Italian brewer Agostino Arioli learned to brew in Germany. He returned home in 1997 to open Birrificio Italiano in the Como region of the Italian province of Lombardy, near the sleek and fashionable city of Milan. Having been trained in the classical German style but being heavily Influenced by the dry hopped cask ales of England, Arioli created a rather unique beer, a pilsner that was very lightly dry hopped, called Tipopils, or “kind of pils.” Arioli was trying to create a beer like Jever, the Southern German Pils, but perhaps due to his cask ale leanings and surrounded by
In late 2010, Corvallis homebrewers Aaron Sarnoff-Wood and Lee Larsen filled a gap in the college town’s drinking scene — cider. The duo opened 2 Towns Ciderhouse crafting unique ciders brewed with the traditional English and French-style’s tannic apples, Oregon grown, of course. Named after the cities of Corvallis and Eugene (Larsen’s a Beaver; Sarnoff-Wood a Duck), their childhood friend, Dave Takush, joined the company and his master’s degree in fermentation science at Oregon State University helped him eventually become 2 Towns head cidermaker. Now the number one independent cidery in the country, 2 Towns has more than 100 employees
6-Pack of Things To Do: Oct. 20-22 2023 This October weekend brings a cornucopia of fall events to Tacoma, including live music, theater performances, a creatives group hug, and a Silver City Brewery flight. BEER FLIGHT: In September 1996, Restaurateurs Brothers Steve and Scott Houmes added craft beer to their lives when they teamed up with brewmaster “Big Daddy” Don Spencer and opened Silver City Brewery in Silverdale, Washington. The Houmes’ mission was to create happy, community-oriented restaurant and craft brewery. In 2008, the Houmes began distributing their beer around the Puget Sound. In May of 2010, the brothers moved
In September 1996, restaurateurs Brothers Steve and Scott Houmes added craft beer to their lives when they teamed up with brewmaster “Big Daddy” Don Spencer and opened Silver City Brewery in Silverdale, Washington. The Houmes’ mission was to create happy, community-oriented restaurant and craft brewery. In 2008, the Houmes began distributing their beer around the Puget Sound. In May of 2010, the brothers moved their brewery operations to a new, 7,600 square foot production facility and taproom in Bremerton, which Scott Houmes runs. Last month, Silver City turned 27 making it Bremerton’s oldest brewery. Stop By Peaks & Pints and
Forged in 1995, AleSmith Brewing was taken over by Grand Master Judge and decorated home brewer Peter Zien in 2002 and swiftly became a world-class brewery. AleSmith is celebrating its 28th year in business and their state-of-the-art brewery occupies a 109,942 square-foot facility in Miramar, or Beeramar as it’s also known, a neighborhood in the northern part of San Diego, California. Deeply rooted in the amateur and craft brewing communities, AleSmith ales have continued to garner national and international awards and acclaim, as well as a loyal and rabid following among beer enthusiasts. In 2008, AleSmith was recognized as the
Englishman Adam Robbings’ beer recipes killed at homebrew competitions, including winning the silver medal at the National Homebrewing Competition in 2012, and his talent, along with a Kickstarter campaign that raised close to $11,000, eventually earned him, and his wife, Grace, their own brewery — Reuben’s Brews officially opened in Seattle’s Ballard district in August 2012, which they named after their son, Reuben. Since then, the team has accrued an astounding number of accolades, including more World Beer Cup medals than you have fingers and toes. Today, the Grit & Grain Podcast — which records at 4:30 p.m. every Wednesday
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 10.17.23 From Anchorage to across the Continental United States to Belgium, Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 10.17.23 has recent arrivals in our coolers. … BARREL AGED YETI, Great Divide Brewing: Yeti Imperial Stout aged for at least 12 months in whiskey barrels for complex but mellowed Yeti, with its signature roasted flavors, hints of vanilla and oak, and a whiskey finish. 12.5%, 16oz BEST BROWN ALE, Bell’s Brewery: Smooth, toasty brown ale with malt notes. 5.8%, 12oz BEYOND REPAIR IPA, Anchorage Brewing: Hazy IPA brewed, and double dry hopped with Riwaka
Gabe Fletcher, the head honcho at Anchorage Brewing, started his career at Midnight Sun, another Alaskan brewing company. After 13 years of helping cultivate an image of creating adventurous beers, Fletcher decided to part ways with Midnight Sun and strike out on his own. In 2011, Fletcher released his first Anchorage beer. Turns out Fletcher’s meticulous attention to detail and brewing expertise combined to make some amazing beer. The brewery took off, eventually moving to its own brick and mortar in 2014. Today, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house flight of recently arrive Anchorage beers our cooler — a flight we’re
In the rolling farmland of Chimacum Valley along a salmon stream just south of Port Townsend, Finnriver Farm & Cidery’s orchards stretch across 80 acres using more than 20 different varieties of apple tree. Their mission is to reconnect people to the land that sustains us and to grow community. They seek to create deep-rooted and fruitful connections at their farm-based taproom and rural gathering space. Finnriver’s farm and orchard is Certified Organic and Salmon Safe, and the company is a Certified B Corporation, seeking to make business a force for good. Finnriver also makes exceptional cider, thanks to head
AleSmith Speedway Grand Prix at Peaks and Pints Mark your calendars for Thursday, Oct. 19! Peaks & Pints will be a pit stop for AleSmith Brewing’s Speedway Grand Prix on the Road! Join us for an epic night filled with nine exclusive Speedway Stout variants and other delicious barrel-aged favorites on draft. Come out and meet the AleSmith team and get your hands on some Speedway & AleSmith swag (available while supplies last). Speedway Stout has been a favorite in AleSmith Brewing Company’s year-round lineup since 1999. Its flavor is dominated by chocolate and roasted malts, which are complemented by a healthy dose of
Fresh hops are brewed during a very brief window of the year when hops are being harvested. It’s the one time brewers can use hops directly after they’re picked from the vine and before they are processed in any way; normally hops are dried and then pelletized. During fresh hop season, the hop cones go straight from the vine to the beer in a matter of hours. The result is a wonderfully aromatic, fresh-tasting creation. But fresh hop beer isn’t easy being green. The brewhouse fermenter sits empty waiting for the phone call. It’s an eternity if there’s only three
Bottle Logic Brewing from Anaheim, California, is now in the Peaks & Pints cooler. Welcome to Tacoma, Bottle Logic Brewing Bottle Logic Brewing was started by homebrewing buddies Wes Parker, Steve Napolitano, and Brandon Buckner, who decided to turn a hobby into a career. In 2013, they open Bottle Logic Brewing, a 6,000 square-foot tasting room and 15-barrel brewing facility near the 91 and 57 freeway intersection in Anaheim, California. The brewery is fashioned in a particular style that they call a “retro-future” aesthetic. Modeled after the golden age of science fiction following the post-war period,
From the family farm and Critical Juncture Brewing Company to three locations and a distribution company, married couple Lara Zahaba and Brad Benson bet it all on Stoup Brewing. The Italian wine importer and forensic chemist, respectively, shared a passion for craft beer. They left the East Coast for their beloved Seattle with the goal to open a brewery in the burgeoning brewery district of Ballard. And, while betting all their finances, their parents’ finances and the 150-year-old family farm in Iowa, plus all the money saved by their former schoolteacher turned first Washington state’s first female Certified Cicerone co-owner
Of the many thousands of beers produced around the world, now only nine can use the name “Trappist,” which is down from the 14 Trappist breweries that existed only a few years ago. The majority are in Belgium: Bières de Chimay, Brouwerij der Trappisten van Westmalle, Brouwerij Westvleteren, Brasserie de Rochefort, and Brasserie d’Orval. Brouwerij de Koningshoeven (La Trappe) and Brouwerij Abdij Maria Toevlucht (Zundert) are in the Netherlands, Tre Fontane is Rome’s only Trappist brewery, and England’s Mount St Bernard Abbey (Tynt Meadow) rounds out the bunch. Trappist breweries brew with three criteria to earn the name and mark
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 10.8.23 The worst part of weekend is that they end. And associating the worst part of the weekend with the day it happens has given Sunday a bad rap. And that’s why, come Sunday night, you should open something new. Do it for you, and do it for Sunday. ANIMAL COOKIES, Block 15 Brewing: Hazy IPA with pineapple, tangerine, mango, pine, and dank herb hop characters. 7%, 16oz BIG YIKES, Modern Times Beer: Double IPA with heaps of HBC 586, Citra Cryo, and Mosaic Cryo hops for a blueberry milkshake waterslide that’s being
Fresh hop season is a perk you get for living in the Pacific Northwest, with farm-fresh, bright-green hops throwing off beautifully idiosyncratic farm-y notes in beer made just a car ride from where the hops are grown. It’s more than just another feel-good “buy local” movement — with the yearly harvest comes a torrent of fresh-hop beers made from hops are at their peak of freshness, bursting with aroma from rhizome to rhizome. Why the time-sensitive frenzy? For something so associated with brash bitterness, hops are surprisingly delicate — breaking down almost as soon as they’re harvested. The Northwest leads
Chris Baum, John Cope, Chad Roberts, David Paulson, and Karl Vanevenhoven opened Varietal Beer Co. in April 2018 in the Port of Sunnyside between Yakima and the Tri-Cities in Eastern Washington. The ownership all had a variety of dreams and life goals, but their Venn diagram centered on owning a brewery in the Yakima Valley. After earning the Enterprise Challenge held annually by the Yakima County Development Association and the Kittitas County Chamber of Commerce, Varietal became a thing. They knew they couldn’t launch with their dream wild ales, so they added a variety of other beer styles to get
6-Pack of Things To Do Sept. 5-8 2023 Did you hear? It’s Tacoma Arts Month. Every year, since forever, Tacoma Arts Month has showcased the very best about our community. October is brimming with hundreds of arts and culture events, exhibits, and workshops for all ages. The Peaks & Pints 6-Pack of Things To Do will relay the events, such as the Tacoma Film Festival. Cheers! BEER FLIGHT: Named in honor of the whale that washed up in Breezy Point in New York City’s Queens borough in December 2012, Basil Lee and Kevin Stafford brewed their first Finback Brewery beer
Named in honor of the whale that washed up in Breezy Point in New York City’s Queens borough in December 2012, Basil Lee and Kevin Stafford brewed their first Finback Brewery beer in 2014. The longtime homebrewers kept the homebrewing philosophy after they opened Finback in Queens’ Glendale neighborhood, collaborating with their friends who are trying to start breweries, other likeminded homebrewers, and then also with other people who have breweries. In 2020, they opened a second taproom in Brooklyn, and in 2022 opened a third taproom on Long Island. Today, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house flight of Finback
Peaks and Pints New Beer In Stock 10.5.23 Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 10.5.23 includes new sours from Great Notion, Fremont’s Fresh Head Full, and Silver City Wet Tropic Haze. … BAD SANTA, Pelican Brewing: Black IPA with toasted malt and roast character blends seamlessly with the alluring herbal hop aroma that comes from copious amounts of Fuggle hops. 7.5%, 12oz BAKED, Great Notion: Tart ale brewed with strawberry, orange, rhubarb, vanilla, milk sugar, and Indonesian cinnamon. 7%, 16oz BIG PAPAYA, Great Notion: Easy drinking sour beer that is heavy on the tropical flavor. 6%, 16oz HEAD FULL
Pacific Northwest hops are harvested each year from late August through September, which means beers brewed with the freshest hops available, known as wet-hopped beers, arrive in early October. What are fresh-hop beers? Simply put, they’re brews made with hops that are pulled off the bine and go straight into the kettle. Most of the hops used by U.S. breweries are cultivated in Oregon and Washington. For the most part, these hops are dried and processed before being sold to professional and amateur brewers, which affects the flavor punch. With fresh hops, drinkers can expect more hoppiness, more aroma and
October in Washington brings juicy plums, the smell of boiling Dungeness crab, and pumpkin spice lattes. But for beer drinkers, October means fresh hop beers. One of the most seasonally specific styles that a brewery can make, fresh hop beers are brewed with just-harvested whole-cone hops rushed from farms to brew kettles to capture the most vibrant flavors and aromas of these pungent flowers before they begin to fade. When hops are harvested, they are cut from the vine and the hop cones are transported to a kiln where the hops are dried. Typically, after the kiln the hops are
In April 2016, Matt Tarpey, Dustin Durrance, and Dave Michelow opened their The Veil Brewing doors in Richmond, Virginia’s Scott’s Addition Historic District. They opened with a 450-gallon coolship in their building, previously a church, complete with raised ceilings, imposing stone, black leather, white taxidermy, and a 40-foot-long cement bar. This past spring, The Veil moved several blocks down the road to open an 8,262 square foot taproom, three times the size of their founding space, bring their Richmond footprint to four locations. The Veil Brewing focuses on super hoppy beers, heavily fruited sours, dense stouts and barleywines, spontaneous wild
During fresh hop season, the hop cones go straight from the vine to the beer in a matter of hours. The result is a wonderfully aromatic, fresh-tasting creation. But fresh hop beer isn’t easy being green. The brewhouse fermenter sits empty waiting for the phone call. It’s an eternity if there’s only three fermenters. After the hop farm gives the green thumbs up, a few brewers hit the road while the others begin the brewing process. At the farm, the brewers fill huge bags full of the wonderful smelling fresh hop cones knowing that they need to arrive back at
If this was a standardized test the question would be, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is to movies as (blank) is to craft beer.” The answer? Pastry stouts. Peaks and Pints will prove it today as we offer an in-house Rocky Horror themed beer flight for your pre- and post-Rocky Horror enjoyment. Tacoma Arts Live presents the original unedited movie with a live shadow cast and audience participation at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30 at the Pantages Theater in downtown Tacoma. Patricia Quinn who played the Magneta character — the maid and Riff Raff’s sister — will be in the
New fresh hop beers, and other styles, in the Peaks & Pints cooler. Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 9.29.23 New arrivals to the Peaks & Pints cooler, including fresh hops! CRYOSTASIS, Old Schoolhouse Brewery: IPA brewed with Simcoe, Mosaic, Chinook and Experimental HBC630 in the kettle, and then dry hopped with copious amounts of 2022 fresh-frozen Citra hops. 7.5%, 16oz FRESH HOP FIEND – CITRA, Stoup Brewing: Fresh hop IPA packed with 300 pounds. per batch of Citra fresh hops from Loza Farms for aromas of citrus, tropical fruit, and stone fruit. 7%, 16oz
Bethany Carlsen joins the Grit & Grain Podcast team, replacing Sean Jackson who recently left the Parkway Tavern to add his skills, knowledge, and laugh to E9 Brewing. Photo by Phaedra Miller Grit & Grain Podcast adds new host, changes venue Welcome to the Grain & Explain. Or Grit & Remain. Whatever you choose to label our Grit & Grain Podcast change; it’s happening. Last week, Grit & Grain took a week off so co-host Ron Swarner could tweak his knee during the Silent Disco at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. It was our
It’s the old “high schoolers get caught with a fake ID start homebrewing for a supply a beer and then launch a brewery story.” After New York City teens Joe Correia and John Dantzler got kicked out of a bar in the East Village, Dantzler’s mom kicked them out of her kitchen after their homebrew exploded. By the time high school graduation rolled around, the two were winning some modest homebrew awards (which they had to send their dads to accept). On a trip to Ireland, the duo formally decided (over a toast of a pint of Guinness) that one
Peaks & Pints New Beer in Stock 9.27.23 Even more fresh hop beers, plus a couple dark beers to match the weather, have arrived in the Peaks & Pints cooler. SODBUSTED XI – THE BOOK OF SIMCOE FETT, Gigantic Brewing: Brewed with fresh Simcoe hops from Sodbusted Farm in Keizer, Oregon, this pale ale awakens with grapefruit and piney punchy hop aromas. 6.2%, 500ml FRESH HOP GORGEOUS, Reuben’s Brews: Fresh hop West Coast-style IPA that leans into flavors of passionfruit, honeydew, white grape, and bright citrus, especially orange. 7%, 16oz FRESH HOP HARRIS, Living Haus: West Coast IPA, respectfully brewed
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
Van Havig, former brewmaster at Rock Bottom Brewery in Portland, and Ben Love, previously a brewer at Pelican Brewery and head brewer at Hopworks Urban Brewery, added to Portland’s Beervana opening Gigantic Brewing May 9, 2012. The two brewers figured out how to have two head brewers then proceeded to make delicious beer. Their taproom had a college clubhouse vibe. They brewed amazing one-offs. Their label art, signed by the artists, could hang in museums. And they would brew with the coolest rock stars. Today, Peaks and Pints offers an in-house flight of Gigantic beers that we call Peaks and
Another rounds of fresh hop beers have arrived in the Peaks & Pints cooler. Peaks and Pints New Fresh Hops in Stock 9.25.23 New fresh hop gems have arrived in the Peaks & Pints cooler! COWICHE CANYON: FRESH HOP ALE, Fremont Brewing: Fresh hop pale ale brewed with fresh organic Citra and Simcoe hops with organic Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe in dry hop for grapefruit, orange, tropical, and melon, grassy aromas and pine. 6%, 16oz EASY BEING GREEN, Matchless Brewing: Fresh hop IPA brewed with more than half a ton of fresh Citra from CLS Farms
Reuben’s Brews won Silver for their Robust Porter at the 20-23 Great American Beer Festival. Photo courtesy of the Brewers Association Oregon and Washington breweries win 37 medals at GABF 2023 In 1982, only 20 breweries poured their craft beer during the first Great American Beer Festival, which was held at the Harvest House Hotel in Boulder before moving to Denver in 1984, then to its current home at Colorado Convention Center in 2000, which hosted GABF’s 41st edition, Sept. 21-23, 2023, roughly two weeks earlier than last year’s dates, for just its second iteration since the
450 North Brewing arch enemies smoothie sours do battle at Peaks & Pints. Peaks and Pints welcomes 450 North Arch Enemies People often wonder: what “makes” a nerd? Thick rimmed glasses? Lack of vitamin D? How about the desire to drink smoothie sours named after famous American culture arch enemies? Oh, that’s not really your kind of thing? Just walk away, jock. For everyone else, 450 North Brewing dropped a load of smoothie sours — wait for it — named after famous comic culture arch enemies. As you know by now, 450 North’s smoothie sours are
New arrivals to the Peaks & Pints cooler. Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 9.19.23 Tuesday hits from the Peaks & Pints cooler! ALL HALLOW’S TREAT, Brewery Ommegang: Pastry stout with aromas and flavors of dark chocolate, creamy peanut butter and a soft vanilla finish swirl with a smooth body and medium mouthfeel. 7.6%, 16oz BLOOD ORANGE, LIME & SAN JUAN SEA SALT GOSE, Fremont Brewing: See beer title for this salty sour’s description. 4.5%, 16oz FIELD TO FERMENT: CENTENNIAL, Fremont Brewing: Pale ale brewed with fresh Centennial hops, plus a Centennial, Centennial Cryo, and
Fresh hops are brewed during a very brief window of the year when hops are being harvested. It’s the one time brewers can use hops directly after they’re picked from the vine and before they are processed in any way; normally hops are dried and then pelletized. During fresh hop season, the hop cones go straight from the vine to the beer in a matter of hours. The result is a wonderfully aromatic, fresh-tasting creation. But fresh hop beer isn’t easy being green. The brewhouse fermenter sits empty waiting for the phone call. It’s an eternity if there’s only three
What we eat and drink this time of year evokes memories more easily than what we consume in other seasons. This is the time of year we dust off crock pots and Dutch ovens for soups and stews, filled — at least right now — with the remaining harvests of our local farms. This is when we flock to orchards for fresh-picked apples, and when we scoop out globs of pumpkin seeds for roasting. We drop cinnamon sticks in hot cider, and warm up chocolate with piquant spices. We’re heartened that in these divided times, it seems like we can
Stillwater is the brainchild of Baltimore native Brian Strumke, whose past life as an internationally renowned electronica DJ and producer led him down a path to crafting some of the world’s most unique and highest rated beers slapped with haute couture can and bottle labels. A homebrewer turned pro in 2010, nomadic brewer Strumke slapped his Stillwater sticker on many a brewery’s cooler around the world before the pandemic nudged him to place roots at the Talking Cedar Brewery in Thurston County, Washington. Today, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house flight of Stillwater beers — a flight we’re calling Peaks
The party began in October 1810, when a great horse race was organized to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Everyone had so much fun that it was held again, and eventually became an annual event, dubbed “Oktoberfest” in 1872. It has since evolved into a 16-day Munich blowout, which begins today. Oh, to be in that great mass of humanity, dancing to the throbbing polka beats, scarfing down sausage, kraut, and strudel, and most of all, imbibing from the holy grail, er, stein, or today at Peaks and Pints — a taster glass.
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 9.15.23 Happy Friday! Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 9.15.23 has some new gems in the fridge and plenty of delicious options on the board to enjoy! ALTAIR FRESH HOP IPA, Ecliptic Brewing: Named after the brightest star in the constellation Aquila, this fresh hop IPA shines bright with fresh Strata and Centennial. 6.5%, 16oz FRESH HOP BUMPER CROP AMARILLO SAISON, Dwinell Country Ales: Blended oak-aged saison brewed with freshly picked whole cone Amarillo hops from Virgil Gamache farms. 3.5%, 16oz FRESH HOP FIELDS OF GREEN, Fort George Brewing: Their hazy double
The unusually named Pizza Port Brewing traces its origins back to 1987, when Gina and Vince Marsaglia, a pair of siblings in their 20s, purchased a pizza place in the sleepy coastal town Solana Beach, California. Vince used their surplus space to experiment with making beer, releasing their first “official” beers in 1992. Over the years, the seven-barrel system at Pizza Port Solana Beach has served as the launching pad for numerous brewers who’ve gone on to become big names both within and beyond the pie-in-the-sky empire. Expanding to five locations in the San Diego area since then, Pizza Pub
For the seventh consecutive September, Peaks & Pints is throwing a month-long autumn beer party marrying two popular seasonal beer styles on draft — fresh hop beers and Oktoberfest lagers — this year naming it, “Fresh Hoptoberfest VII Days A Week.” In September 2017, in keeping with our multi-rooted sensibilities, Peaks & Pints hosted The Hunt For Fresh Hoptoberfest, tapping fresh hop and Oktoberfest beers daily. Crowds discovered bright, fresh-hop beers, just hours from field to kettle and mere days from the fermenter to their glass AND drank to their health with clean, hearty Oktoberfest-style lagers from Germany and nearby.
We received a bunch of Fort George Brewery beer; let’s pour another in-house flight of the Astoria, Oregon, brewery’s beer. Founded by brewers Jack Harris and Chris Nemlowill, the two combined their brewing expertise from previous Oregon coast gigs at Bill’s Tavern and Astoria Brewing Company to open Fort George Brewery in March 2007. Harris and Nemlowill drove their first 8.5-barrel brewhouse — nicknamed “Sweet Virginia” —from the East Coast and through a tornado to open a small pub in the Fort George Building on Duane Street in Astoria. In 2009, they bought almost the entire city block, including the
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 9.12.23 New Brews Tues offers several new fresh hops, a pumpkin ale, some IPAs and a cool collab between The Ale Apothecary and Twist Wine Company. Cheers! CRYO FRESH HOP 2023, Black Raven Brewing: Brewed with fresh Azacca hops, this IPA is hoppy and weedy. 6%, 16oz EL VIENNA ESPECIAL, Holy Mountain Brewing: Brewed with Vienna, Munich and Oaxacan green corn, this Mexican-style amber lager hopped lightly with Tettnanger and Saaz and fermented with a special yeast strain offers a perfect balance of dry drinkability, and malty sweetness. 4.8%, 16oz ELECTRIC SURFBOARD, Fort George
