chocolate Ice Cream Day – which has yet to be declared an official holiday – Peaks & Pints is playing to your craft beer. Luckily for us craft beer lovers, there are many delicious and unique chocolate beers being
Fort George Brewery 2023 3-way IPA Version Two is brewed with Kölsch yeast (Kaiser German Ale yeast from Imperial Yeast) in purple-ish cans. Version Two kegs will be on tap at Peaks & Pints Friday, June 9. Photo courtesy of Fort George Brewery Fort George hosts Fort George Brewery 3-Way IPA v2 Party “It’s not a Kölsch,” says Fort George Brewery in an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice from the movie, Kindergarten Cop, which was filmed in Fort George’s hometown of Astoria, Oregon. We’ll be back to address that statement. … Peaks & Pints will host a release
Pride is the civil rights movement of our generation. Fifty-three 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
The Puget Sound is Washington’s largest saltwater inlet and is connected to the Pacific Ocean via the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Admiralty Inlet. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defines “Northern Puget Sound” as bounded to the north by the international boundary with Canada, and Mukilteo to the south. Peaks & Pints points out these boundaries to define our Monday in-house flight of Northern Puget Sound ciders, which includes Bellingham Cider and Lost Giants Cider Co. in Bellingham, Garden Path in Burlington, and Elemental Hard Cider in Arlington. Drop by Peaks & Pints craft cider and beer bar,
For years, Miller High Life has used the “Champagne of Beers” slogan. Last April in Belgium, that appropriation became impossible to swallow. At the request of the trade body defending the interests of houses and growers of the northeastern French sparkling wine, Belgian customs crushed more than 2,000 cans of Miller High Life advertised as such. The Comité Champagne asked for the destruction of a shipment of 2,352 cans on the grounds that the century-old motto used by the American brewery infringes the protected designation of origin “Champagne.” And while it is kind of funny in its own American-branding, ham-fisted
People worldwide have known how to make cider for thousands of years. Archaeological evidence shows that ancient European and Asian cultures used apples to make a crude version of cider as early as 6500 B.C. The art of cider making improved over the years as people developed a better understanding of the factors that impact cider flavor. During the sixth century, a profession of skillful brewers was established in Europe. These people made beer-like beverages and cider. By the 16th century, Normandy became one of the largest cider-making areas in the world. Experimentation with different types of apples ensued, which
