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 &
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 6.30.20 Here are four new IPA arrivals to the Peaks and Pints cooler. … Black Raven Brewing BEAKTWEAKER IPA: We’d totally drink barley and rye malts, citrus hops, black lemon, orange peel, and lemon peel from a bird bath. 6.5% Narrows Brewing CHECKLIST: Face Mask, Hand Sanitizer, Pair of Crocs, 700 lbs Bacon, View-Master of Beer Cans Bouncing Of Balls Chug Scenes, Narrows Brewing Checklist hazy West Coast IPA, Skinny Jeans, Poncho, We’re Opening During Phase 3 T-Shirt, Seth Meyers, Fat Freddy Drop Inspired Playlist, Smuckers. 6.7% Ninkasi Brewing MEGALODOM: Megalodon sharks (which
Sour beer is born when wild yeast, or bacteria, is introduced into the brewing process, creating varying flavor profiles, ranging from tart, acidic, lightly tangy to bold and mouth puckering. A sour is not a style of beer like an ale or a lager, it’s more of a flavor profile. Any beer — even stouts and porters — can be turned sour. Traditionally, the process involves allowing a wild culture of yeast to spontaneously ferment a beer while it ages in a barrel. However, that process is quite protracted, and smaller brewers now sour their beers in closed kettles using
There’s still time to grab cider and head to the couch to catch the lovely new drama Miss Juneteenth in The Grand Cinema’s Virtual Screening Room. Writer-director Channing Godfrey Peoples’ feature debut is a beautiful cinematic experience, bursting with a gorgeous sense of place and character. Miss Juneteenth is set in and was produced in Peoples’ hometown of Fort Worth, Texas – the likes of which are rarer onscreen than they should be. Juneteenth, or Juneteenth Independence Day, has its origins in Texas, when the Emancipation Proclamation was finally enforced in 1865, after the collapse of the Confederacy. Support this
You fancy New Holland Brewing Dragon’s Milk Reserve: Scotch Barrel-Aged With Marshmallow & Dark Chocolate 2020 Reserve 2 Fancy Pants Sunday: New Holland Dragon’s Milk Scotch Holland is the largest city on the shores of Lake Macatawa, just north of Saugatuck, Michigan. Its much-photographed Big Red Lighthouse stands by the channel that connects Lake Macatawa to Lake Michigan. It has a lovely downtown area with a large number of restaurants, shops, galleries, high-end boutiques, and brewpubs, including New Holland Brewing Company, the focus brewery of this week’s Fancy Pants Sunday: New Holland Dragon’s Milk Scotch. Just
Peaks and Pints Instagram Outsider: Pride, axes, deer masks There have been lots of posted photos to comb through this past week: Pride photos, axe throwing, deer masks, s’mores stouts and beer sports. You’ll find all that (plus silliness) right here in this weeks’ edition of Peaks and Pints Instagram Outsider: Pride, axes, deer masks. Be sure to keep tagging us @peaksandpints for your chance to be featured. Until we meet back here again next week, cheers to you! View this post on Instagram Direct shot to the nads @bussinwtb (via @leanndelaneyb @jenny1686) A post shared by Barstool
With 23 breweries and cideries listed on the Eugene Ale Trail tour, Eugene, Oregon makes for a fun weekend craft experience. Like regional winemakers, Eugene brewers and cidermakers benefit from the Willamette Valley’s rich agricultural basin. The Pacific Northwest is a major producer of barley for malt, and Oregon’s Willamette Valley is one of the top domestic producers of hops. With growing conditions similar to Germany, the delicate hop flower has flourished there since the 1870s. Another esteemed ingredient praised by Eugene brewers is the clear, soft water of the McKenzie River. Mountain springs and melting snow from the Cascades
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 6.27.20 Check out what arrived at Peaks & Pints in the last couple of days. Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 6.27.20 featured breweries include Heathen Brewing, Matchless Brewing, Single Hill Brewing and Stoup Brewing. We also featured a bunch of new craft beer yesterday. Heathen Brewing MEGA DANK IIPA: If you don’t drink it, the oozy, residual, sticky hop oil can ignite mountain top fire beacons to announce 4:20 pipe-weed sessions. 8.2% Matchless Brewing CITRUS SPLASH IPA: No fruit was harmed in the making of this citrus-forward West Coast IPA with
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who like pineapple-and-ham pizza and those who are pitied by the first group. Granted, the idea of eating pizza with pineapple on it sounds a little funky — until you try it. Once you do, the gates of understanding open and the pizza-delivery vehicle drives straight through to the brain’s pleasure center. The same can be said about pineapple flavored craft beer and cider. After the fist sip, the gates of understanding open and the beer-delivery vehicle drives straight through to the brain’s pleasure center. Fruit lends a perceived sweetness
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 6.26.20 Peaks & Pints is open until 8 p.m. today for take-out food, growler fills and tasty treats from our giant cooler, including Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 6.26.20 for your weekend. … Abomination Brewing SOCIAL DISTANCING: Lockdown won’t keep brewers from collaborating, Social Distancing is the effort of 14-plus breweries to keep the social vibes flowing amid Covid-19, including Abomination Brewing’s double dry hopped tropical IPA. 8.2% WANDERING INTO THE FOG: GALAXY, VIC SECRET AND SABRO: Hazy double IPA series brewed with the same heavy wheat and oat malt bill, hopped
Astoria’s Fort George Brewery has brewed 3-Way IPA since 2013, featuring two different craft brewery collaborators every year. This year, Structures Brewing and Level Beer shared ideas and techniques with Chris Nemlowill of Fort George Brewery, and after a couple beta batches, presto(!) — the final 2020 Fort George 3-Way IPA. Peaks and Pints has tapped 3-Way, as well as draft from Structures and Level today. In conjunction, Peaks and Pints presents an all-day, to-go flight of the three, 3-Way breweries, a flight we call Peaks and Pints Pilot Program: 3-Way On the Fly. Peaks and Pints Pilot Program: 3-Way
Casey and Laura Ruud purchased the floundering Winthrop brewery in 2008, changed the name to Old Schoolhouse Brewery, cleaned it up, and quickly turned it into an award-winning gem of a brewpub. Life happens, and the Ruud’s sold the brewery to three gentlemen who grew up in New Hampshire together, brothers Nathan and Jacob Young and Troy Anderson. Jacob and Nathan knew restaurants and bars inside and out. Troy coached high school track with Jacob, and worked at Microsoft with Nathan. All three enjoy the outdoors, which is almost mandatory since the riverside brewery and gastropub is in Winthrop, which
This week’s Tree-dimensional Tacoma tree is the northern red oak at the corner of Viewpoint street and North Visscher by Vassault Park in the West End. Photo credit: Kate Swarner Tree-dimensional Tacoma: Northern Red Oak “I recently happened upon an incredible northern red oak, Quercus rubra, on Viewpoint Street near North Visscher in Tacoma’s West End. The stretched out canopy of this oak is simply beautiful,” says Sarah Low, the executive Director of the Tacoma Tree Foundation. “Oaks, red oaks especially, support hundreds of species — some say thousands of species — such as insects, birds, amphibians, and
Everybody, at some time or another, wants to escape from reality to a carefree paradise. For many Americans, Hawaii has served as the escape destination of choice, even if it’s just a fantasy. It’s been that way for over a century now, ever since the Hawaiian Islands were made a part of the United States. For those dreamers who never made the actual trip, there have repeatedly been times when the craze for things Hawaiian brought a little piece of paradise home to Anytown, USA, including Escondido, California, where Stone Brewing will host a luau centered around their Tiki Escape
On this date in music history, 1973: George Harrison’s album Living in the Material World became the new #1, taking the place of Red Rose Speedway from Paul McCartney & Wings. Houses of the Holy by Led Zeppelin was #3 with There Goes Rhymin’ Simon from Paul Simon fourth. The rest of the Top 10: The Beatles 1967-1970 (The Blue Album) was #5, Diamond Girl from Seals & Crofts was at 6, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon was in its 15th week on the chart, Made in Japan by Deep Purple was #8, They Only Come Out At Night by
Local Suds: Wet Coast Cream Ale One classic style that deserves a little beer patriotism during the upcoming July 4th weekend is the cream ale. Brewers often call it a true American style because it emerged prior to Prohibition, as U.S. brewers looked for something to compete with the emerging popularity of the European-influenced lager brewing. The cream ale often has corn or rice in its grist, which produces a light body with distinctive crisp flavor. It’s a wonderful style for the warm days of summer. Of course Wet Coast Brewing brewed a cream ale. West Pierce Fire and Rescue
It’s Monday, which means Peaks & Pints pairs a cider flight with a movie. These days, as you know, it means a to-go flight and a virtual screening room. Movie theaters have been closed amid the coronavirus pandemic. The good news is now cats want to do their part to help save local, independent cinemas. The Grand Cinema Virtual Screening Room hosts the Quarantine Cat Film Festival — feline footage submitted by cat-loving movie fans combined into a feature-length film produced by the owners of Row House Cinema in Pittsburgh. So, stop by Peaks & Pints for a to-go flight
You fancy de Garde Violet Kriek Premiere Desay! Fancy Pants Sunday: de Garde Violet Kriek Premiere Desay When Trevor Rogers of Pelican Brewing met Linsey Hamacher of Tillamook Cheese Factory they knew it would be a coolship marriage. Trevor traveled up and down the Oregon Coast searching for the best location for spontaneous fermentation; Tillamook won. Tillamook, Oregon, is a sleepy, remote and often damp coastal town 74 miles west of Portland. It smells of sea air and dairy farms. The couple launched de Garde Brewing in their garage using wild yeasts and coolships to create
Peaks and Pints Instagram Outsider June 15-21 2020 Hello, Peaks and Pints Pals! We made it to the summer solstice, although it feels like we packed two years into four months. This past week we heard the sad news of Pike Brewing’s Rose Ann Finkel’s passing, breweries launching Phase 2 operations, and all the masks. Be sure to keep tagging us @peaksandpints for your chance to be featured. Until we meet back here again next week, cheers to you! View this post on Instagram Raising a glass tonight to Rose Ann Finkel, cofounder of @pikebrewing, who sadly passed
Happy Father’s Day! Peaks & Pints knows you’ll have to change up tradition this year. No brunch. No trip to Crazy Clyde’s House of Unmatchable Neckties. No afternoon beer drinking on a giant lawn with people wearing crazy hats. Yes, the last one hurts. You live for Father’s Day at the Washington Brewers Festival every year, but this year the festival is stored away like a World’s Best Dad plastic trophy. Good news: You can kind of participate in the festival, and you can certainly enjoy a bunch of Washington state brewed beer. First, Washington Beer will host the state’s
In case you missed it (or you’re just awakening from a beer-induced coma and need a reminder) this weekend’s annual Washington Brewers Festival is postponed. COVID closed the gates at the festival’s venue, Marymoor Park in Redmond, forcing Washington Beer to take the state’s largest beer festival online with a virtual version at 11 a.m. Sunday, June 21. Register for free here. As an alternative, Peaks and Pints offers a Washington Brewers Festival to-go flight featuring, obviously, Washington beers. Since it’s raining, and we have been to several wet Washington Brewers Festivals, we offer what we would drink if standing
First the pandemic pushed the Great American Beer Festival to an immersive online experience October 16-17. Then the COVID cost us the Washington Cask Beer Festival. Finally, ’rona claimed the Bremerton Summer Brewfest. … “What’s a social drinker to do?!” the people cried in anguish. Dry your tears. Washington Brewers Festival virtual beer fest is here. Now grab a glass, build a snacklace, and head for… your couch. The 15th Annual Washington Brewers Festival, which was scheduled for June 19-21, at King County’s Marymoor Park, has been postponed. This Sunday, 11 a.m., Washington Beer will host a virtual version with local
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 6.18.20 For the craft beer crowd, there can be no better Father’s Day gift than sharing beers. Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 6.18.20 offers a bunch of new, really delicious winners to crack open Sunday. Cheers! Breakside Brewery CHOCOLATE BRANDY ALEXANDER: Chocolate milk stout aged in brandy barrels with nutmeg. 8.4% CULTIVATING MASS FLUFFY BUNNY: Imperial Baltic porter aged in bourbon barrels for 16 months with smoked marshmallows and cacao nibs. 10% CULTIVATING MASS COCONUT COOL TREATS: Imperial Baltic porter aged in bourbon barrels 16 months with coconut, toasted almonds, vanilla
After a few rainy and cloudy months of quarantine, looks like today might be fairly nice. Since regular summer activities like traveling for vacation or going to the pool or drinking a margarita at an outdoor restaurant are not readily available, it’s time for the humble picnic to shine as it’s International Picnic Day. If you spread your blankets out far enough, it’s a great way to hang out with friends from a safe distance. Now, Peaks & Pints is not going to tell you to bring alcohol to your picnic because Washington doesn’t allow for open containers, except in
Looking for excuses to crack open a beer during the summer, whether you’re having a cookout, sitting on the stoop watching the traffic jams, or just celebrating another Wednesday well-done. Consider a wheat craft beer — the mellow, citrusy brews that are many people’s first foray into craft beer drinking. As an overarching label, “wheat beer” can mean an awful lot, and this is likely something that craft beer drinkers who are just beginning to explore the world of beer wouldn’t fully understand. Ultimately, all the term “wheat beer” really implies is a brew where more than 50 percent of
The Chief Leschi hiastoric marker was placed by the Pierce County Pioneer and Historical Society 57 years ago. This week’s Tree-dimensional Tacoma tree is the garry oak in Oakbrook Plaza at 8111 Steilacoom Blvd. just north of the Oakbrook neighborhood in Lakewood. Photo credit: Kate Swarner Tree-dimensional Tacoma: Garry Oak and Chief Leschi “Trees are sometimes used to commemorate or memorialize important events like the birth of a child, the life of a hero, or the death of a loved one,” explains Sarah Low, executive director of the Tacoma Tree Foundation. “This
Mangos were first cultivated in India 5000 years ago and traveled to Southeast Asia between the 5th and 4th centuries BC. In the 10th Century AD where cultivation began in East Africa. The paisley pattern developed in India is said to be based off of the shape of the mango. It is the national fruit of India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, while also being the national tree of Bangladesh. The mango is cultivated in most frost-free tropical climates, with almost half the world’s mango supply harvested in India, with the second-largest source being China. The yellow fruit will take center
It’s 2040. You take the light rail from Tacoma to Yelm. Maybe you hop on a shuttle to work downtown. Or maybe leave your solar home and ride on the multi-use path and buffered bike lane to the Space Force recruitment center in the Port of Tacoma. Maybe you’ll see the future in award-winning filmmaker Damon Gameau’s hybrid documentary 2040 showing in The Grand Cinema’s Virtual Screening Room. Gameau vividly imagines a future for his daughter, Velvet, one where existing solutions to climate change are widely adopted and create a greener, more equitable world. Gameau embarks on a quest across
You fancy Stickmen Abricotdabra! Fancy Pants Sunday: Stickmen Abricotdabra! While technically not located in the sticks, Stickmen Brewing Company’s two brewhouses are just south of Portland Oregon, in the beer sticks compared to the city’s bustling beer mecca. In 2013, Stickmen owner and brewer Tim Schoenheit opened his 7-barrel system in Lake Oswego, a ritzy lake community definitely not in the sticks. His newer location, a 30-barrel system in Tualatin, might be more stick-ish, but it has an urban suburban feel with most residents owning their homes. . Maybe Schoenheit is a drummer. Or a baseball
Whether you’ve been on Instagram since its beginnings in 2010 or you’re an Instagram neophyte, you know keeping up on important photos can be overwhelming. If you follow everything and everyone you find interesting, you can end up with hundreds and hundreds of Instagram posts showing up in your feed on a daily basis. Don’t despair. Peaks and Pints has brought back our Instagram column, a weekly look at important and hilarious IG posts from craft beer and cider scene IG accounts so you may catch up on new beer and cider releases and the latest action along the production
Pride is the civil rights movement of our generation. Fifty years ago this summer, New York City bar patrons of many genders, sexualities, and racial identities trapped a group of police officers inside the Stonewall Inn after they shut down the bar in yet another routine raid. Riots continued the following two nights as the LGBTQ community spread word that something unique was happening in Greenwich Village. Every June, Pride month, we celebrate their uprising with Pride parades that have come to resemble corporate advertisements rather than riots. It’s the time when Lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, queer and questioning folk
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 6.13.20 Did you have to ask what day it is? Peaks & Pints did. In six months this year has produced all sorts of hard times. We’ll never get back the past three months. Let’s remain positive and enjoy some delicious beers this weekend. Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 6.13.20 features returning seasonals, next installments in series and brand new beers. Cheers! 7 Seas Brewing EDWARD RESIN HANDS IMPERIAL IPA: Brewed with Cryo Azacca, Simcoe, Idaho Gem, and Experimental HBC-586, this ultra dank and resinous hazy imperial IPA is smooth bodied,
Maybe because it’s a blend, maybe because there’s no point in aging it, or maybe because half-full bottles of it sit wedged into Tacoma refrigerator doors with decorative stoppers jammed in them, but rosé has a dodgy reputation. It’s grocery-store wine. It’s “cougar juice.” It’s simply an embarrassing color. Except, no, it isn’t. Well, get ready for a roséducation. The Greeks and the Romans made rosé. Monks made rosé too. Rosé wines are generally made from red grapes and are very versatile wines. A rosé wine will also be lighter in color than red wine, deeper in color than white
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 6.11.20 In solidarity with Black Lives Matter Peaks & Pints will close for business Friday, June 12 to recognize the statewide strike and silent marches. We encourage you to join us in this statewide day of action in support of all Black lives. Until then, Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 6.11.20 has new worthy arrivals to our cooler. AleSmith Brewing COSMIC OMNIBUS: Hazy IPA collaboration with Modern Times Beer brewed with Citra, Enigma, and Vic Secret hops for bright pineapple, berries, and citrus on the nose, followed by grapefruit and lemon
New York City’s beer history is a roller coaster ride. Homebrewer George Washington and his fellow revolutionaries tossed back ales at Fraunces Tavern on the corner of what are now Pearl and Broad streets in New York City’s Financial District. Colonial laws supported brewing, recognizing the potential tax revenue of a thriving and controlled brewing industry. In the mid-19th century, European immigrants, many of them skilled lager brewers from Germany unable to find work, began arriving at the Port of New York in large numbers. Many of them settled in Brooklyn, where they became part of the city’s brewing history.
July 12, 2013, Scott Wagner, Gordon Rush, Matt Smith, Thair Jorgenson, and Chris Dewald opened the 15-barrel Narrows Brewing perched on pilings above the Narrows waterway. As guests gazed at the 700 feet of guest docking below and beyond to the Narrows bridge, Joe Walts, former quality control manager at Ale Asylum Brewing in Madison, Wisconsin, brewed in the back. After a couple years, Walts returned to Ale Asylum with former Harmon head brewer Mike Davis taking over the head brewing position. Davis eventually returned to his beloved Hawaiian Islands with Matt Rhodes — formerly with Stone Distributing and King
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 6.9.20 A tiki beer box, a pilsner for the sporting lifestyle, Reuben’s Brews canned their helles and the Devil is back. Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 6.9.20 has some fun beer to take home. Ayinger URWEISSE: This amber-colored dunkelweizen hits the nose with clove and ripe banana notes plus a touch of alcohol. At the front of the taste, modest caramel malts reminiscent of artisan bread crust tease the tongue before deepening into clove spice and sweet banana tango. 5.8% Double Mountain Brewery IDAHO 7 SINGLE HOP IPA: For Double Mountain
Hops are a perennial vine with the scientific name Humulus lupulus, which means “small wolf,” a reference to its aggressive climbing nature and tendency to take over other nearby plants. There are more than 120 different hop varieties used today. To be a true fan, the appeal of hops has to be more than just bitterness. Hops offer a range of flavors and aromas that resemble herbs, pine, tropical fruits like grapefruit and tangerine and more. Citra hops, well, the name says it all. A relatively new hop on the scene (released in 2008 by Hop Breeding Company of Yakima),
7 Seas Brewing has released a gose-like style beer, Grapefruit Sour Ale. Local Suds: 7 Seas Grapefruit Sour Ale Gose — a beer style originated in the Middle Ages in Goslar, Germany along the Gose River, but the town of Leipzig farther south made it popular. 7 Seas Brewing Grapefruit Sour Ale (4.7%) is a modern twist on this ancient style; if you took a grapefruit and ran it through a Vitamix, it would look just like 7 Seas’ new addition to their core line-up. Grapefruit Sour Ale is a refreshingly tart sour loaded with pureed
Pour a glass of cider and see a good book tonight. The Grand Cinema continues to run their Virtual Screening Room, which is a way to support The Grand by buying virtual tickets and streaming movies from home that would otherwise be playing on the big screen right now. The Booksellers is one such movie, which takes you inside a small but fascinating world populated by an assortment of obsessives, intellects, eccentrics and dreamers. Bookstores, as you may know, have had a rough couple of decades. In New York City alone, there used to be over 300 bookstores, and now
You fancy Finnriver Blue Hewe and Sojourn. Fancy Pants Sunday: Finnriver Blue Hewe and Sojourn On the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula is an extension of land called the Quimper Peninsula, named after Manuel Quimper, a Spanish Peruvian explorer, cartographer, naval officer, and colonial official. The narrow peninsula became the home of towns Port Townsend, Chimacum, Glen Cove and Fort Worden, just to name a few. Today, Quimper Peninsula is home to some of the best cideries in Washington state, including Finnriver Farm & Cidery in Chimacum. When one of Washington’s earliest cidermakers, Drew Zimmerman,
