Launched last June, Proctor Pride has humble beginnings with a small “Happy Pride” display at the end of Mason path at North 27th and Mason Street. Fifty Pride flags and assorted rainbow pins were offered free of charge to help brighten people’s days and show everyone is welcome in Proctor. The response was overwhelming. The proposed monthlong supply of Pride gifts ran out in less than two days. A restock brought more than 300 flags and 250 pins to the neighborhood. Proctor Pride 2024 has bigger goals with more neighborhood Pride support, more rainbows, and a commitment to support The
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock: 6.1.24 Everyone’s watching, to see what you will do Everyone’s looking at you, oh Everyone’s wondering, what Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock: 6.1.24 you’ll pick for tonight Everyone’s trying to get the weekend right, get it right. … ALL Y’ALL NW IPA, Everybody’s Brewing: Clean and clear with intense citrus flavors that are balanced with a tropical aroma, pleasant bitterness, and a dry finish, 7%, 12oz CHEERS TO 10 YEARS, Buoy Beer: Their 10th Anniversary Southern German pilsner, 5.1%, 12oz EVOLUTION, Aslan Brewing: The first beer brewed on their original 15-barrel
Californian Gary Fish established his brewpub concept, Deschutes’ Bend Public House, in downtown Bend in 1988. Named after the Deschutes Rover, Deschutes Brewery was Central Oregon’s first brewery. Fish hired John Harris (founder of Ecliptic Brewing Co.) from McMenamins. Legislation and a growing provincialism for locally crafted beers soon turned the microbrewer of Mirror Pond Pale Ale and Black Butte Porter in obscure Bend, Oregon into a macro success, as the state’s largest brewer by barrel count. Today, Deschutes sells more than 225,000 barrels of beer each year and can be found in 36 states, Washington, DC, and even a
In 1920, Michael Loftus, an Irish immigrant and grandfather of BT Loftus, follows the railroad west, settles in Yakima, and buys the family homestead. Twelve years later, Leota Mae, wife of BT Loftus and great-grandmother to Bale Breaker Brewing owners, plants the first hop field, igniting what would become the family’s legacy for four generations and counting. Mike Smith, father to Bale Breaker owners Patrick, Meghann, and Kevin Smith, joins grandmother Leota Mae to run the farm after BT’s sudden passing, marking the third generation of hop farmers. Kevin Quinn marries Meghann Smith after meeting at the University of Washington
Geoffrey Barker and Andrew Pogue met as members of the North Seattle Home Brew Club. They shared a love for saisons and sours. They traveled to mixed-fermentation guru Jester King in Austin, Texas, where they added to their friendship circle. The duo spent years looking for a place to launch their brewery. Eventually they landed in a former home of an orchid retailer, a boxy, lightly industrial building at 936 Northwest 49th Street, in the thick of Ballard’s brewery district. With the help of Jester King, Barker and Pogue opened Fair Isle Brewing in January 2020 focusing on mixed-culture and
Summer is an exciting time for beer nerds. Regionally, the season is met with the release of Fort George Brewery’s (Astoria, Ore.) 3-Way IPA. The hoppy beer is an annual collaboration — in its 12th year — with two other West Coast breweries. This year’s brew is joined by Brujos Brewing (Portland, Ore.) and Ghost Town Brewing (Oakland, Calif.). Join Peaks & Pints for the Official Tacoma 3-Way IPA Release at 5 p.m. tonight. We will have not only 3-Way, but nine other Fort George beers, plus two hazy IPAs from Brujos on tap. Fort George rep Kyle will be
You float in a sun-warmed, peanut-shaped tile pool, watching the breeze flip the palm fronds against a turquoise Southern California sky, sipping a midday India Pale Ale. Rippling reflections of the afternoon sun on the water cast themselves against the six-foot-tall prickly pear, oak-planked door and the adobe-arched wall above it. Chimes sound; doves coo. Fantastic landscape scenes full of cliffs, ocean vistas, coves, rolling hills and deep canyons comes to life from San Diego, just north of the Mexican border, cross the bay to the resort city Coronado, up the coast to Los Angeles, home to Hollywood studios, fine
Peaks & Pints hosts Fort George 2024 3-Way IPA Release Party Summer is an exciting time for beer nerds. Regionally, the season is met with the release of Fort George Brewery’s (Astoria, Ore.) 3-Way IPA. The hoppy beer is an annual collaboration — in its 12th year — with two other West Coast breweries. This year’s brew is joined by Brujos Brewing (Portland, Ore.) and Ghost Town Brewing (Oakland, Calif.). Join Peaks & Pints for the Official Tacoma 3-Way IPA Release at 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 28. We will have not only 3-Way, but nine other Fort George beers, plus
The unofficial start of summer is officially here. As the amuse bouche of the summer season, Memorial Day weekend brings vacation time with it. For those stay-cationing this weekend, Peaks & Pints will transport you to vacation spots via our daily flights. Today, we’re taking you to Germany — specifically Aying, Germany, home of Ayinger Brewery. This 147-year-old brewery has a deep family history, and remained almost completely unchanged until a new, updated brewery was built in 1999 in order to keep up with the growing market. Again and again Ayinger has won awards for its beers, including the World
Collaborations are common in the friendly craft beer world, where like-minded brewers often team up to meld brains over the kettle for a day. In the case of Fort George Brewery’s annual collaboration, 3-Way IPA, the Astoria, Oregon brewery has invited two other “hot” breweries to dial-in a recipe with multiple “Beta” batches over several months since 2013. Well, it’s that time of year again. This year’s guest collaborators — Brujos Brewing of Portland and Ghost Town Brewing of Oakland, California — began this past summer experimenting and test brewing various batches of IPA, all in search of discovering the
Consider the vanilla bean. The Aztecs did. In addition to inventing long words ending in “atl” and awesome mythology, they had the patience to figure out how to cultivate vanilla — a particularly difficult flavor to come by. The pods are the fruit of an orchid plant (Vanilla planifolia), and they must be cured and fermented over the course of about six months. If that weren’t involved enough, the high-maintenance orchid itself must be pollinated by hand. Vanilla beans, like coffee and chocolate, only proliferate naturally in tropical latitudes, and, like wine grapes, the various strains reflect the qualities of
Hitting the scene in the early 2010s, the New England style India pale ale came to fame thanks to a Vermont brewery, The Alchemist, with their Heady Topper, an unfiltered double IPA that became a cult favorite. The beer was a success, and other New England breweries followed suit: namely Hill Farmstead Brewery, also in Vermont, along with Trillium Brewing Company and Tree House Brewing Co., both in Massachusetts. Call them hazy, New England or Northeast style; they’re still all the rage — even if brewers and beer critics don’t totally dig hazy IPAs. The Brewers Association recognizes the New
Homebrewing buddies Wes Parker, Steve Napolitano, and Brandon Buckner decided to turn a hobby into a career. In 2013, they open Bottle Logic Brewing, a 6,000 square-foot tasting room and 15-barrel brewing facility near the 91 and 57 freeway intersection in Anaheim, California. The brewery is fashioned in a particular style that they call a “retro-future” aesthetic. Modeled after the golden age of science fiction following the post-war period, this style is marked by an unyielding optimism for the future that emerged with the end of World War II. This was the age where flying cars and atomic unicycles weren’t
Express your unique style and upgrade your wardrobe in a more sustainable way by following one creative strategy: Support local and independent fashion designers. Not only will this add a touch of exclusivity and art to your wardrobe, but it will also contribute to the sustainable fashion movement in Tacoma, which has a blossoming scene. Tacoma Arts Live hosts “Threaded: A Community Fashion Event” from 5-8 p.m. Saturday, May 18, in the Roosevelt Room in the Tacoma Armory — complete with DJ, bar, food and a community catwalk where the community can showcase their style. Slow fashion is one the
Back for its 15th iteration, Seattle Beer Week kicks off eight days of sudsy celebration May 17, 2024. Whether your goal is to low-key drink tasty brews with your friends or get a little more active while you sip, Seattle Beer Week has you covered. The festivities kick off today at 4 p.m. with the tapping of the official SBW beer, Old Stove Whereas IPA, at Old Stove Brewing – Gardens in Ballard. The Seattle Cask-O-Rama featuring 10 casks from 10 Seattle breweries at Beveridge Place Pub and the West Coast Pilsner Party at Full Throttle Bottles is also on
Belgium is a mecca of sorts for beer enthusiasts, and rightfully so. The countryside of this small European nation is dotted with breweries whose traditions go back hundreds of years. They’re producing styles of beers such as wild and funky lambics, seasonal farmhouse saison beers, and strong ales made in monasteries. Poland is currently the third biggest producer of beer after Germany and the UK, with the third biggest consumers of beer after Germany and the Czech Republic. Established in 1998, D&V International imports specialty beers from Belgium and Poland — from authentic abbey ales, abbey-style ales, artisanal ales, and
Bret Gordon left the University of Colorado with a degree in Economics and a passion for craft beer. He continued into the finance world, probably sipping an Avery Brewing beer here and there. It didn’t take long for him to realize that being at a desk was not for him and he wanted to become a professional brewer. That passion led him and his family to California where he went back to school to earn a Professional Brewing Certificate at the University of San Diego. He swore he would never go back to school, but beer will make you do
After making cider as hobbyists for many years, in 2001 Nancy and Steve “Bear” Bishop took a trip to the cider making regions of Spain, France, and England to observe commercial operations. When they returned home, Steve and Nancy took a class at WSU from an English cider master, ordered 800 French, English, and early American cider trees, clear cut the forest, burned the stumps, spread the ash for fertilizer, shaped the land to drain, plated the trees, and launched their commercial cidery Wildfire Cider in 2203, which they later renamed Alpenfire Cider. Located in Port Townsend, the Bishops, including
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 5.11.24 Stayed up late to put some space in your face? Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 5.11.24 has wonderful beers for your lazy Saturday and Mother’s Day sippers. 9TH ANNIVERSARY, Lucky Envelope Brewing: West Coast IPA brewed with Pilsner and 2-row malts, a Citra-Strata cool pool, and loaded up with four pounds per barrel of dry-hopped Citra, Strata, Mosaic, and Chinook for notes of sweet mangosteen, pineapple, cara cara orange peel, and sweet pine needles, 6.5%, 16oz ACCORDING TO INSTRUCTIONS, Cloudburst Brewing: German-style pilsner brewed with Weyermann Pilsner malt with a
Today, the South Sound is a tropical paradise, a sunny destination, a place to don big sun hats and shorts and tank tops. And what’s that in your hand? Thanks to the Jimmy Buffet and the original Parrothead, fruity and tart margaritas are synonymous with sunny weather, and thankfully craft brewers are creating their own take of the beloved tequila concoction. A crossover between the beer and bartending worlds has emerged in breweries: beers inspired by the flavor profiles and recipes of cocktails. When beer is your job, you don’t necessarily want to go home and drink more beer. So,
Jean-Claude Tetreault and his wife, Esther, were expanding their “homebrew brand” with labels, more sophisticated equipment and eventually, homebrew at their wedding, when they decided to go pro. In March of 2013, perhaps dazed from property-hunting fatigue, the couple signed a lease on a space in Boston’s historic Fort Point neighborhood with the desire to create a lifestyle and experiences through the lens of a modern New England farmhouse-inspired brewery. Launched with three employees and the support of family, friends, and community, their Trillium Brewing located on Congress Street has grown to a team of more than 300. Today, Trillium
Organic chemist (Ph.D.) Todd Clement fell in love with traditional Belgian/Abbey-style ales during work trips to Antwerp. After spending seven years in the pharmaceutical industry as a process chemist Clement moved to Bend, Oregon. When he couldn’t find his beloved Belgian-style ales, he began homebrewing them — his first batch a Belgian triple. In 2014, he founded the one-barrel, home basement nanobrewery Monkless Belgian Ales with his friend Kirk Meckem who then left the business in 2016. Clement and his wife, Robin, moved their operation to a warehouse/garage space in Northeast Bend in the original home of 10 Barrel Brewing.
Natalie Rose Baldwin studied biochemistry at the University of Colorado; started washing kegs at Burnside Brewing and rose to lead R&D brewer before leaving for Breakside Brewery. She has won several medals at the Great American Beer Festival, is professional judge at GABF and the Wolrd Beer Cup, works with the Oregon Brewers Guild Diversity and Equity Committee, is a Pink Boots Portland Chapter co-leader, and was the recipient of a Pink Boots scholarship in 2018. In February 2023, she filled Kevin Davey’s boots at Wayfinder Beer, who was the founding brewmaster at Wayfinder when it opened in 2015. Baldwin
“Cinco de Mayo,” Spanish for “the sink is full of mayonnaise.” OK, not really. We made that up, which is only fitting, because the idea that May 5 is a big holiday celebrated throughout Mexico is also made up. This yarn was spun by some PR hack for Corona beer back in the ’80s when the company was looking for a way to get Americans to drink more beer. Since this is not an especially hard task, they didn’t work especially hard on the idea, not even hard enough to note that Mexico’s real Day of Independence is Sept. 16.
Peaks & Pints has space beer for your May The 4th Be With You celebrations. Peaks and Pints May The 4th Be With You: The Cooler Awakens Today is May 4 — which may not mean a lot to a lot of people, but it’s a special date for serious Star Wars fans. May the 4th (as in “May the Force be with you”) is the day on which we celebrate all things Star Wars-related. And what better way to celebrate the date than by drinking space-themed craft beer while watching Star Wars from your couch.
Annie Henderson and Austin Jevne first founded Forager Brewery — a brewpub in Rochester, Minnesota, serving wood-fired and pouring a range of beers designed by Jevne — in 2015. Soon the pair realized there was demand for Forager’s beer beyond their walls. Just one problem: Minnesota’s antiquated beer laws don’t allow brewpubs to sell their beers through distribution. October 2019, Henderson and Jevne announced plans to begin beer production out of Wisconsin — Jevne’s home state — under the name Humble Forager Brewery. The new brand will allow Forager to sidestep a Minnesota law by contract brewing at Octopi Brewing
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 5.2.24 Some fresh new arrivals in the Peaks & Pints cooler to take home and plenty of delicious options on draft to enjoy while shopping. Cheers! AURA, Great Notion Brewing: Bright, juicy hazy IPA brewed with experimental hop oil along with a large dry hop of Citra and Citra Cryo for citrus tang, 7.2%, 16oz BICYCLE DAY, Great Notion Brewing: Fruited sour with mixed berry aromas, fresh stone fruit and citrus flavor plus a colorful surprise, 7.5%, 16oz BOARD SHORTS, Block 15 Brewing: Brewed in memory of original Block 15 bar manager, Seth,
Tacoma Arts Live offers a unique immersive experience on the art of the French painter Claude Monet at the Tacoma Armory through May 12, 2024. “Imagine Monet” is the exhibition created by the French directors Annabelle Mauger and Julien Baron, the world’s first directors of a digital immersive exhibition. Imagine Monet starts with the famous painting Impression, Sunrise (1872) and closes with the renowned Water Lilies series (1914-1926). This experience features more than 200 well-known masterpieces by the French impressionist with 360° projections on walls and floor plunging visitors into a waking dream, thanks to state-of-the-art Image Totale© technology. Monet
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 many World Beer Cup medals including a gold this year for their Three Ryes Men barleywine. Reuben’s has released several beers in the last two
Peaks & Pints has Avery Brewing’s Barrel-Aged Series bottles in our cooler. Peaks and Pints raided Avery Brewing’s Cellar In 1993, Adam Avery launches his Avery Brewing Company in a garage off an alley in Boulder, making him one of the pioneers of Colorado’s craft beer scene. At first, consumers were apprehensive when it came to the new tastes Avery introduced to the market place. In 1996, Avery was among the first breweries in Colorado to offer an IPA. Many of the deliveries were returned because the beer tasted too bitter. Pushing the limits in the
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), their childhood friend, Dave Takush, joined the company and his master’s degree in fermentation science at Oregon State University helped him eventually become 2 Towns head cidermaker. Now the number one independent cidery in the country, 2 Towns has more than 100 employees
Triplehorn Brewing’s Amber Clowes raises her Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers Champion, Folkvang Red. Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers winner and recap Amber ale in 2024 might seem a little passé in a world dominated by hazies, adjunct-laden stouts and barrel-aged beasts. But not that long ago, amber was the ale that practically built the craft beer house, as you have witness during the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers. Immensely sessionable and immediately recognizable, amber ales were easy to drink — making it an enticing prospect to macro drinkers looking
Peaks & Pints barkeeps Lovettorenan and Monicadriel call the Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers Championship Game with the rest of Fellowship. Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers Championship and Party Peaks barkeep Mathrandir helped keep the Fellowship together. PAPPI THE GREY: The titanic amber throwdown finale is on! Voting for the Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers Championship Game is live. After three weeks of voting, you have picked the most popular amber and red ales brewed in Washington and Oregon. What began as 64 malt-slinging ambers and
For the past three weeks, Peaks & Pints pitted Middle-Northwest’s best ambers and red ales in a head-to-head battle of malts. We speak, of course, of the Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers. Sixty-four amber and red ales brewed in the lands of Oregon and Washington were selected and seeded by the public throughout February, separated into four geographical regions: Northern Washington, Southern Washington, Northern Oregon, and Southern Oregon with only one amber or red per brewery. Through voting on Peaks’ Instagram Stories, amber and red ale drinkers have been picking winners until the best amber and red ale in Middle-Northwest is
Welcome to the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers Final Four! Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers Final Four PAPPI THE GREY: Welcome to the Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers Final Four everyone! I’m Peaks & Pints co-owner Pappi the Grey and believe it or not there have been days during this amber and red ale tournament when, by noon or so, it was already obvious which beer would be moving on and which would be going home. There were blowouts … oh were there ever. Oh, but yesterday
It’s been a whirlwind 17 years for Fort George Brewery. The Astoria, Oregon, started with an actual whirlwind and this month, created a whirlwind with their flagship Vortex IPA. This April 2024 they are celebrating Vortex Month, a great time to revisit or try an all-new version of the now classic Oregon IPA. You can try them all tonight at Peaks & Pints in Tacoma’s Proctor District. We’ll be tapping Vortex IPA, Double Dry Hopped Vortex, Cryotex, and Vortex Hands, a collaboration with their friends at Block 15 Brewing, plus other draft beers from the Fort George and Block 15.
Peaks & Pints barkeeps Bilbo Brandon and Mathrandir break down the Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers Ethanol 8. Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers April 25 BILBO BRANDON: The Ethanol 8 is fully fleshed out: Stemma First Amber, Triplehorn Folkvang Red, Top Rung Box Alarm Amber, Triceratops Collin James Irish Red, Pelican Sea’N Red, Double Mountain I.R.A., Boneyard Diablo Rojo, and Block 15 Ridgeback Red. It’s interesting to note that number 16th seed First Amber made it to the final eight, Boneyard Diablo Rojo is the only number one seed remaining, and Thurston County
Pappi The Grey discusses the Top Rung Brewing versus 7 Seas Brewing match-up. Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers April 24 PAPPI THE GREY: The best amber and red ales in Middle-Northwest? You think you know where to find it. We all do. After weeks of feverish voting using algorithms, classifiers, and processes, we at Peaks & Pints have watched you, beloved voters, narrow down 64 ambers and red brewed in Oregon and Washington to the very best 16, the maltiest of the crop. Yesterday, the first eight ambers and reds in the Saccharification
Peaks & Pints barkeep Amber Baggins and co-owner Pappi the Grey call the opening day of the Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers Saccharification 16. Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers April 23 AMBER BAGGINS: Amber ale in 2024 might seem a little passé in a world dominated by hazies, adjunct-laden stouts and barrel-aged beasts. But not that long ago, amber was the ale that practically built the craft beer house. Immensely sessionable and immediately recognizable, amber ales were easy to drink — making it an enticing prospect to macro drinkers looking for something different
Peaks & Pints barkeeps Lovettorenan and Monicadriel preview the last four games of the Second Round of the Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers. Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers April 22 MONICADRIEL: Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, wizards, Elves, and Dwarves, to the 2024 Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Pale Ales from the historic Proctor District in beautiful Tacoma, Washington. I’m Peaks & Pints barkeep Monicadriel and welcome to day 12 of the Tournament. The last eight amber and red ales in the Second Round are rested from the weekend off and
Peaks & Pints co-owner Pappi the Grey announces yesterday’s Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers Second Round winners. Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers April 20 PAPPI THE GREY: Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, Wizards, Elves, and Dwarves, to the 2024 Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers from the historic Proctor District in beautiful Tacoma, Washington. I’m Peaks & Pints co-owner Pappi the Grey and I’m here to guide your though yesterday’s Second Round action, then take the rest of the weekend off — if you call drinking 20 barleywines at the Parkway
In 2019, Brody Day and Dustin Harder converted a 1909 church on the corner of Northwest Broadway and 24th Street in Portland into Steeplejack Beer, a brewery, taproom, and restaurant that still looks like a church — a very cool church. The building’s stained-glass windows loom above the brewery’s tanks and bar, and pews serve as banquettes for the wooden tables at the center of the space. The women-led brewing team mainly brews at 30-barrel production brewery in Hillsboro. In celebration of today’s Record Store Day, Steeplejack Beer Sales Director Tim Ensign will be in the house with his beer
6-Pack of Things To Do: April 19-22, 2024 Tournament of Beer, 420 Beer Flight, Junior Daffodil Parade, Double Shot Theater Festival, and other events in Tacoma and beyond. … TOURNAMENT OF BEER: For two weeks now, Peaks & Pints has hosted the Tournament of Beer: Northwest Ambers. Sixty-four amber and red ales brewed in the lands of Oregon and Washington were selected and seeded by the public throughout February, separated into four geographical regions: Northern Washington, Southern Washington, Northern Oregon, and Southern Oregon with only one amber or red per brewery. The top 64 vote getters — the cream of
There’s no shortage of things you can do to prepare for 4/20, like, say, visiting numerous dispensaries and buying copious amounts of deeply discounted cannabis and cannabis products, and then, you know, consuming them Saturday, perhaps in a Mrs. Butterworth’s bong or Cheech & Chong joint. Hey, so long as you consume responsibly and don’t drive afterward, of course. Or you could lounge around on the couch or in the backyard and enjoy drinking beers that are “dank,” a term that means pungent, funky, and odoriferous, to both good weed and very hoppy IPAs. Dank means an extremely overpowering odor
