In the early ’90s, Dusty Trail converted the historic Engine House No. 9 bar into a brewpub at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Pine Street, officially becoming the first microbrewery in Tacoma. Dick Dickens grabbed the Engine House reins in 2002, bringing in head brewer Doug Tiede. Heads turned and medals were hung. In 2011, The X Group added the Engine House to their local restaurant empire, with Shane Johns and Donovan Stewart running the kettles and hanging even more medals, mostly for their sours and saisons. Two years ago, they separated the brewery from the restaurant and opened
Peaks and Pints New Beers in Stock 4.1.21 Peaks and Pints New Beers in Stock 4.1.21 has treasures for your Opening Day Baseball, March Madness, and Easter weekend. Cheers! Black Raven Brewing Tropical Trickster: Brewed with slightly less bitterness to let the tropical flavors of pineapple and mango juice stay bright and sunny, 6.9% Breakside Brewery Macchiato Stout: Coffee milk stout collaboration with Beachwood Brewing with notes of caramel macchiato, bittersweet chocolate, and molasses, 7.9% Chuckanut Brewery Doppelbock: Rich malty lager aged more than 9 weeks and usually up to 3 months for notes of chocolate, toffee, and dried stone
Since Greg Koch and Steve Wagner founded it in 1996, Stone Brewing Co. has been producing an ever-expanding line up of well-crafted and often in-your-face beers and interesting collaborations. Stone’s gargoyle mascot watches over each of these beers, attempting to draw in their ideal consumer and to scare off the Keystone-swilling undergrad that stumbled into the display. Don’t let them intimidate you. Known for their bold, flavorful and largely hop-centric beers, Stone has earned a reputation for brewing outstanding, unique beers while maintaining an unwavering commitment to sustainability, business ethics, philanthropy and the art of brewing. The Brewers Association just
Peaks and Pints: GoodLife Comatose and Artists Point Trail GoodLife Brewing Comatose Imperial IPA was nominated as a fourth seed in the Southern Oregon Region of the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs, which will begin April 2, 2021. Since we’re not touring breweries to preview the tournament this year, we enjoyed the Peaks and Pints: GoodLife Comatose and Artists Point Trail pairing … while wearing showshoes. Hops: GoodLife Comatose Imperial IPA Incorporated in 2009 as Noble Brewing Co., Brewmaster Curt Plants, Ty Barnett and Pratt Rather signed a lease in 2010 for the space it now
Before Coca-Cola found its way down the gullets and onto the palates of Americans in 1886, hard apple cider, another effervescent drink, had been one of the most popular drinks on the East Coast. In fact, hard cider had been the preferred alcoholic beverage, even touted by our founding fathers. In 1895, on the west Coast, between Salem and Portland, Bauman Farms was first homesteaded by Elizabeth Bauman and her teenage sons, Stephen and Leo. Stephen eventually married at the cider apples on their Gervais, Oregon, farm, with the barrels in their barn fermenting the goods into hard cider. When
Instagram Outsider: National Puppy Day, Boulder Strong, Foaming Porters From all the puppies to mountain shots, from snowboarding ironing to foamy porters, 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 for your chance to be featured on Peaks and Pints Instagram Outsider. And, please, wash your damn hands; wear your damn mask. Until we meet back here again next week, enjoy Instagram Outsider: National Puppy Day, Boulder Strong, Foaming Porters. (Photo of Kimberly Johnson of Final Draft Taphouse courtesy of Mateo Ellis)
Peaks and Pints: Sig Terraformation and Point Defiance Park Sig Brewing Terraformation IPA series was nominated as a 14th seed in the Southern Washington Region of the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs, which will begin April 2, 2021. The tournament bracket will be released soon. Since we’re not touring breweries to preview the tournament this year, we enjoyed the Peaks and Pints: Sig Terraformation and Point Defiance Park pairing. Hops: Sig Terraformation Sig Brewing just released their fourth Terraformation 1.5x hazy IPA, V4 Ur, featuring a triple dry hop of Altus cryo, Comet cryo, and Strata
By time Peaks and Pints opens today at 11 a.m., your NCAA Men’s Basketball bracket will likely be in the garbage. These are the facts of March Madness. Therefore, you should focus on something eminently achievable: drinking beer. The good news is Gonzaga will face off against Creighton in the Sweet 16 this morning. The Gonzaga Bulldogs will play in their sixth-straight Sweet 16. This is Creighton’s first Sweet 16 appearance since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. William Hill Sportsbook lists the Bulldogs 13.5-point favorites, but stranger things have happened. It’s not called March Madness for
6-Pack of Things To Do: Saturday March 27 2021 The Proctor Farmers Market is full on beginning today. Plus cabbage pudding! Here’s your Saturday 6-Pack of Things To Do! MARKET DAY: Spring is here, and warmer weather is on the way, which means it’s time for the Proctor Farmers Market to sweep the street every Saturday morning. The market will reopen every Saturday through Dec. 18 at its 27th Street and Proctor location next to Connect the Brick LEGO store. The Proctor Farmers Market provides locally grown produce, pasture raised meats, wild caught seafood, cheeses, eggs, fruit, flowers, plants, and
There was a time when beer was just called beer? You would order a light beer or a dark beer? Maybe ask for a sweet beer or a bitter beer. Although, during Oktoberfest, you’d order a clear, golden lager. And, before a Seahawks game, you tried something red and acidic at FX McRory’s across from the Kingdome. What the hell was that? Nice work Charles Finkel! Then, in 1977, a man named Michael Jackson (two gloves, not just one) wrote a book called The World Guide to Beer. Combining the work of earlier authors with his own experiences, Jackson pretty
6-Pack of Things To Do: Friday March 26 2021 Join Peaks & Pints as we vault headlong like a boss into the 6-Pack of Things To Do: Friday March 26 2021. Cheers! ART: Tacoma Arts Live alerts us to Imagine Van Gogh the Original Immersive Exhibition in Image Totake© featuring more than 200 of the Dutch artist’s paintings, which is making its debut in the Pacific Northwest this winter at the historic Tacoma Armory. Annabelle Mauger and Julien Baron, renowned for their work at Cathédrale d’Images in Les Baux-de-Provence, France, are the artistic directors behind the creation of this unique exhibit that brings
If you created a Venn diagram representing today’s Peaks & Pints to-go beer flight, you’d have “Beer” in the first circle, “Milkshake” in the second circle, “Lassi” in the third circle, “Smoothie” in the fourth circle, and Peaks and Pints Pilot Program: Soda Fountain On The Fly in the center circle. Over the last 40 years, brewers have experimented with an array of flavors, processes and ingredients. They’ve turned classic styles into comfort foods such as pastry stouts or beer slushies. A growing trend in craft beer is the beer milkshake/smoothie/lassi. These beers are often with so much fruit puree
Peaks and Pints: Level Mostly Karate Chops and Bells Mountain Level Beer Mostly Karate Chops was nominated as a 15th seed in the Northern Oregon Region of the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs, which will begin April 2, 2021. The tournament bracket will be released soon. Since we’re not touring breweries to preview the tournament this year, we enjoyed the Peaks and Pints: Level Mostly Karate Chops and Bells Mountain Trail pairing. Hops: Level Mostly Karate Chops In search of a spacious property to commission some brews of his own, Geoff Phillips, owner of the recently
Imagine Nation Brewing beer now in Tacoma. Imagine Nation at Peaks and Pints For two decades, Robert Rivers and his wife Fernanda Menna Barreto Krum worked in conflict zones around the world to promote peace and healing within communities affected by violence. They learned social change is generated more effectively when a constructive entity or group exists — in this case a brewery — where individuals feel a sense of belonging while they receive support for building and implementing skills that can better the communities in which they live. They opened Imagine Nation Brewing Co. in
6-Pack of Things To Do: Wednesday, March 24 2021 As we move into spring, it’s a time of new beginnings (especially as pandemic restrictions loosen). But it’s also a time to look back and celebrate past accomplishments while considering future changes. Today you can ponder everything from local women entrepreneurs battling the pandemic to UPA students pivoting with their violins, from arts expressing themselves during COVID to PLU’s men’s soccer team winning an unofficial title, while also being entertained by comedians and a quintet of comfort beers. Welcome to 6-Pack of Things To Do: Wednesday, March 24 2021. CONVERSATION: The
Peaks & Pints ponders changing the name of our upcoming Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs to Tournament of Beer: NW Double Trouble. As you may remember, we held last year’s Tournament of Beer: West Coast Flagships during a very COVID April 2020. The shutdown was announced on the last day of Pappi Swarner’s pre-Tournament research tour along the West Coast with his last photo snapped at an empty Iron Horse Brewery, the day before the shutdown. This year, we skipped the pre-Tournament brewery visits for obvious reasons. Instead, we’re pairing the 64 nominated Northwest double IPAs with trails located
Peaks and Pints: Trap Door Juiced Up and Moulton Falls Trail Trap Door Brewing Juiced Up was nominated as a fourth seed in the Southern Washington Region of the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs, which will begin April 2, 2021. The tournament bracket will be released soon. Since we’re not touring breweries to preview the tournament this year, we enjoyed the Peaks and Pints: Trap Door Juiced Up and Moulton Falls Trail pairing. Hops: Trap Door Juiced Up Trap Door’s Juiced Up hazy double IPA is double dry hopped with Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe, and Strata, the
Peaks and Pints: Silver City Ripe ’N Juicy and Rock Candy Mountain Silver City Brewery Ripe N Juicy was nominated as a seventh seed in the Southern Washington Region of the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs, which will begin April 2, 2021. The tournament bracket will be released soon. Since we’re not touring breweries to preview the tournament this year, we enjoyed the Peaks and Pints: Silver City Ripe ’N Juicy and Rock Candy Mountain Trail pairing. Hops: Silver City Ripe ’N Juicy The Double IPA is an American invention that takes hoppiness to a much
Joel Gregory, homebrewer and electrical engineer, opened Ex Novo Brewing in July 2014 with the mission to contribute all — yes, all — of its profits (that don’t get redirected to infrastructure improvements, which is not code for lining any pockets) to its four primary nonprofit partners: Friends of the Children, IJM, Impact NW and MercyCorps. These are organizations that work mainly to build stronger communities for the poor by reducing violence, providing support, and, in the case of Friends of the Children, by working with kids to break the cycles that keep communities in poverty and violence. Gregory initially
Remember when you knew how to relax? It was probably before you had an iPhone, before you had kids, before you had a job that demanded 70 hours a week — plus weekends. Relaxation, we’re afraid, is a dying art. That’s why we offer a flight of four tropical chill ciders today. So, pawn the kids off on Grandma, put your phone down, and get ready to swallow one seriously giant chill pill. Step one: Deep breath, South Sound. Step two: Grab today’s Peaks and Pints Monday Cider Flight: Tropical Chill Pill of tropical-themed ciders intended to give you a
Peaks and Pints: Mirage Babylon Pit and Pratt Lake Trail Mirage Beer Babylon Pit was nominated as a 15th seed in the Southern Washington Region of the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs, which will begin April 2, 2021. The tournament bracket will be released soon. Since we’re not touring breweries to preview the tournament this year, we enjoyed the Peaks and Pints: Mirage Babylon Pit and Pratt Lake Trail pairing. Hops: Mirage Babylon Pit Mirage’s Babylon Pit is so cloudy, it’s damn near meteorological. The delicious double IPA is brewed with Michigan-grown Chinook in the boil
Instagram Outsider: Semi Sweet Soak, Goat Gambol, Leprechaun Trap From a semi sweet cider soak to first day of spring sips, from goat jigs to leprechaun traps, 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 for your chance to be featured on Peaks and Pints Instagram Outsider. And, please, wash your damn hands; wear your damn mask. Until we meet back here again next week, enjoy Instagram Outsider: Semi Sweet Soak, Goat Gambol, Leprechaun Trap. View this post on Instagram A
The Chinook hop is a cross between the Petham Golding and USDA-selected male (#63012, if you want to be specific), and was first released from the breeding program in 1985. Primarily grown in Yakima, this hop is primarily used for its high alpha acid content as a bittering hop. These are the most pine-like hops and can overwhelm other, less assertive, hops. Chinooks are more common as bittering hops in big beers such as barleywines. They have a spicy, piney aroma with aggressive spicy pine, spruce and citrus flavors. These days, however, late additions and even dry-hopping with Chinook is
Peaks and Pints: Reuben’s Brews Bitsier & Bobsier and Twin Falls Reuben’s Brews Bitsier & Bobsier was nominated as a sixth seed in the Northern Washington Region of the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs, which will begin April 2, 2021. The tournament bracket will be released soon. Since we’re not touring breweries to preview the tournament this year, we enjoyed the Peaks and Pints: Reuben’s Brews Bitsier & Bobsier and Twin Falls pairing. Hops: Reuben’s Brews Bitsier & Bobsier “Bits and Bobs” is a British idiom that means the same as “odds and ends,” which means
Please visit Peaks and Pints as we join the top beer bars from across the globe in celebrating Orval Day 2021 today. Orval Day celebrates a global flavor touchstone, a beer brewed within the walls of Belgian’s Notre Dame d’Orval monastery with a thousand-year history: Orval Trappist Ale. Intensely aromatic and dry, this Belgian pale ale is as complex as it is unique. Orval is bottle conditioned with three different malts, two types of hops, and undergoes complex fermentation with multiple yeasts including Brettanomyces. Peaks & Pints will offer 2019 and 2020 vintage Orval bottles as a to-go flight, Peaks
Peaks & Pints entered the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail from the Homestead Valley Trail in Olallie State Park. Peaks and Pints: Black Raven Wisdom Seeker and Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail Black Raven Brewing Wisdom Seeker Double IPA was nominated as an eighth seed in the Northern Washington Region of the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs, which will begin April 2, 2021. The tournament bracket will be released soon. Since we’re not touring breweries to preview the tournament this year, we enjoyed the Peaks and Pints: Black Raven Wisdom
There is plenty to love about craft beer — from the work that goes into taste and aroma, to the unbelievable creativity that goes into naming beer. Many brewers brand their beers after their favorite pop culture passions. After all, pop culture has become indispensable and is now intertwined with our lives. Level Beer names beers after their love for classic video games. StormBreaker Brewing loves Star Wars. Which bring us to today’s Peaks & Pints to-go flight. Tonight, we’re hosting a birthday celebration for Rogue Ales Sales Executive Rich Jamieson — one of the biggest pop culture aficionados. Jamieson,
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 3.18.21 With spring comes rain, and there’s no reason to stay dry on the inside. Welcome to Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 3.18.21. … Bale Breaker Brewing Homegrown Beer No. 6: Balanced, fruity hazy IPA featuring homegrown Pilsner and Munich barley malts plus Bale Breaker’s first-ever crop of wheat and oat malts with ripe aromas of pineapple, orange, grapefruit, and apricot, 7.1% Chainline Brewing Bent Frame Barleywine: Traditional American barleywine made with old and new-school hops for dark fruit, berries, spice, and pine with a bitter finish, 11% Gigantic Brewing Catch
Peaks and Pints: Cloudburst Keys Phone Wallet Mask and Discovery Park Loop Cloudburst Brewing Keys Phone Wallet Mask double IPA was nominated as a fifth seed in the Northern Washington Region of the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs, which will begin April 2, 2021. The tournament bracket will be released soon. Since we’re not touring breweries to preview the tournament this year, we enjoyed the Peaks and Pints: Cloudburst Keys Phone Wallet Mask and Discovery Park Loop pairing. Hops: Cloudburst Keys Phone Wallet Mask “M” is for mask. “M” is also for Mosaic. Both M’s were
6-Pack of Things To Do: Thursday March 18 2021 Yes, by now you can make it out of your home, but there’s still plenty to do online. Tacoma Arts Live hosts their online auction VIVID. The Washington State History Museum takes a look at a bad boy Billy Gohl. Museum of Glass pairs James Joyce’s Ulysses with glass, The Grand Cinema discusses stray dogs. Pretty Gritty Tours explores the sunken SS Governor. And, Peaks & Pints suggests you try four double IPA nominated into our Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs. Welcome to 6-Pack of Things To Do: Thursday March
The public nominated 64 Northwest double IPAs for the Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs in February. Beginning April 2, through online voting on this website, Washington and Oregon double IPA drinkers will pick daily winners until the best double IPA in the Northwest is crowned April 24. It’s just like March Madness, only with way more fermentable sugars. The IBU-to-IBU battle of the DIPAs grand champion will be announced at the Tournament of Beers Party April 24 at Peaks and Pints in Tacoma’s Proctor District. The final two double IPAs will battle live pouring from Peaks and Pints’ Western
There is still a pandemic afoot, most bars are operating on limited occupancy, drinking amongst a crowd of strangers who slosh their pints and periodically belt a rendition of “O Danny Boy” remains ill advised. So how can you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Tacoma this year? A few UK-themed bars such as Doyle’s Public House offer take-out St. Patrick’s Day kits, which is what Peaks and Pints offers — a to-go flight of Irish-themed beers Peaks and Pints Pilot Program: St. Patrick’s Day On The Fly. Grab the five beers below, a sandwich or two, and head home to
Peaks and Pints: Holy Mountain Astral Projection and Mount Si Holy Mountain Brewing Astral Projection double IPA was nominated as a number one seed in the Northern Washington Region of the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs, which will begin April 2, 2021. The tournament bracket will be released soon. Since we’re not touring breweries to preview the tournament this year, we enjoyed the Peaks and Pints: Holy Mountain Astral Projection and Mount Si pairing. Hops: Holy Mountain Astral Projection There are more than 430 breweries in Washington state, but there’s only one Holy Mountain, which debuted
6-Pack of Things To Do: Tuesday March 16 2021 Peaks & Pints will be open both, physically and emotionally, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. for your pre- and post-funk 6-Pack of Things To Do sandwich, craft beer, cider and wine needs. Cheers! ART: Pacific Bonsai Museum’s special exhibition for 2020 and 2021, World War Bonsai: Remembrance & Resilience, traces the cultural practice of bonsai in location and time — in Japan and in the United States, from the pre-war WWII period, through wartime, amid incarceration, and at peace. With bonsai, artifacts, documents, and photographs, the exhibition shares the little-known stories
Nut brown ales may not get all the attention the hazies receive. However, the style certainly deserves credit for introducing many to craft beer. Nut browns celebrate the pleasures of malt, so much that they are often considered a gateway for nascent beer enthusiasts. They’ve certainly lured many away from a life of drinking homogenous macros. The nut brown ale is a style known for its maltiness, with little or no hop aroma. A British classic, nut brown ale contains nary a nut. The name is derived from this medium-bodied beer’s use of toasted malted barley as opposed to roasted
Peaks and Pints: Stoup Neck Tats and High Point Trail Stoup Brewing Neck Tats Double IPA was nominated as a third seed in the Northern Washington Region of the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs, which will begin April 2, 2021. The tournament bracket will be released soon. Since we’re not touring breweries to preview the tournament this year, we enjoyed the Peaks and Pints: Stoup Neck Tats and High Point pairing. Hops: Stoup Neck Tats We’ve told the Stoup Brewing story a thousand times, but it bears repeating. Scientist Brad Benson and foodie Lara Zahaba opened
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
Peaks and Pints: Seapine Rainbow Suspenders and Far Side Seapine Brewing Rainbow Suspenders was nominated as a 15th seed in the Northern Washington Region of the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs, which will begin April 2, 2021. The tournament bracket will be released soon. Since we’re not touring breweries to preview the tournament this year, we put on our rainbow suspenders and paired Peaks and Pints: Seapine Rainbow Suspenders and Far Side Rock Climbing Area. Hops: Seapine Rainbow Suspenders Seapine Brewing owner/brewmaster Drew Colpitts studied brewing sciences at University of California Davis and spent time working
Instagram Outsider: Pink Boots, Super Fluff, Pi Day From Pink Boots brew days to Super Fluff IPAs, from Pi Day to the Green Wave, 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 for your chance to be featured on Peaks and Pints Instagram Outsider. And, please, wash your damn hands; wear your damn mask. Until we meet back here again next week, enjoy Instagram Outsider: Pink Boots, Super Fluff, Pi Day. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rob
Helles is a German style blonde lager that is one of the few beers with an actual birth date of March 21, 1894, courtesy of the Spaten Brewery in Munich. Helles (pronounced “HELL-us”) was, like a few other styles, an invention of competitive necessity. In the mid 1800s, the Bavarian brewer, Josef Groll, developed a new style of beer for brewers in Plzeň, Bohemia — the pilsner. Gabriel Sedlmayr, owner of Spaten, would have none of it. That fateful March day he released an answer to pilsner — a light golden lager style called helles, which translates to “bright,” “pale,”
6-Pack of Things To Do: Saturday March 13 2021 This is the time of year when the soul’s attention shifts from internal to external, from winter’s cozy home/hearth to nature’s boundless fertility, when the tides tremble and the moon winks and dogs get that look in their eye and the lagers flow like wine. A time in which, in the poetic words of Neil DeGrasse Tyson, “Atmospheric refraction hastens sunrise and delays sunset, adding to daylight.” So you know it must be good. Enjoy today’s 6-Pack of Things To Do. Cheers! MARKET DAY: The Peaks & Pints hop plants have