Peaks & Pints bartenders Brandon Crespin and Claire Brinich recap yesterday’s games and preview today’s battles. Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Lagers April 14 CLAIRE BRINICH: Over a three-week period, Peaks & Pints pits 64 of the Northwest’s best in a crispy bois battle of lagers. This is a tournament, folks, not a playoff. Each match is do or die — one misstep and you’re out of the dance. Pitching temperature too high, didn’t spend enough money on base malt, and you can pack your brewers paddle and go home. Sure, there are plenty
Did you also know that there’s a National Pecan Day? Yup, National Pecan Day is celebrated annually April 14. Nuts are known to be an appetite-curbing, healthy snack, but why do we have a national holiday devoted to a single nut? Well, the pecan is the only naturally occurring nut produced in the US. It was a staple in the diet of Native Americans as early as the 1500s and is currently expected to remain in the top three most-consumed nuts in America along with peanuts and almonds. A perfect instance of something everyone considers a nut, but pecans are
Peaks & Pints bartender Matt usher and cook Brittney Crowder recap yesterday’s Tournament of Beer: Northwest Lager results. Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Lagers April 13 MATT USHER: About six centuries ago, Bavarian brewers came to understand that a longer fermentation at lower temperatures could produce a crisper, cleaner beer with lower alcohol levels. But it wasn’t until the advent of microbiology in the 19th century that they could identify and cultivate yeast that reliably did so: lager yeast. Hello everyone, I’m Peaks & Pints bartender Matt Usher and this is day four of
President George H.W. Bush was an ardent supporter of the national parks. In 1991, during his administration, the National Park Service celebrated its 75th anniversary. In honor of the occasion, President Bush was the first to designate National Park Week in mid-April. This year, National Park Week begins the third Saturday, April 16 and runs through Sunday, April 24. Parks across the country will host a variety of special programs, events, and digital experiences. Entrance fees are waived on April 16 to kick off National Park Week, including Mountain Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park. As you enjoy our
Peaks & Pints bartenders Trish Ortega and Amber Hamilton recap yesterday’s action and previews today’s four games. Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Lagers April 12 AMBER HAMILTON: Live from Peaks & Pints it’s the Tournament of Beer: Northwest Lagers! I’m Peaks bartender Amber Hamilton. Let’s get down to lager logic. What constitutes a great pale and light lager? Who brews the best in the Pacific Northwest? Everyone seems to have his or her own favorite, and everyone’s an expert. This past March Peaks & Pints polled the public asking what are the top 64
It’s Maibock drinking season, at least according to the Germans. Since 1614, the first kegs are tapped at Munich’s Hofbräuhaus during the last week of April as they bid auf wiedersehen to winter and welcome the warming days of spring with a lager strong enough to withstand cooler nights but aromatic enough to match the flowering trees and budding plants outside. Maibocks (mai-, pronounced “my,” is German for May), like other bocks (stout lagers) are malt-forward, full-bodied beers with a stronger alcohol content (6.3 to 8.1 percent). But, unlike their darker brothers the dopplebock, Maibocks highlight floral hop characteristics that
6-Pack of Things To Do: April 11-12 2022 Relish so tremendously, so irresistibly the fact you exist, the fact that you can feel your heartbeat through your clothes, the fact you get to actually drink international ciders, drink mead while listening to metal, and vote for your favorite Northwest brewed lager. Enjoy 6-Pack of Things To Do: April 11-12 2022. TOURNAMENT OF BEER: During the month of March, we asked our Peaks and Pints patrons and the public to vote for their favorite lagers brewed in Washington and Oregon. Through an online nomination system, beer enthusiasts listed 86 lagers with
Peaks & Pints staff members Aaron Brooks and Amy Kirk preview today’s Tournament of Beer: Northwest Lagers action. Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Lagers April 11 (voting closed) During the month of March, we asked our Peaks and Pints patrons and the public to vote for their favorite lagers brewed in Washington and Oregon. Through an online nomination system, beer enthusiasts listed 86 lagers with the top 64 seeding the Tournament of Beer: Northwest Lagers’ knockout bracket, which kicked off Friday when the first eight lagers met on our wooden floor. This scenario continues
Apples were among some of the first crops grown in colonial America. Potted seedlings and bags of apple seeds were brought over on the Mayflower. The Bible-thumping Puritans were not teetotalers. Apple orchards in colonial America usually meant one thing: hard cider. Apples flourished in the fertile soil and friendly climate, and soon apples were a key part of most colonial farms and menus. A thirst for beer and the introduction of prohibition laws meant hard cider became an almost forgotten beverage, but it is currently undergoing a revival with small producers and large booze brands all getting in on
Instagram Outsider: Beer Day, Oregon Beer Awards, Climb For Clean Air From Beer Day to the Oregon Beer Awards, from baseball to Climb For Clean Air, Peaks and Pints Instagram Outsider returns today with a photo essay of Instagram posts from the past week. Be sure to keep tagging us @peaksandpints and @ciderofdestiny for your chance to be featured on Peaks and Pints Instagram Outsider. Until we meet back here again next week, enjoy Instagram Outsider: Beer Day, Oregon Beer Awards, Climb For Clean Air. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Oregon Beer Awards (@oregonbeerawards)
Long before the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans were producing maple sugar to flavor their food and as a valuable item for trade. Colonists learned the technique from Native Americans and used maple sugar in place of cane sugar, which was then an expensive luxury. Nicknamed the sugarbush, the sugar maple yields sap that is boiled and concentrated into one of the best reasons to wake up any morning: an amber or golden maple syrup to douse pancakes and waffles — or add to craft beer. It’s healthful, too: high in manganese and zinc, maple syrup is touted to help strengthen
Peaks & Pints bartenders Erin Miller and Matthew Usher report on yesterday’s Tournament of Beer: Northwest Lagers opening day results. Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer Northwest Lagers April 9 Five years ago, Peaks & Pints challenged 64 Washington state brewers to enter a tournament-style IPA infiltration, hops versus hops, with Rainy Daze Goat Boater crowned best IPA. The next year, we brought Oregon and Idaho into the fold with 64 porters tasking center stage in our quest for porter perfection, with Wingman Brewers’ P-51 Porter reigning supreme. In 2019, it was pilsner time, baby, with
In ancient Europe, brewing was almost exclusively a woman’s role. The medieval times, however, brought about the frequency of brewing in monasteries to accommodate travelers, and as time passed, the number of female brewers dwindled, brewing in the home became rare, and commercial taverns became a predominantly male domain. Today, while women have since shed the label of “alewives,” they are continuing to infiltrate what has since become an XY-dominated scene by owning and running breweries. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Pink Boots Society, a nonprofit with the mission to encourage the professional advancement of women within
Peaks and Pints New Craft in Stock 4.8.22 Peaks and Pints New Craft in Stock 4.8.22 has new Block 15, Icicle, Dru Bru, Kulshan, and Reuben’s, plus cider from Yonder and Portland cider. Cheers! Block 15 Brewing Alpine Ibex: Strong Maibock with herbal, woodsy hop notes from Hallertauer Mittelfrüher and Czech Saaz hops, plus malty-sweetness and crisp finish, 6.9% Block 15 The DAB Lab, Pacific Resin: Brewed with progressive hopping techniques with a blast of classic West Coast hop flavors of resinous pine, citrus zest, and earthy herbs, 8.75% Dru Bru Alpha Female: Crafted in support of the Pink Boots
Peaks & Pints bartender/cook Brandon Crespin and Peaks cook Caleb Pletcher call Tournament of Beer: Northwest Lagers opening day action. Peaks and Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Lagers begins Peaks & Pints salutes Northwest brewers and their breweries with a Northwest-brewed lager. After all, it’s the beer style they enjoy brewing. It’s the beer style they drink after their shift or at beer festival. It’s a beer style they deserve after brewing their way through the pandemic while still performing feats of genius. Today, Peaks & Pints kicks off our sixth Tournament of Beer pitting 64
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 4.7.22 It’s National Beer Day today! What are you drinking? These new arrivals to the Peaks & Pints cooler?! Drekker Brewing Blackberry Lime Braaaaaaaains: Smoothie sour blasted with blackberry and lime then plus a double secret smoothie treatment of sea salt, lactose, and vanilla beans, 6.9% Drekker CHONK Spumoni Sundae Sour: Smoothie sour stuffed with cherry, pistachios, and chocolate ice cream, 7.2% Drekker Neon Phenom: Super smooth double IPA brewed with oats and spelt then hopped with Strata, Vic Secret, and Huell Melon for notes of passionfruit, citrus, berry, and just the right
It’s not a national holiday, at least not yet. But that doesn’t stop people from celebrating. National Beer Day is today. The day is historically relevant because it commemorates the date in 1933, when the Cullen-Harrison Act, signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt, went into effect. That allowed beer to once again be legally manufactured and sold in this country. Enough states then approved the 21st Amendment later that year to formally bring an end to Prohibition, which started in 1919. So, while National Beer Day isn’t a national holiday, it doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate. Since it’s also National
Peaks and Pints reels in 450 North SpongeBob beers When King Neptune’s supply of 450 North Brewing smoothie sours is stolen, SpongeBob and his starfish buddy Patrick set off from Bikini Bottom on a perilous journey to replenish his supply. First, the plucky albeit easily distracted heroes make a call to the Columbus, Indiana, brewery pleading with owner David Simmon to brew a new batch for the king. He said, “Yes.” Second, they hit the road but face dangers that range from a biker gang, dehydration, and an absurd battle while balanced on David Hasselhoff’s hairy leg. “Holy Chum Bucket!”
Surrounded by jagged peaks and valleys, waterfalls, several 9,000-plus-foot peaks and more than 300 glaciers, the North Cascades National Park turned 53 last October. The North Cascades National Park Service Complex is 505,000 acres comprised of a northern and southern unit, along with two national recreation areas: Ross Lake National Recreation Area and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area. For more than five decades, the park has protected dynamic wilderness landscape, glaciated peaks, countless cascading streams, and unique natural beauty. Each year, only a handful of in-the-know alpinists, backpackers, and wilderness enthusiasts enter the depths of the North Cascades National Park. It’s
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 4.5.22 How about a glorious Tuesday cooler check to restore your faith in beer after going too hard watching the Championship game last night? Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 4.5.22 has some newly arrived treasures, so let’s jump on in! Breakside Brewery Black & Tan: Take on this age-old idea veers featuring a bourbon barrel-aged stout as the “black” component with the “tan” is made from young golden beer and some bourbon barrel-aged Scottish ale for a 40/60 blend of aged and young or a smooth, sweet and boozy-ish beer, 8.4%
Peaks & Pints suggests pairing our roast beef sandwich special with Reuben’s Stouter Limits. Tacoma Sandwich Special of the Day: Stouter Sandwich TUESDAY, APRIL 5 2022: The Peaks & Pints Kitchen digs into Tuesday with a hearty sandwich special of roast beef, goat cheese, garlic dill aioli, red onion, tomato, and spring mix on sourdough. PAIRING: Reuben’s Brews Stouter Limits Imperial Stout This imperial stout (12.5%) is the fourth release in Reuben’s 10th Anniversary Collaboration Series, a collaboration with the Homebrewers Guild of Seattle Proper — the homebrew club where Reuben’s co-founder Adam Robbings cut his
Today is National Caramel Day! Let’s get to learning. … Americans began making sugary syrups in the 1600s, but the delicious chewy caramel we know and love today was a more recent innovation. Caramel candy emerged during the 18th century and quickly became one of the most popular sweets on the market. In fact, Milton Hershey’s first business was the Lancaster Caramel Company. Caramel is made with butter, brown and white sugar, milk or cream, and vanilla. It is usually enjoyed as an ice cream topping, a candy filling, or as a flavor in craft beer, at least according to
Sweet, dry, easy-drinking, and naturally gluten-free, ciders are so hip right now. In an era where “gluten” is seen as only slightly less sinister than Satan himself, their sales have skyrocketed, making it one of the fastest growing segments of alcoholic drinks in the country. American craft cider has been enjoying something of a Renaissance these days — a market once dominated by UK imports like Magners and Strongbow now has plenty of stateside competition. It was only a matter of time before someone dreamed up a weekly flight devoted entirely to cider. Oh, wait, we did. Welcome to this
The most-hyped monsters to arrive in Tacoma this spring weren’t the potholes on North 27th Street in the Proctor District, but sea creatures inside the Peaks & Pints’ cooler. Their arrival at Peaks sparked a mini-sensation, proof of the enduring popularity these monsters have enjoyed ever since Jules Verne conjured one up to attack Captain Nemo. It was also the kind of discovery that gave Peaks & Pints bartender Mitchell Lovett his raison d’etre. A fan of drinking scary squishy things all his life, Lovett has completely immersed himself in the study of what he calls “sea creature beers.” Today,
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 4.1.22 Une Annee is a small family-owned Chicago craft brewery focused on Belgian and French styles. Their Hubbard’s Cave was developed as an alternative to their Belgian and French style ales, primarily imperial stouts and signature Fresh IIPAs. Satisfy your beer cravings with these fresh hits, your perfect mix and match Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 4.1.22 pack awaits. … Hubbard’s Cave Accident in Hubbard’s Cave: Stout with notes of chocolate, coffee, vanilla, brown sugar, caramel, and light roasted malts, 12% Hubbard’s Cave Coffee & Cakes: Imperial stout with SPUTNIK Coffee
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 3.31.22 Whut whut Thursday! Now is the time when we all fill our beer fridges for the coming weekend, right? Well good because Peaks and Pints New Beer in stock 3.31.22 has a whole bunch of new goodness for y’all, so read on and see what’s new and delicious. … Anchorage Brewing Anadromous: Black sour fermented in French oak foudres with Belgian yeast, aged for one year in Pinot Noir and whiskey barrels, then finished on marionberries and bottle conditioned, 9.5% Anchorage Interstellar Void: Mixed culture wild ale fermented and aged in Missouri
In the early 1980s, chemical engineer and homebrewer Will Kemper paid a visit to the brewmaster of the now-defunct Rainier Brewery in Seattle where he was told he couldn’t open a brewery because he wasn’t born into it. Good one. In 1984, Kemper, his wife, Mari, and Andy Thomas opened Thomas Kemper Brewery in Poulsbo, Washington. In 1992, Thomas Kemper merged with Hart Brewing, which went on to be Pyramid Breweries. The Kempers saw the ugly side of the business and became consultants with East Coast and international breweries. After a bunch of traveling, they moved back to Bellingham where
Peaks and Pints New Craft In Stock 3.25.22 Happy Friday Peaks & Pints Pals! Load up your fridge for the weekend by raiding our cooler! It’s full of freshies! Just look at all this beautiful, beautiful beer and cider in Peaks and Pints New Craft In Stock 3.25.22! Cheers! Channel Marker Cider Cedar Ginger: The cedar and ginger in this cider are the perfect combination of refreshing and spicy, 7% Channel Marker Cran Clove Cyser: Cider with warm and spicy flavor of whole cloves and orange zest in a cranberry and apple cyser, 8% Channel Marker Habanero Lime: Feisty cider
6-Pack of Things To Do: March 25-27 2022 The Tacoma cultural scene springs into action the last weekend of March, with an album release party, classical piano concert, University of Puget Sound Jacobsen Series, and more. MUSIC: Performing a little bit Broadway, a little bit contemporary, a little bit punk, and a little bit blues, glam folk duo Champagne Sunday brings the energy and the talent to every powerful performance, including Saturday night at McMenamins Elks Temple’s Spanish Ballroom. Jessi and Jared Fredeen will perform their latest album, Balance, live with no instrument banned and Jessi’s huge, feminine voice will
Equilibrium was started by MIT scientists Peter Oates and Ricardo Petroni who were working on remediation of the Hudson River in the early 2000s. They became water chemistry experts trained to take the bad stuff out of the water. In the future, they put good stuff into water and called it beer. The two professional scientists became obsessed with New England hazy IPAs burning a path to Hill Farmstead Brewery and The Alchemist. Finally purchasing a homebrewing kit, Oats and Petroni strived to create scientifically balanced beer, which they did before brewing their first double IPA, named EQM, in 2015.
Tournament of Beer: Northwest Lagers bracket announced Peaks & Pints has unveiled the official bracket for its Tournament of Beer: Northwest Lagers, a voter-based public tournament seeking to crown the best pale lager brewed in the Pacific Northwest. Patterned after the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournaments, the Tournament of Beer features 64 regular craft lagers from Washington and Oregon, all seeded by public vote, and separated into four geographical regions: Northern Washington, Southern Washington, Northern Oregon, and Southern Oregon. These top 64 vote getters — the cream of the crispy bois — will compete Monday through Friday at tournamentofbeer.com, April 8-30.
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 3.21.22 Rainy Monday calls for Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 3.21.22! Aslan Brewing Cervisia: Mediterranean-style pilsner with melon and berry aromatics followed by flavors of lemon zest, berries, and cracker with a refreshing bitter finish, 5% Aslan Slow Sipper: Collaboration with Seattle’s soulful septet The Dip this easy drinking hazy IPA is smooth and full of citrus flavors, 5.9% Fort George Brewery Powercycle – Nectaron: New pale ale rotating series from the Fort George Brewers that will focus on a new dominant hop with each release — this one featuring Nectaron
Beginning approximately 15,000 years ago, ice dams on massive Lake Missoula in Montana began to break, sending torrents of deep water rushing through Idaho, Washington and Oregon. The process continued for thousands of years with up to 40 major floods eventually forming what is now the Columbia River Gorge. It’s a gorgeous area filled with waterfalls, hiking trails, outdoor recreation galore and craft breweries and ciders in a 40-mile stretch west to east — from Multnomah Falls to The Dalles, with Hood River somewhat in the middle. The ancient floods left Hood River with rich mineral soil. Double Mountain Brewery
Today is National Bock Day. In celebration, Peaks and Pints offers a bock-style, to-go flight of five beers: Peaks and Pints Pilot Program: National Bock Day On The Fly. Bock beer is a strong beer style generally 6.3 percent alcohol by volume and higher. It is believed to have originated in Einbeck — a town famous for brewing in the Middle Ages. Einbeck was one of the first cities to ban the use of gruit in beer in favor of hops to circumvent the Catholic Church’s high prices on gruit. The oldest written record of beer from Einbeck is from
Today’s beer flight is dedicated to anniversaries. Anniversaries can mean anything, really: revelry, remembrance, regret. It is marked by homages of love and resolve, of faith and friendship. In celebrations of weddings or births, college graduations or even death, they are our annual reminders of what to be thankful for, what we have lost, or what we have gained. In craft beer, anniversaries address the passing of time between the brewery’s founding and the present, and is often a celebration that touches the hallmarks of all such celebrations: On a significant date, a special beer is released (and often bottled
6-Pack of Things To Do: March 18-20 2022 The weather may be gray as we head into this last weekend of winter, but the entertainment calendar is definitely heating up. You can chill out at Model Train Show at the Foss Waterway Seaport, the acoustic show at The Valley, Compartment Number 6 at The Grand Cinema, and more. MODEL TRAIN SHOW: There are some hobbies better kept to yourself. You know, the ones you do alone in your basement late at night. And then there are some truly cool hobbies, like model railroads. These should be celebrated and dragged out
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 3.18.22 You survived the alluring Kelly-green sweatshirts over beige slacks, enormous Cat-in-the-Hat-style green and white hats, and green beer tears, and you’re now looking to chill over the weekend. Stop by for Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 3.18.22 and plot your course for Monday’s World Poetry Day. Cheers! Equilibrium Brewing Breaking Enigma: Imperial hazy IPA brewed with wheat and oats as a grain base then heavily hopped with Enigma and a touch of Citra for balance for notes of berries, tropical fruit, citrus, a touch of Pinot Gris, and dank earth
These days, beers with adjuncts such as fruit, marshmallow, and milk sugar have become common. 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 sour made to taste like a slushie is a year-round staple. Slushie sours — also known as pastry sours or smoothie sours — are the evolution of the fruited kettle soured beers — gose and Berliner weisses — that made a resurgence and grew incredibly popular in the early part of the 2010s. Brewers donning aprons added non-traditional
Most of you probably took one look at the headline of today’s to-go beer flight and thought, “What the hell does Peaks & Pints know about St. Patrick’s Day? OK, maybe those weren’t your first thoughts exactly, but you might be a tad skeptical about our credibility, given the telling nature of our environment, beer list, cooler inventory, kitchen menu, and all the staff’s last names. Yet, we’ve tried black pudding, we have participated in the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade and heard the story of the Blarney Stone. And we’ve even sung some misty-eyed renditions of “Danny
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 3.16.22 Satisfy your beer cravings with Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 3.16.22; your perfect mix and match pack awaits. … Abomination Brewing Manticore’s Manifest: Collaboration with Spartacus Brewing, this triple hazy IPA is loaded with Citra, Nelson, Rakau, and Phantasm powder for notes of ripe peach, tropical citrus fruits, and Sauvignon Blanc grapes, 10% Abomination Twelve Lives & Still Wandering: Collaboration with Fat Orange Cat this imperial IPA is double dry hopped with Lotus, Cashmere, Citra, and mosaic, 9.5% BreakThru Brewing Hydro-Ponic: Collaboration with Halcyon Brewing, this hazy pale ale is
Peaks & Pints suggests you pair our crazy turkey sandwich special with Hoof Hearted’s crazy gose. Tacoma Sandwich Special of the Day: What Happens WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16 2022: What happens when you pair Peaks & Pints Kitchen Director Robby Peterson’s sandwich special of turkey, bacon, roasted red pepper, raspberry cream cheese, and cucumber on sourdough with Hoof Hearted Brewing’s “That’s What Happens When You Put Ketchup On A Hot Dog”? Pairing the sandwich with any beer would be like skiing down a mountainside naked smeared with ketchup but this gose-stye ale brewed with raspberry, passionfruit, lime,
Named for the home of the Greek gods, Olympic National Park reigns as the fifth most visited national park in the country. The park sprawls across several different ecosystems, from the dramatic peaks of the Olympic Mountains to old-growth forests. Some of the world’s largest trees ― Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, Western red cedar, and Western hemlock ― grow in the Olympic National Park, including Quinault’s big Sitka spruce, which is 191 feet tall and 1,000 years old. Trails lead through mossy forests to stunning, venerable arboreal giants. And keeping a close eye on it all is the Washington’s National Park
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 3.15.22 Tuesday is a great new brews day! Welcome to Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 3.15.22! Belching Beaver Brewery Polamo: New, easy-drinking pale ale with hops and citrus, 5.6% Block 15 Brewing Cosmic Cold Brew: The Corvallis brewery’s Nebula Stout conditioned with a 24-hour cold extraction of freshly roasted coffee beans from Bespoken Coffee Roasters, 7% Block 15 Emerging Sunshine: Crisp golden IPA bursting with citrus, mango, and floral hop notes, 6.75% Block 15 Selection Series, Chinook: Single hop IPA with vibrant candied citrus, pine, and light rose notes, 7% Counterbalance
Just as a trout delivered Matilda’s lost wedding band from a pond, Merchant du Vin expects their containers filled with Orval to be delivered to US soil, albeit with a substantial delay due to global freight woes. Because of that, the seventh annual Orval Day will be moved from Saturday, March 26 to Saturday, May 21. For each bottle of Orval Trappist Ale sold that day Merchant du Vin will donate 50 cents to charity partner, the National Forest Foundation. As part of Merchant du Vin’s Trappist Tuesday program, Peaks & Pints suggests you drink Orval anyway today in our
