South Sounders tend to get creative in the helter swelter. Besides crafting explicit fantasies about sitting on a block of ice or getting clocked by an exploding fire hydrant, the stuff soft-drink commercials are made of, our survival in the summer heat includes many cooling down alternatives. A quick survey of the supermarket beverage section reveals how many hybrids have evolved. Want water? You can pick flavored, sparkling, calorie-free, vitamin-packed — you name it. And then there are hard seltzers, hard iced coffees, hard kombucha, and the immortal Slurpee, hangover cure to the gods. But for today’s Peaks and Pints
6-Pack of Things To Do Today: Friday July 24 2020 Summers in the South Sound typically seem to end as soon as they begin. This year, summer was over before it even commenced. Yesterday, Gov. Jay Inslee extended the ban on large gatherings through the summer in an effort to curb the COVID cases spike in the state. Street fairs and carnivals, canceled. Beer festivals, gone. Outdoor concerts, no more. But we have news for you: There are at least six things you can still do in the South Sound every day during these sunny dark times. Peaks & Pints
Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe hops belong together — if for no other reason than they were bred by the same person, Jason Perrault. A fourth-generation hop grower, Perrault started his education at Washington State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics, followed by a Master of Science in Plant Breeding and Genetics. In the early 2000s, he birthed Citra, Mosaic and Simcoe as the general manager of Perrault Farms, where he is the CEO today. Perrault went on to be the CEO of Yakima Chief Ranches where he continues to develop new hop varieties. Back
6-Pack of Things To Do: Thursday July 23 2020 Given that we’re living through a pandemic worthy of the scariest sci-fi film, you probably want to continue staying indoors. Today’s 6-Pack of Things To Do leans heavy on virtual fun. But maybe you’re feeling trapped inside, or bemoaning the loss of summer vacation, or losing your mind because your kids won’t stop whining about wanting to do something. If so, the Broadway Farmers’ Market is a thing. Cheers! PODCAST: At food banks and distribution programs across Pierce County there has been a significant increase of people in need, as unemployment
There are many metrics by which we can measure the brewing explosion that has taken place in the Eastern Washington over the past half-decade. We can talk about the number of new breweries, or the emergence of growler stations and beer bars. If we want to get really technical, we can tally the amount of barrels brewed and even track how many of those are traveling to other markets, serving as liquid evangelists for a craft beer scene that’s turning heads in the Northwest. But perhaps an easier, more visible metric would be to taste the delicious new IPAs coming
This week’s Tree-dimensional Tacoma tree is a duo of a copper beech and giant sequoia on North 10th Street behind Annie Wright. Photo credit: Kate Swarner Tree-dimensional Tacoma: Copper Beech and Giant Sequoia I was told (through the hop vine shall we say) about a cool tree on North 10th Street owned by a prominent Tacoma restaurateur,” says Sarah Low, executive director of the Tacoma Tree Foundation. “And, just like the restaurateur’s contribution to Tacoma, I found several awesome ones. The two trees that caught my attention were a giant sequoia tree and a copper beech.
6-Pack of Things To Do: Wednesday July 22 2020 It’s summer in the South Sound! The sunny skies, the days that seem to go on forever. But how to celebrate? The area isn’t full of options this year. You just gotta know where to look, what to do — and just as importantly, what not to do. For instance, don’t forget your mask. Your mission, should you, ahem, choose to accept it, is to have the perfect summer Wednesday during a pandemic. The whole day stretches before you. BICYCLES: 2nd Cycle exists to educate, support, and advocate for Tacoma cyclists.
Ohio native and UNSUNG Brewing founder Mike Crea — who is certified by the Cicerone Program and earned a diploma in brewing technology from the Siebel Institute in Chicago — brews small batches of craft beer in Tustin, California, but sells a majority of them up north from a modernized century old marmalade factory in Anaheim, the sudsiest town in Orange County. Founded in 2015, comic book fan Crea drinks West Coast IPAs while watching superhero movies, but he and the crew brews all styles. Today, Peaks and Pints presents a to-go flight of UNSUNG beers that we call Peaks
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 7.21.20 Oh, like you really need to be at that meeting. Peaks & Pints New Beers In Stock 7.21.20 screams play hooky today. Here are some new arrivals to our cooler from Everybody’s Brewing, Mother Earth Brewing, Oakshire Brewing, Reuben’s Brews, and Urban Family Brewing. Everybody’s Brewing FERTILE GROUND NW IPA: A collaboration with Yakima Chief Ranches experimental hop breeding program’s Hop HBC 692 for bold tangerine flavors and a refreshing lemon citrus bite. 6.5% PETRICHOR: Clean and refreshing helles lager brewed with German noble hops for a subtle sweetness reminiscent of warm
Six things to do in Tacoma and Puyallup on Tuesday, July 21 2020 6-Pack of Things To Do: Tuesday July 21 2020 Back in March, South Sounders were looking forward to a summer of warm weather and a wealth of seasonal events. Then the coronavirus pandemic shook up the entertainment industry, moving everything from art shows to wine dinners online. But there are at least six things to enjoy every day in the South Sound … all while observing new safety protocols, of course. Enjoy this 6-Pack of Things To Do: July 21 2020 … and
Today isn’t just Tuesday. It’s Belgian National Day. That’s right — as if anyone ever needs another reason to tip back a delicious brew (responsibly, of course), today sounds like an outstanding day to unwind after work without the slightest bit of guilt. Yes, today is Belgium’s National Day — a celebration that dates back 186 years, to July 21 1831, and the happy moment when Leopold of Saxe-Cobourg swore allegiance to the Belgian constitution, and became the first king of a newly forged European country. In Belgium, the anniversary will be marked with wild scenes and general merriment —
Local Suds: Triceratops Little Critics As far as Peaks & Pints is concerned, Rob Horn can do as he wishes. If he wants to sour his most popular lager on cherries then barrel age it in whiskey barrels then more power to him. After all, he had the power to leave New Jersey to become a firefighter at Joint Base Lewis-McChord . He had the power to raise three children. In 2014, he had the power to convince his wife, Kelly, to take his homebrewer skills pro and open Triceratops Brewing named after his three kids (three Horns). He had
The origins of Belgian styles are rooted in classic partigyle brewing, which means running additional water through the mash to collect a second beer with the remaining sugar. This old technique was abandoned for the newer style in which brewers sparge, which means rinsing the sugar from the malt by spraying hot water over the top of the mash in the lauter tun, which is essentially a giant strainer. It was common for Belgian monks to use the same malt for three distinct mashes. They would mix the grist with water and make a first mash. This would then be
New StormBreaker Brewing can drop! Stormbreaker Brewing Hops, Froots and Breaks Tacoma In late 2014, Rob Lutz and Dan Malech opened StormBreaker Brewing in Amnesia Brewing’s former spot in North Portland. Peaks & Pints feels fortunate to offer their rotation of creative, award-winning craft beers. Here’s their new can drop. … HOP IT DON’T DROP IT: StormBreaker collaborated with iLikeitNerdy on this creamy hazy IPA with aromas of tropical fruit, grapefruit, and hints of pear. It’s on the light side with a bitter finish. 6.2% SCREENBREAKER: Portland chicken and waffle aficionado restaurant Screen Door collaborated on
Peaks and Pints Instagram Outsider: Mermaids, Beer Yoga, Tree Wedgies The past seven days make for an excellent case study in the murkiness of time experienced on a human scale, why we talk about craft beer, cider and restaurants, how time will – and does – roll on, and what it looks like for that to manifest in institutions. … When really, people are what are most important. That much was (is) never in doubt. Hopefully Peaks and Pints Instagram Outsider will offer you a moment of reprieve. Be sure to keep tagging us @peaksandpints for your chance to be
Of the many thousands of beers produced around the world, only 14 can use the name “Trappist.” Six of them are made in Belgium, one in the United States, two in the Netherlands, and one each in Austrai, England, France, Italy, Spain and the United States. These beers are all brewed with three criteria in order to earn the name and mark “Trappist”: The beer must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery, either by the monks themselves or under their supervision; The brewery must be of secondary importance within the monastery, and it should witness to the
Every July 18, locals in Brussels take to the streets for the “Day of Beer,” a raucous parade in honor of their beloved national beverage and Arnold. No, not Schwarzenegger, Palmer or Matsuo “Arnold” Takahashi, but rather Saint Arnold of Metz, a saint of the Roman Catholic Church and the patron saint of Brewers, as well as Arnold (Arnoul) of Soissons or Arnold or Arnulf of Oudenburg (ca 1040–1087), the patron saint of hop-pickers and Belgian brewers. We honor the Arnolds with three beers from Belgium’s Brouwerij St. Bernard in today’s to-go beer flight, Peaks and Pints Belgian Beerloo 2020:
Evil Twin Brewing’s Some People Are Immune To Good Banana Stout arrived at Peaks & Pints this week. So, let’s go bananas with a banana to-go beer flight today! Yes, of courser, hefeweizens have their say in this beer flight as the top-fermenting Bavarian yeast Torulaspora delbrueckii, which German brewers refers to as the “proper” hefeweizen yeast, produces phenols and esters that impart banana flavors. WLP300 yeast is also used in the production of traditional, authentic hefeweizen. It produces a high level of isoamyl acetate, giving the resulting beer notes of banana. We also threw in said stout and, duh,
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 7.16.20 Here are a few of the many tasty treats that arrived this week! Which ones are you excited about? Abomination Brewing Fruit of the Woods Pie sour? Hoof Hearted Mom Jeans imperial milk stout? Terminal Gravity in the mo-fo house?! Cheers! Abomination Brewing FRUIT OF THE WOODS PIE: Sour ale collaboration with Hoax Brewing and Front Porch Brewing with blackberries, raspberries, apples, strawberries, rhubarb, lemon, and vanilla beans. 7.2% American Solera PALATE JACK: Single Sabro hop Palate Jack IPA is bursting with tropical aroma and flavor — so much pineapple and coconut
HBC 438 was an experimental hop variety originating from the open pollination of YCR 123, a cultivar derived from the subspecies neomexicanus. It is the sister to the well-known experimental HBC 472 and exhibits many of the same characteristics including a unique coconut aroma. In 2018, the Hop Breeding Company renamed HBC 438 “Sabro” and released it to the public. With a multifaceted bouquet and high level of aromatic oils (particularly myrcene), Sabro excels in finishing and dry hop additions providing aromas of fruit and citrus, particularly tangerine, coconut, tropical and stone fruits with undertones of cedar and mint. The
This week’s Tree-dimensional Tacoma tree is the cedar of Lebanon five blocks north of the University of Puget Sound. Photo credit: Kate Swarner Tree-dimensional Tacoma: Cedar of Lebanon “Every time I drive past Lawrence Street on North 21st Street, just uphill on the right, a particular tree that takes my breath away: cedar of Lebanon, Cedrus libani,” says Sarah Low, executive director of the Tacoma Tree Foundation. “Cedars of Lebanon look similar, and are closely related to, deodar cedars. I had assumed this North End Tacoma tree was a deodar cedar but upon closer examination I
Today, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Peaks and Pints will host Shaken But Not Shaken. We guarantee no live televised sports, no in-house dining or drinking, no half-price buffalo wings, no shots, no hugging, and no mock turtleneck-wearing himbos bathed in Old Spice. Instead, the Shaken But Not Shaken offers a to-go flight of delicious, cocktail-inspired craft beer. If that’s not enough, the beerkeeps at Peaks & Pints have loaded up the jukebox with cocktail-themed songs for you to enjoy for no more than 12 minutes. Stop by our craft beer lodge in Tacoma’s Proctor District for Peaks and
Hey there Mr. Blue Can! Mr. Blue Sky Meets Mr. Blue Can Sun is shinin’ in the sky There ain’t a cloud in sight It’s stopped rainin’ everybody’s in the play And don’t you know It’s a beautiful new day, hey hey Electric Light Orchestra, or ELO as they inevitably became known, sure nailed it on a day like today in the South Sound. Their 1978 anthem “Mr. Blue Sky” is among the happiest songs ever released. The song hit the Peaks & Pints jukebox, which, obviously, launched us into a discussion about “Mr. Blue Sky”
As much as we love Tacoma sometimes, especially during the pandemic, you want to hop in the car and motor it somewhere else. And while the road trip might not be the inexpensive vacation it once was (cheap gas = oxymoron), it’s still a damn fine way to see some of the more fascinating bits and pieces of places near, far and about eight hours in between. What you are reading here is a to-go flight of road trip themed craft beers. They’re beer to sip while you plan your trip. They’re beers to drink at your destinations. But, sadly,
Which dragonfruit beer will you enjoy the most? Enter The Dragonfruit: Backyard Bout #23 The Bruery Terreux Frucht, Urban Family Dragon’s Wrath, and Firestone Walker Luponic Distortion 016 in a beer-head to beer-head, all-out battle to the death at your home. Which will be the ultimate dragonfruit victor? The Bruery Terreux Frucht 4.5% ABV One of The Bruery Brewmaster Patrick Rue’s oak foeders is dedicated exclusively to Frucht, his series of fruited Berliner weisse-style beers. This tropical installment has pineapple, dragonfruit, and prickly pear added. It pours a clear golden with strong carbonation, fruity nose and
Peaks & Pints bartender Justin J. Johnson III screams “Come and get the hazies!” Peaks and Pints Hazy IPA Bangers 6-Pack Born in New England more than a decade ago, the hazy IPA first gained buzz for its relative scarcity and fragility. The unfiltered IPA’s cloudy looks and intense scents of berries, tropical fruit and citrus are short-lived. Its suspended yeast and vegetal matter, which amplify flavor, diminish its shelf stability. Therefore, Peaks & Pints tears through the hazies at a pretty fast rate. Here are six hazy IPA bangers in our cooler right now. …
The Grand Cinema Virtual Screening Room offers new film Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly that tells the story of the blockbuster site-specific exhibition @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz — the entire story. Beginning with behind the scenes, making-of documentation during the creative process, stretching back into salient inspirations from the artist’s early life and family history and forward to his own arrest in China, the film narrates not only the concept and execution of the ambitious installation but also follows the indelible effect on everyone it touched. From the meditative, thoughtful pace of the studio footage and interviews with Haines, Ai
You fancy Domaine Dupont Cidre Dupont Reserve! Fancy Pants Sunday: Domaine Dupont Cidre Reserve Right at the heart of Normandy, the Pays d’Auge is a very hilly area to be found between Caen and Rouen. It is famous for its stud farms, cheeses and apple trees. With its green countryside and its authentic villages, it’s a lovely region to visit. At last glance plane tickets from Seattle to that French region clock in at about $1,500. Add COVID restriction and you’ll most likely not be touring the area’s “La Route du Cidre” (The Cider Route) anytime
Peaks and Pints Instagram Outsider: Pride, Cat Bingo, 7 Seas Eleven There isn’t any great news on the COVID front. We need Peaks and Pints Instagram Outsider more than ever. We need positive Black Lives Matter posts. We need fun Pride posts. We need cat bingo posts. You’ll find all that and more right here in this weeks’ edition of Peaks and Pints Instagram Outsider. Be sure to keep tagging us @peaksandpints for your chance to be featured. And, please, wash your damn hands; wear your damn mask. (Over your mouth and nose. And stay away from people.) Until we
Down south over yonder hills, just outside Eugene, Oregon, Alesong Brewing & Blending focuses almost exclusively on small batches of oak-aged and Belgian-inspired brews since it first began producing beer in early 2016. Alesong has stood out among the crowd with its blending and barrel-aging techniques. In fact, in its first 18 months of business, Alesong’s small batch, barrel-aged blends received more accolades than some breweries will see in their lifetime. Just two months after opening, it won gold at the Great American Beer Festival awards for their dry-hopped farmhouse ale, Touch of Brett. The brewery typically releases four beers
Hemingway drank it in doubles and Bluebeard pirated the seven seas fueled on the stuff. It’s rum, and it’s having a day. Today, July 11, marks World Rum Day, a time to celebrate the rich flavor of the spirit that infamously lubricated pirates and sailors back in the day. Rum is said to have originated in the Caribbean island of Barbados in the 17th century. Since then, it has made its way around the world, becoming one of the most versatile and beloved spirits. Peaks & Pints celebrates World Rum Day in the only way we know how — Peaks
Peaks and Pints New Beers and Cider In Stock 7.10.20 Set up a camping chair in your backyard, and enjoy Peaks and Pints New Beers and Cider In Stock 7.10.20 featuring new craft from Alesong, Cigar City, Deschutes, Double Mountain, Fremont, Modern Times, Stoup, and Urban Family. Alesong Brewing & Blending PECHE: Alesone made Pêche fruited sour with 3.5 pounds of ripe organic peaches per gallon of beer — more fruit than they have ever used! 7.2% Cigar City Brewing MARGARITA GOSE: The Florida brewery grabbed their German-style Gose, an ancient style of low alcohol beer brewed with salt, and
At first, Peaks & Pints must admit, it tasted faintly of lip gloss, a blast back to the eighth grade. But as we munched the slightly sweet and sour flavor of passionfruit grew on us. Passionfruit is one of the three amigos in P.O.G., a tropical juice drink created in 1971 by a food product consultant named Mary Soon who worked for Haleakala Dairy on Maui, Hawaii. It’s a sweet blend of passionfruit, orange and guava juices, long a favorite of Hawaii residents. Today, Peaks & Pints presents a to-go beer flight from our giant cooler centered on the acronym.
Normally condemned to rot in a mediocre ceramic bowl, the fruit cup has finally been given the respectable and stylish home it deserves — Peaks and Pints’ to-go craft beer flight. That’s right, this is not your mama’s fruit cup. It’s more like a fruit cup on … hops. Once considered a maligned novelty, fruit is now one of the arenas where brewers experiment most, uh, fruitfully. According to archeologists, the Mesopotamians were brewing with fruit thousands of years ago. In 1999, Fruitheads became a type a drinker after they gobbled up gallons of Dogfish Heads’ Aprihop, a fruit beer
Peaks and Pints New Craft Beer In Stock 7.8.20 Peaks and Pints New Craft In Stock 7.8.20 showcases new craft beer and cider in our cooler. Give us a call at (253) 328-5621 and we’ll have a six-pack ready curbside, windowside or barside — or safely walk our giant cooler. Check out our full list of cooler beers and ciders here. Cheers! Breakside Brewery WANDERJACK IPA: Breakside Brewery’s 10th anniversary collaborations continues with Tyler Brown and his Barley Brown Beer’s crew in the Portland house with three of the fruitiest hops around — Strata, Mosaic, and Azacca — along with
This week’s Tree-dimensional Tacoma tree is Austrian Pine in the Chinese Reconciliation Park in Old Town Tacoma. Photo credit: Kate Swarner Tree-dimensional Tacoma: Austrian Pine “I found lone tree hill at the Chinese Reconciliation Park,” says Sarah Low, executive director of the Tacoma Tree Foundation. “A time for reflection revealed a pine tree sharing stress. The park was developed as an effort to heal the wound caused by the forced removal of the Chinese population from Tacoma in 1885. Located where Ruston Way and Schuster Parkway meet in Old Town Tacoma, the site looks out at
In fall 2016, three of Portland’s most respected food and drink professionals opened Wayfinder Beer in a former Central Eastside Industrial District warehouse. Charlie Devereux, the co-founder of Double Mountain Brewery; Rodney Muirhead, the barbecue master at Northeast Portland’s Podnah’s Pit; and Matt Jacobson, the force behind late-night pizza sensation Sizzle Pie and hard-charging rock label Relapse Records, opened the brick-walled beer hall with a 10-barrel brewing system. Masterbrewer Kevin Davey brought his experience at Chuckanut Brewery, Firestone Walker and Gordon Biersch, where he took home a 2014 Great American Beer Festival gold medal for his Munich-style Helles. Today, Peaks
We know, we know, you’re thinking, “Is there really a food holiday for every day of the week?” The answer: Yes, yes there is. Today, July 7, is National Strawberry Sundae Day, so we’d encourage you on this 66-degree heat to head to Peaks & Pints for … strawberry beer. Strawberries have become more and more popular as a flavor component in malted barley brewed beverages. Though it has been pointed out that some hop varietals impart flavor characteristics likened to strawberries, there are in fact actual brews that use the scrumptious fruit to add their own deliciousness. Stop by
E9 Brewing Petite Belle Local Suds: E9 Brewing Petite Belle In the search to offer something different, craft brewers sometimes turn to older forgotten styles. Enter E9 Brewing in Tacoma’s Historic Brewery District. Tacoma’s oldest craft brewery’s Petite Belle explores the obscure Franco-Belgian style, grisette, a type of farmhouse ale that dates back to the late 1700s or early 1800s in southern Belgium. As with the saison, which originated as a beer made for farmhands, the grisette was seen as a beer intended to quench the thirst of miners. Grisettes are made with a combination of
After you push play in The Grand Cinema’s Virtual Screening Room, Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things opens with famed dancer and comedian Norma Miller describing how she watched a young, homeless teen named Ella Fitzgerald win Amatuer Night at the Apollo Theater in 1934. The rest, as they say, is history. Through interviews with friends and colleagues — generations of musicians including Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Smokey Robinson, Patti Austin, Laura Mvula, Alexis Morrast, and, notably, Fitzgerald’s son, Ray Brown Jr. — the film showcases how Fitzgerald’s sheer talent, resilience, and hard work helped her overcome personal tragedy,
Just like most good, new-age, social media applications, Instagram allows people to share and be privy to once personal, almost wholly pointless information about peoples’ lives. It’s seemingly endless. While Instagram is mostly full of everyday, ho-hum entities — just like you and Peaks & Pints, sharing info about what we drank for for breakfast and solid dance moves — Instagram is also a magnet for craft beer and outdoor enthusiasts. But, you don’t have time for that. We do. Enjoy Peaks and Pints Instagram Stalker: craft beer, July 4, stunning views. Be sure to keep tagging us @peaksandpints for
The world may be changing in unforeseeable ways, but at least one thing remains true: India Pale Ales still remains the king of American craft beer. According to a recent estimate from Dr. Bart Watson, chief economist of the Brewers Association, IPA accounts for roughly 35 to 40 percent of U.S. craft beer sales. Its popularity has sparked a sea of variations on the style over the years: New England-Style IPA, Double IPA, Triple IPA, Session IPA, Brut IPA, Lo-Cal IPA and so on. Today, Peaks & Pints presents a to-go flight of IPAs that have recently arrived to our
This week’s Tree-dimensional Tacoma tree is the kousa dogwood on Proctor Street and North 31st Street at the edge of the Puget Creek Natural area in Proctor. Photo credit: Kate Swarner Tree-dimensional Tacoma: Kousa Dogwood “Next to the Puget Creek Natural Area, at the corner of Proctor Street and North 31st, stands a trio of stunning kousa dogwoods. You can’t miss them. They’re bold and bright pink, like you rarely see in dogwoods,” explains Sarah Low, executive director of the Tacoma Tree Foundation. These kousa dogwoods are this week’s Tree-dimensional Tacoma, Peaks & Pints’ weekly Tacoma
Today is Canada Day, which is when Canadians celebrate the Fourth of July. (Sorry about that. Peaks & Pints is pretty sure Dave Barry made the same joke, like, 25 years ago. It wasn’t funny then, either.) At any rate, to honor our neighbors to the north, and their “one nation in 1867” anniversary, we suggest a to-go flight of Canadian beer. Hmm, but what Canadian beer do we choose? We called Anne Murray, Gordon Lightfoot, Corey Hart, a Zamboni driver, and a braying moose for their opinions. Oh, sit back down on the chesterfield, you rangy Canadians, Peaks &
