Good morning from deep into the woods of Underwood, Washington. Morning Foam: Fresh Hoptoberfest and Reuben’s Festbier pulls GOOD MORNING, PROCTOR DISTRICT! Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020 — Greg Brady turns 66 today! Plenty of sunshine, high 79. Peaks & Pints offers Campfire Crowler fills of Reuben’s Brews Festbier. TODAY’S LOCAL STEW Today marks the official last day of Peaks & Pints’ 2020 Fresh Hoptoberfest — a month-long celebration of fresh hops and Oktoberfest beers featuring two draft styles of each on top. That said, Peaks & Pints will continue to have at least two fresh hop
Pumpkins belong to the family of Cucurbitaceae. They are classified to Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita moschata, Cucurbita maxima and Cucurbita mixta, according to the texture and shape of their stems. Pumpkin is poor in taste and carbohydrates but high in vitamins, especially, provitamin A, antioxidants and minerals, and it is mixed with nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice to improve of its sensory properties. Pumpkin is a vegetable, which is healthy and functional, being rich in phenolic compounds, flavonoids and vitamins, and has a low energy. That’s all fine and dandy, but today is Monday, which means we offer a to-go cider flight.
Good morning from Proctor District! We’re going to miss you Jasminka! Morning Foam: Eileen Fisher Trunk Show and Hair of the Dog Skagit Fred pulls GOOD MORNING, PROCTOR DISTRICT! Monday, Sept. 28, 2020 — Naomi Watts turns 52 today! Sunny skies with a high of 72. Peaks & Pints offers Campfire Crowler fills of Hair of the Dog Skagit Fred. TODAY’S LOCAL STEW The Eileen Fisher Trunk Show is at the Walla Walla Clothing Co. in the Proctor District from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. CRAFT CHOICE CLICKABLES New Belgium asking beer fans to #VoteVoodoo by
Instagram Outsider: Firefighting Beer, Northwest Fresh, Easy Big Fella From wild fires to returning to the pub, from pumpkin beer to chilling outside, 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, cheers to you! View this post on Instagram Today I slept in, put away four months of laundry, wore real
It’s National Chocolate Milk Day! Oh, what a day! What a day! What a day! Chocolate milk, you see, is the way chocolate should be cosumed. Dark (or real) chocolate is disgusting and bitter and gross on the tongue. It is also pretentious and stupid. People who enjoy high-percentage cocoas are the most annoying people you will ever have the displeasure of meeting. They flock to dark chocolate the same way they do to bacon, pirates, and condescending prattle about how vegetables should always be crisp and barely cooked. The only cure for dark chocolate is, you guessed it, delicious
Good morning from the Fernseed in the Proctor District! Morning Foam: Point Ruston Market and Georgetown Fresh Hop Johnny Utah pulls GOOD MORNING, PIERCE COUNTY! Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020 — Gwyneth Paltrow turns 48 today! Cloudy early, becoming mostly sunny this afternoon, high 67. Peaks & Pints offers Campfire Crowler fills of Georgetown Brewing Fresh Hop Johnny Utah. TODAY’S LOCAL STEW Today marks the last day of the Tacoma Farmers Market Point Ruston, which runs 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Seattle Seahawks host the Dallas Cowboys at 1:25. CRAFT CHOICE CLICKABLES New School Beer reports
6-Pack of Things To Do: Saturday September 26 2020 Welcome to the Saturday version of 6-Pack of Things To Do! Today, the annual Cider Swig goes home, last call for blueberries in Proctor, Fort from Home goes blacksmithing and more. … CIDER SWIG: Today is National Public Lands Day, which means it’s also time for Cider Swig. The annual outdoor cider festival held at Sehmel Homestead Park in Gig Harbor opens its gate every year on Public Lands Day as proceeds always benefit environmental education and conservation, including this year’s beneficiary Lu Winsor Environmental grants program. That’s all fine and
In 2000, Yakima Chief Ranches brought Simcoe into the world as a proprietary hop varietal with strong bitter and aromatic qualities. Although not used much as a bittering hop, many craft brewers favor Simcoe for its unique aroma profile composed of piney, woody, and grapefruit citrus notes mixed with slightly dank and spicy notes of onion and garlic. When fresh Simcoe hops are introduced, the tropical fruit, citrus, and pine pop even more. Let’s get to poppin’. Today’s Peaks & Pints to-go beer flight features beer brewed with fresh Simcoe. It’s a delicious flight we call Peaks and Pints Pilot
Good morning from the Mason Avenue asphalt trail in the Proctor District! Morning Foam: Cider Swig-ing at home and Wayfinder Sun Titan pulls GOOD MORNING, PIERCE COUNTY! Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020 — Olivia Newton-John turns 72 today! Cloudy this morning with showers during the afternoon, high 62F Peaks & Pints offers Campfire Crowler fills of Wayfinder Beer’s Sun Titan Pale. TODAY’S LOCAL STEW This year’s Cider Swig isn’t in Gig Harbor, but rather at your home with “festival to-go” tasting kits available at LeMay America’s Car Museum. Proctor Farmers Market opens with autumn at 9 a.m.
6-Pack of Things To Do: Friday September 25 2020 6-Pack of Things To Do coming to you from the Peaks & Pints craft beer bar, bottle shop and restaurant in Tacoma’s Proctor District. Make a Day of the Dead altar, hang out at the Museum of Glass, stream comedy — happy Friday! REOPENING: The Museum of Glass reopens today. Exhibitions on view include Richard Marquis: Keepers, Transparency: An LGBTQ+ Glass Art Exhibition, and Alchemy 5: Transformation in Contemporary Enamels. Masks are required and MOG will be asking all guests to maintain physical distancing protocols while enjoying the Hot Shop, galleries,
On sprawling farms clustered around Yakima and Willamette valleys, thousands of green Humulus lupulus vines snake vigorously skyward. A relative of marijuana, these hop plants produce resiny, cone-shaped flowers prized for their use as a bittering agent in beer. September is the traditional time for end-of-the-season harvesting and hops are no exception. That’s good news for beer lovers, as many breweries take advantage of the numerous Pacific Northwest hop farms, creating beers flavored by hops sourced 3-5 hours from the kettle boil. These beers typically have an aroma akin to that of a freshly-mowed lawn and the resinous and deep
Good morning from Peaks & Pints in Tacoma’s Proctor District! GOOD MORNING, PIERCE COUNTY! Friday, Sept. 25, 2020 — Michael Douglas turns 76 today! Rain early then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon, High 63. Peaks & Pints offers Campfire Crowler fills of Moonraker Brewing Day Dripper Wet Hop IPA. TODAY’S LOCAL STEW Museum of Glass in downtown Tacoma reopens today. Masks are required and MOG will be asking all guests to maintain physical distancing protocols while enjoying the Hot Shop, galleries, and while shopping in the Museum Store. The Lakewood Farmers Market opens at
Peaks and Pints collaborated with Kulshan Brewing on our third anniversary beer, Tree-dimensional IPA, and with Tacoma Tree Foundation Executive Director Sarah Low on a weekly Tacoma tree column. Tree-dimensional Tacoma: Cascara Farewell The falling leaves are changing color. The trees are becoming bare. And, frankly, Peaks & Pints is melancholy. This time of year marks the end of our yearlong house beer. Like past years, we’ve had a blast with Kulshan Brewing and our Tree-dimensional IPA. This year, though, we must also say goodbye to Tacoma Tree Foundation Executive Director Sarah Low’s weekly tree column.
6-Pack of Things To Do: Thursday September 24 2020 Yesterday, when Peaks & Pints wasn’t waxing fresh hops, we stared out of our giant, retractable windows at the rain pitter-pattering on the Proctor sidewalks while Jimmy Page brought out an introspective, melancholy mood from the glowing box next to our cooler. Robert Plant dripped with emotion, “Upon us all a little rain must fall”. The county is clean and re-freshed. 6-Pack of Things To Do awaits. GRAND OPENING: John and Tolena Thorburn adore craft beer. For 15 years they traveled the world drinking it. But, an oversaturated market led them
Yesterday Peaks & Pints highlighted one of the most popular fresh hops of the season: Sabro. Today, we examine what seems to be the second most popular hop to be rushed from Yakima hops farms to boiling kettles: Strata. In a nutshell, Strata (formerly known as X-331) is an open pollinated German born Perle hop that Oregon State University’s hop-breeding program tweaked with Indie Hops. Strata expresses many of the oils associated with mango, oranges, and other fruits and herbs. Today, Peaks and Pints suggests taking home beers brewed with fresh Strata hops. We’re calling the to-go flight, Peaks and
Good morning from Chirp & Co. in Tacoma’s Proctor District! GOOD MORNING, PIERCE COUNTY! Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020 — Lou Dobbs turns 75 today! Showers and scattered thunderstorms, high 63. Peaks & Pints offers Campfire Crowler fills of Deep Draft Brewing Old Crow Oktoberfest. TODAY’S LOCAL STEW Fierce County Cider opens their first taproom in South Hill Puyallup today. Broadway Farmers Market opens at 10 a.m. CRAFT CHOICE CLICKABLES Back in May, Craft Beer & Brewing polled readers via email to get a sense of how their beer buying and drinking was changing amid the pandemic.
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 9.23.20 Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 9.23.20 includes a new load from Moonraker Brewing in California and the first cans released from Sig Brewing in Tacoma, as well as a killer fresh hop from Single Hill Brewing, new hazy IPA from Gigantic Brewing, and two new IPAs from Modern Times. Gigantic Brewing RAINBOW SUPREME: Hazy IPA brewed with Citra, Southern Passion, and African Queen hops for a rainbow of juicy and tropically hop flavors. 7.5% Modern Times ELARA: This hazy IPA is stuffed with heaps of Mosaic and Amarillo hops for
6-Pack of Things To Do: Wednesday September 23 2020 Any husband who subscribes his wife to 6-Pack of Things To Do without telling her is the kind of guy who’ll slip 16-ounces of barleywine into your lunch box as a nice little workday surprise. Our kinda guy. TRUE CRIME IN TACOMA: Many Tacoma residents never leave their beloved neighborhood — even after they’re dead. You can learn about, and possibly meet, these victims on Pretty Gritty Tours’ Tacoma True Crime. The Tacoma tour company will lead you through the historic city streets, stopping at various sites to dish the dirt
Sabro hops are known among IPA lovers for their fruity citrus character with strong notes of pineapple and tangerine. They may also impart subtle background hints of coconut, stone fruits, grassy mint and woody cedar. Sabro Brand HBC 438 is a relatively new release from the Hop Breeding Company, a joint venture between Yakima Chief Ranches LLC and John I. Haas Inc. Sabro’s pedigree is the result of a unique cross-pollination of a female Neomexicanus hop. With a robust brewing performance, Sabro proves to be a strongly expressive hop that translates its flavor incredibly well into beer — especially if
Good morning from Playback Sports in Tacoma’s Proctor District! GOOD MORNING, PIERCE COUNTY! Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020 — Bruce Springsteen turns 71 today! Cloudy with periods of rain, high 66. Peaks & Pints offers Campfire Crowler fills of AleSmith Brewing Nut Brown Ale. TODAY’S LOCAL STEW City Club of Tacoma hosts their second candidates forum featuring the Pierce County Council races for Councils #2, 4, and 6 online at 6 p.m. Pretty Gritty Tours hosts Tacoma True Crime at 8 p.m. CRAFT CHOICE CLICKABLES Beyond social media or beer-rating apps, the beer technological has replaced the
6-Pack of Things To Do: Tuesday September 22 2020 The point of a healthy lifestyle is not to live longer. It is to live better, right now, in the moment, to breathe deeper and dream more lucidly and step lighter and try to participate, just a little, while we’re here, via Peaks & Pints 6-Pack of Things To Do. Enjoy your day! THE ARTS: Kabby Mitchell III founded the Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center several month before the famed dancer died of coronary artery disease. The first black company member of the Pacific Northwest Ballet opened TUPAC so our
Today marks the first day of autumn, therefore Peaks & Pints sat with a dozen eggs to, once and for all, confirm or dispel the nagging question of whether or not eggs will stand unaided on the autumnal equinox. What we had was scrambled eggs for breakfast. What is guaranteed is that fall is upon us. The leaves are falling. You have sleeves on. It’s time to make it official: Peaks & Pints presents a to-go flight of fall beers. So let’s ignore that it’s 69 degrees outside and enjoy Peaks and Pints Pilot Program: Autumn On the Fly. Peaks
Good morning from the Proctor District in North Tacoma! GOOD MORNING, PIERCE COUNTY! Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020 — Joan Jett turns 62 today! Mostly cloudy skies, high around 70. Peaks & Pints offers Campfire Crowler fills of Wet Coast Brewing Soppin’ Wet Sabro Fresh Hop Pale. TODAY’S LOCAL STEW Tacoma Art Museum screens Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center’s Harriet: The Black Swan In The Year of COVID-19 outside on their façade tonight. The Museum of Glass launches their annual fundraiser Red Hot Gala 2020 online. CRAFT CHOICE CLICKABLES Everybody’s Brewing has released their Head Stash Fresh
Shaun Kalis and Devin Benware began brewing their Ruse Brewing beers on a big system before Ruse was a thing. When not brewing for Tomas Sluiter at Culmination Brewing, whom they originally worked under at the Old Market Pub & Brewery in Multnomah Village, they used Tom’s tanks to make their Ruse beer. Kalis and Benware moved into their big southeast Portland facility a little over two years ago. These guys are experts of adjunct ingredients and yeasty expressionism, and Peaks & Pints is thrilled to offer another to-go Ruse beer flight, Peaks and Pints Pilot Program: Ruse Brewing On
Good morning from New Era Cleaners in Tacoma’s Proctor District! Mostly cloudy, slight chance of a rain shower, high 72. Creative Colloquy ZOOM Literary Gathering tonight Peaks & Pints offers Campfire Crowler fills of pFriem Family Brewers Oatmeal Cookie Ale. Have a great day!
Instagram Outsider: Wright Park History, Incline Fantastic Four, Fun Faces From Wright Park statues to Incline Cider’s anniversary, from crazy faces to fresh hops, 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, cheers to you! View this post on Instagram Wright Park is full of incredible history! Which statue or artifact
Good morning from the Cowlitz River in Packwood! Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon, high 69. Seahawks versus Patriots at 5:20 p.m. Peaks & Pints offers Campfire Crowler fills of Fremont Brewing’s Field to Ferment: Centennial and Sabro 2020. Have a great day!
Traditional perry is not the same as pear cider, which is often apple cider that has pear flavoring added to it, and may be what comes to mind for most people when they hear about perry. A true perry is made from pears alone and has a light, refreshing sweetness. Perry pears are smaller than culinary or dessert pears. As with apple cider, the fruit is picked, crushed and pressed to extract juice, which is then fermented. However, unlike apples, all pears contain a sugar alcohol called sorbitol that yeasts cannot metabolize. A completely fermented perry, therefore, has a residual
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 9.18.20 Rest In Peace, Justice Ginsburg. May we all strive to fight as hard as you, and as well as you, to the very end. Here is some new beer. Aslan Brewing CHARLIE FOXTROT FRESH HOP: The Bellingham brewery’s annual Charlie Foxtrot is a collaboration IPA with Growing Veterans Farm, which provides place, purpose and camaraderie for veterans in Lynden, Washington. Aslan and the farmers plant, handpick, and brew this super fresh, locally sourced, organic IPA, this version brewed with fresh C hops. It’s both resinous, yet quaff-able, fruity, yet balanced. Bonus: 5
6-Pack of Things To Do: Friday September 18 2020 In short, Peaks & Pints 6-Pack of Things To Do reminds you that you are far from alone in your understanding that this is one hugely painful, incredibly difficult, unbearably gorgeous, terrifying, excruciatingly short life and sometimes the best you can hope for is to drink Washington cider and watch an elk and buy a squash and scream through a mask at cobwebs and twirl in the middle of a park and try to lick the moon. PARK(ING) DAY: Holy Leslie Knope! Can you imagine Tacoma without Optimist Park? Without Ursich
It’s not surprising that craft cider has taken root in Washington state — a region of wine and craft beer enthusiasts. Washington is the second largest wine producer and has the second highest number of craft breweries in the country. But when it comes to cider, Washington is fourth in the nation. In 2008, there were maybe four cideries in Washington; now about 66 dot the state from San Juan Island to Pullman, and even wineries are getting in on the action. It also only makes sense that an area known as the world’s apple capital would also be home
Good morning from Proctor District Bridge! Light rain early then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon, high 66. Metro Parks has re-opened Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, Northwest Trek and their other facilities as the air has cleared enough. Peaks & Pints offers Campfire Crowler fills of Everybody’s Brewing’s Prickly Pear sour. Have a great day!
6-Pack of Things To Do: Thursday September 17 2020 Well, southerly winds brought even more wildfire smoke into Western Washington yesterday. An Air Quality Alert remains in effect today. Therefore, 6-Pack of Things To Do remains inside. Be well! THE SWISS: “We are heartbroken to have to say that we have come to the thoughtful and difficult decision to permanently close The Swiss Restaurant & Pub,” announced Jack and Carole Ann McQuade Sept. 12. One of the saddest day in Tacoma’s history. Since debuting in downtown Tacoma in 1992, The Swiss — Jack, Bob Hill and Gayl Bertagni — kicked-off
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 Washington Cider Week to-go flight of Northern Puget Sound ciders, which includes Herb’s Cider and Lost Giants Cider Co. in Bellingham, and Elemental Hard Cider in Arlington. Drop by Peaks & Pints craft cider and beer bar, bottle shop
Good morning from the Proctor District! Cloudy early, maybe sun through the smoke, high 73. The Swiss Restaurant & Pub auctions off memorabilia through Ehli Auctions. Peaks & Pints offers Campfire Crowler fills of Reuben’s Brews Fresh Hop Crikey. Have a great day!
This week’s Tree-dimensional Tacoma tree is the giant red oak in front of the W.W. Seymour Conservatory at Wright Park. Photo credit: Kate Swarner Tree-dimensional Tacoma: Red Oak “For me, visiting the red oak that stands tall and broad in front of the W.W. Seymour Conservatory is like going home,” says Sarah Low, executive director of the Tacoma Tree Foundation. “After the chestnut blight swept through Eastern forests, red oaks, or Quercus rubra, became the dominant Overstory trees. Seeing this particular oak reminds me of the huge trees in the urban forest parks that shaped my early experiences.
6-Pack of Things To Do: Wednesday September 16 2020 Did you see it? If you spin a color wheel you’ll see it’s called “blue.” Actually, “sky blue,” because it was, as you no doubt saw yesterday, in the sky. Those were also birds. And smiles. You see, the smoke is clearing. No, not “when the smoke clears,” because that all is still happening. Rather, the wildfire smoke is clearing. Still, the Peaks & Pints 6-Pack of Things To Do is using its indoor voice. Cheers! FRESH HOPTOBERFEST: It’s day 16 of Peaks & Pints’ fresh hop and Oktoberfest crowler festival,
After today, the temperatures begin to dip in the South Sound. Fall is (finally) here! Between living up autumn life with apple and pumpkin picking, flannel everything, cold-weather recipes — and all of the aforementioned captured on your friends’ Instagram feeds — Peaks and Pints bets you’re ready for cider. The fall harvest brings farmers and communities together to celebrate another year of fruitful labor. It is a time of shorter days, cooler nights and great apples. Put down those Mexican lagers. Back away from the pilsners. Summer may have lingered a little longer than expected in Western Washington, but
Good morning from W.W. Seymour Conservatory in Tacoma! Sun and clouds mixed with lingering smoke and haze, high 76. Incline Cider makes cider cocktails on Instagram tonight. Peaks & Pints offers Campfire Crowler fills of Georgetown Brewing Fresh Hop Hulka IPA. Have a great day!
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 9.15.20 It’s Tuesday, which means a fresh batch of new beers for the Peaks & Pints cooler. Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 9.15.20 includes fresh hops and Ale Asylum in the house! 7 Seas Brewing YAKIMA VALLEY FRESH HOP IPA: Hopped with Centennial and Simcoe from Loza Farms, this fresh hop IPA hits the nose and tongue with fresh floral notes and hints of citrus fruits and pine, plus a long bitter finish. 6.2% Ale Asylum FVCK COVID PALE VERSION 2.0: Brewed with Idaho 7, Ekuanot, and Trident hops, this hazy
6-Pack of Things To Do: Tuesday September 15 2020 Rule number one is of course to buy the best mattress and absolute softest sheets you can reasonably afford. Rule number two is to inhabit that bed as deeply and passionately as possible. Rule number three is to read the Peaks & Pints 6-Pack of Things To Do every morning in said bed. Rule number four is to get out of bed because our To Do posts after 9 a.m. and you need a good breakfast before tackling these events. Have a great day! LECTURE: Tacoma is a city of tree
At age 19, Nancy and Steve “Bear” Bishop would go on dates to Canada. They fell in love with cider. After making cider as hobbyists for many years, in 2001 they 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, and ordered 900 French and English cider trees, which started their journey into commercial cider making and the founding of Alpenfire Cider (previously named Wildfire Cider). Located in Port Townsend, the Bishops, including their son
Good morning from wet Tacoma! Morning fog, then mostly cloudy this afternoon, high 79. Channel 253 produced What U Say podcast talks Pierce County Executive 2020 election race Peaks & Pints offers Campfire Crowler fills of Fort George Fresh IPA. Have a great day!
Pineapple Express! Tacoma Sandwich Special of the Day: Pineapple Express MONDAY, SEPT. 14 2020: Sinking teeth into today’s Peaks & Pints sandwich special releases sweet sweet and spicy pineapple juices into the mouth, filling the flavor cracks between jalapeño heat and the fatty bacon. Fried onions and lettuce add a crunch. Chicken and provolone do their thing. PAIRING: Now, this wouldn’t be a proper Peaks & Pints special posting without a bit about beer! We’re thinking Wayfinder Beer’s Freiheit! festbier. Freiheit! Means “freedom” in German and is a reference to Münchner Freiheit, the area of Münich
