India Pale Ales emerged in the 1700s when British brewers found a market for hoppy beers in India and territories of the British Empire. In 1996, BridgePort launched the first IPA in the Pacific Northwest igniting taste buds with an intensity of hops never experienced before. A few years later, the American spin on IPAs began to capture widespread appeal in the U.S. But the past few years have seen huge changes in the IPA world. Bitter, dank, piney IPAs have been replaced by a new breed of citric, tropical and yeast-hazed brews. The best IPAs brewed today bear almost
Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream,” speech at the March on Washington in August 1963 serves as the touchstone for today’s annual King holiday. He brought hope to untold people both black and white. Remembering his dream matters more than ever today as we witness, still, the openly mocking and demeaning of women, blacks, Islam, and immigrants while ignoring human rights, denying science and climate change, supporting violence and conspiracy, and taking away the health care of millions of Americans. It’s Monday, which means in addition to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it’s Peaks and Pints weekly cider
Ye be fancy Maui Black Pearl, yo! Fancy Pants Sunday: Maui Black Pearl My left hand is a hook, My booty I took Always squint with one eye wherever I look. A nice wooden peg Serves as me leg I’ll run you through if you confuse a pirate with Queequeg. Yo ho ho and a bottle of Imperial Coconut Porter aged in rum Maui Brewing and pillaging is most of my fun. I say ARRRRRRRRR with a passion I’m a slave to pirate fashion With perfectly torn sea trousers, I look perfectly dashing If I say
Peaks and Pints Tap List Sunday January 19 2020 includes Rooftop Brewing’s Scotch Scotch Scotchity Scotch. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Sunday January 19 2020 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our tap list live from your phone, click
Oats fall into the category of a beer “adjunct,” which covers anything that is a non-malt source of fermentable sugar. It is well documented that oats give beer a fuller body and silky mouthfeel, making them a popular addition in dark beers such as stouts. (Stouts made with about 10 percent oats have a sweeter, smoother flavor.) Craft beer cream silky mouthfeel is the result of various factors, including glycoproteins, glycerol ethanol, and beta-glucans, with oats playing a large role in the last listed factor due to their high content of beta-glucans (β-Glucans). As the beta-glucans increase in wort, so
Peaks and Pints has a thing for Double Mountain Brewery. We met owner Matt Swihart several years before we opened Nov. 1 2016. His knowledge, friendliness and humbleness impressed us to the point we knew a long-term relationship was in order. We have hosted more beer flight with Double Mountain than any other brewery or cidery. We brewed Cool Camp IPA, our 2019 house beer, with the Hood River Brewery. We carried Double Mountain up Mt. Rainier. And, today, we chose Double Mountain as the featured brewery for our Beer For Clean Air fundraiser for the American Lung Association’s Climb
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock: 1.17.20 There’s nothing better than capping off a long ski or board day with a cold craft beer. Whether you’re riding White Pass’ quiet, West Ridge Access Off-Piste area or packing in with Crystal’s tram crowd, Peaks and Pints has new beers for you. Stop for Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock: 1.17.20. Bale Breaker Brewing DESERT BITE IPA: Bale Breaker had outdoorsy folks in mind when they created the clear, fruity Desert Bite IPA with Simcoe, Cascade, Mosaic, Loral, and Ahtanum. 7.1% Hopworks Urban Brewery FEROCIOUS BLOOD ORANGE CITRUS: Hopworks Urban
Peaks and Pints Tap List Friday January 17 2020 includes De Proef/Surly Zwart Black Star Old Ale. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Friday January 17 2020 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our tap list live from your phone,
Founded in 862 as a feudal fief in the west of France, the Flemish Region today comprises part of northern Belgium, divided into West Flanders and East Flanders. The main language of Flanders is Flemish, a variant on the Dutch spoken in Holland, but French, German and English are widely spoken. Often overshadowed by West Flanders — home to the Belgian Coast, Bruges and Flanders Fields – East Flanders (Oost-Vlaanderen) proudly inhabits the role of the underdog. Marginally smaller in size and population, the province —fringed by Bruges to the west and Antwerp and Brussels to the east — doesn’t
Oct. 17, 1989, the Pike Place Brewery, as it was then known, officially opened in the old Liberty Malt Supply space under the Pike Place Market on Western Avenue in downtown Seattle. At the time there were only three other craft brewers in Washington state and IPAs were hard to find on tap or in bottles. A lot transpired at the brewery since, including a name change to the Pike Brewing Company, but Charles and Rose Ann still proudly own the brewery and the history of beer museum that doubles as their restaurant and taproom. Today, Peaks and Pints offers
Peaks and Pints Tap List Wednesday January 15 2020 includes Narrows Brewing Wallaces Briefcase IPA. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Wednesday January 15 2020 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our tap list live from your phone, click here
The last storm that hit the Cascade Mountains brought 51 new inches to Crystal Mountain. Another strong Pacific storm will bring additional heavy mountain snow with strong winds to the West today and tomorrow. You’re going to be exhausted after a full day of swooshing down the powder. You’re going to be wet from sweat and melted snow. You’re going to be numb by subfreezing temperatures and high prices. You’re going to be stiff because of sore muscles and chunky boots. You’re going to need a craft beer. The French call it “apres-ski,” which translates roughly to “after you’ve paid
This week’s Tree-dimensional Tacoma tree the black walnut at the corner of South Fourth and Tacoma Avenue South, in the Stadium District. Photo credit: Kate Swarner Tree-dimensional Tacoma: Black Walnut “One day I was walking a bit slower than usual and as I waited to cross the street at the corner of South Fourth and Tacoma Avenue South, I looked up, like really looked, and this large black walnut was standing there,” recounts Sarah Low, executive director of Tacoma Tree Foundation. “It is amazing how much there is to see when we slow down to look.
Peaks and Pints New Beer In Stock 1.14.20 The Snowpocalypse has struck craft beer. Breweries are at a standstill; brewers are reportedly stranded, trucks are unable to deliver the goods, and people are getting home in any way possible. Still, Peaks & Pints braves on having sledded to work today. We suggest you do the same and enjoy these mighty fine craft beers. Cheers! Fremont Brewing GOLDEN PILSNER: After several pilsner releases, Fremont Brewing has found their new year-round pilsner, and it’s Golden. Brewed with Bohemian Pilsner malt, white wheat, and acidulated malt with Czech Saaz hops, it hits the
First things first … SNOW! Thanks to the school children whom put white crayons on every windowsill, brushed their teeth with their non-dominant hand, and flushed ice cubes down the toilet, Tacoma is blanketed with snow today. Icy roads and a half inch of snow in the Puget Sound area caused a messy commute and several schools to close or be delayed today. Now what? How the hell are you going to travel to Peaks and Pints for our snow beer flight, Craft Beer Crosscut 1.14.20: Flight For Snowpocalypse? Well, the original downhill pioneers damn near strapped entire tree trunks
You fancy Perennial 2019 Coffee Abraxas! Fancy Pants Sunday: Perennial Coffee Abraxas When Phil Wymore drove from Goose Island Beer in Chicago to open Perennial Artisan Ales in St. Louis he passed endless string of neon “Budweiser” and “Bud Lite” signs. Anheuser-Busch sits six miles north of where Perennial headquarters operates today. The barrage of Big Beer didn’t sway him from his craft beer brewery end goal. After all, Wymore spent time at Goose Island and Half Acre before bringing his own craft brews to the land of red and white labeled beer. In September 2011,
Today, the Seattle Seahawks are at Lambeau Field to take on the Green Bay Packers in the NFC’s divisional-round playoffs, screening at 3:40 p.m. inside Peaks and Pints. The winner will move on to the NFC Championship Game to take on the San Francisco 49ers for the right to Super Bowl LIV. It’s another great matchup of top quarterbacks as Seattle’s Russell Wilson squares off against Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and one you’re surely not going to want to miss. Peaks and Pints presents a beer flight based on this quarterback face-off. Wilson, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, is fresh off
Peaks and Pints Tap List Saturday January 11 2020 includes Perennial Fantastic Voyage Imperial Milk Stout. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Saturday January 11 2020 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our tap list live from your phone, click
Whether you’re a skim, two-percent, or whole milk drinker, Jan. 11 is a day to celebrate anything and everything milk. It’s National Milk Day and, of course, Peaks and Pints celebrates with a flight of milk stouts, which we call Craft Beer Crosscut 1.11.20: Flight For National Milk Day. Milk stouts originated in Europe in the 1800s. The style emphasizes a malty sweetness with hints of chocolate and caramel. They are sometimes called cream stouts or sweet stouts. Brewers intensified the dark, chocolaty malt body with lactose, the sugar in cow’s milk, hence why they’re more often called milk stouts.
Named for a sharp hook in the Deschutes River in Central Oregon’s high desert, Bend was the abyss; decades ago it was a bump on the state highway between golf resorts Black Butte Ranch and Sunriver. Lumber ruled the roost until the two large timber mills closed in 1994. Then, Californian Gary Fish opened Deschutes Brewery in downtown Bend on Bond Street, back when Bond Street was the abyss. Deschutes has since grown to become one of the United States’ representative craft breweries, distributing from coast to coast and making Bend synonymous with beer in the minds of many. Deschutes
It’s National Apricot Day. Let’s just get right to the point and tease up an apricot flame war: Apricot beer is better that the Robada apricot, which is better than the Blenheim apricot. Yes, yes, the Blenheim has an unquestionable pedigree. It’s been around for more than 100 years in California and was responsible for making the Santa Clara Valley an apricot goldmine at a time when everyone else was tapping the citrus boom in Southern California. And, the Robada — although developed by science and not nature and has no romance, nostalgia, or automatic feel-good locavoristic satisfaction — nudges
Peaks and Pints Tap List Wednesday January 8 2020 includes Epic Brewing’s Big Bad Baptist Quintuple Barrel. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Wednesday January 8 2020 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our tap list live from your phone,
People often ask Peaks and Pints where the ideas for the daily beer flights come from. Well, normally, our big hairy muse, Chester, sends a crumpled manuscript with beer can rings, Cheetos dust and cigar burns on it, C.O.D. When Chester’s on a bender, we turn inward for inspiration. We light a candle, squirt some aromatherapy gunk in our electric potpourri cooker, chant our mantra, “Hops, hops, hops,” and go into a foggy trance. Through the mist we see a flicker of light. A voice in our heads say, “Go to the light.” We go. After we have cleaned up
This week’s Tree-dimensional Tacoma tree is the Ponderosa lemon hybrid at W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory in Wright Park. Photo credit: Kate Swarner Tree-dimensional Tacoma: Ponderosa Lemon Hybrid When life gives you rain, go see a Ponderosa lemon hybrid. “The tree is over 100 years old, and yet it is still quite small,” says Sarah Low, executive director of Tacoma Tree Foundation in regards to this week’s Tree-dimensional Tacoma highlight. “Not all trees are giants, but they are beautiful just the same. The W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory at Wright Park offers a chance for us to observe
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 1-7-20 A new cherry bakery stout, new vanilla stout, new pear and peach IPA and new peanut butter porter walk into a bottleshop. … Avery Brewing PEAR OF PEACHES: Imperial hazy IPA packing a punch of fruity flavors due to modern day dry hopping with Simcoe and Amarillo then traditionally dry hopped with Mosaic hops. 9% Ecliptic Brewing MERIDIAN VANILLA STOUT: Finished with vanilla beans, Ecliptic’s dry Irish style stout has a smooth mouthfeel with notes of cacao and roast. 5.2% Iron Horse Brewery PEANUT BUTTER DEATH: Body is similar to Iron Horse’s
In the early 1700s, it was common for London pub patrons to ask for blends of the various available brews. Historical documents say the Brits called their mixed beer beverage “Three Threads” using a third of a pint each of ale, lager and a strong brew called “Twopenny.” Eventually, bartenders told the Three Threadheads to take a flying leap off the London Bridge. Around 1730, a brewer named Harwood came up with a solution. He re-created the flavor of Three Threads into a single craft beer called Entire before it reached the pub. This beer came to be loved by
Peaks and Pints pours a flight of Isenhower Cellars i-Label wines this winter season. Isenhower Cellars i-Label Red Wine Flight Brett and Denise Isenhower met at an Indianapolis hospital where they were both working as pharmacists. They married in 1995, fell in love with wine shortly thereafter, and by 1999 were crushing grapes in Walla Walla. Their Isenhower Cellars’ wines are plush, smooth and light-footed yet sweepingly complex. Peaks and Pints presents a flight of Isenhower I-Label Series reds this winter, with the core of this wine series emerging from Eritage Vineyard in the rolling wheatfields
Peaks and Pints Tap List Monday January 6 2020 includes Reuben’s Brews’ Bloody Crikey, not Bloody Cranky Justin! Peaks and Pints Tap List: Monday January 6 2020 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our tap list live from your
Peaks and Pints Monday Cider Flight: Ford v Ferrari Ford v Ferrari, director James Mangold’s tale of the Ford Motor Company’s attempt to build a faster race car than Ferrari in the 1960s, is a rare, high-octane blend of art and entertainment, screening at 7 p.m. at the Blue Mouse Theatre in Tacoma’s proctor District. In this action-dramedy, Matt Damon stars as Carroll Shelby, an automotive designer and engineer forced to hang up his racing helmet after being diagnosed with a heart condition. Realizing Shelby’s talent, Ford executives ask him to lead their new racing division, which they hope will
Barley and hops get most of the credit for giving beer its flavor, but yeast plays an essential role too, creating the alcohol and carbonation through the process of fermentation. Yeast is everywhere — on our bodies, in our food, floating in the very air we breathe. One of the earliest domesticated organisms, the single-celled eukaryotic fungi helped transform humanity when ancient people learned to bake bread — and more importantly, brew beer. When you go to purchase a sour beer in today’s beer world, you’re either buying a kettle sour or a traditional sour/wild ale. Because the Seattle Seahawks are
With more than 21 breweries Eugene is an ideal place to experience an Oregon brewery scene. Like regional winemakers, Eugene brewers benefit from the Willamette Valley’s rich agricultural basin. The Pacific Northwest is a major producer of barley for malt, and 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 feed the McKenzie River, recognized as the best
Known as the “Super Cascade,” Centennial hops share similar aromatic qualities of Cascade without any of the same genetics in the pedigree. Centennial hops were first bred in 1974 as a cross between many different strains including Brewers Gold, Fuggle, East Kent Golding and Bavarian hops. The name comes from the Washington state Centennial Celebration, which occurred in 1989, just before the public release of Centennial hops in 1990. Centennial is a great dual-purpose hop and can be used successfully for both bittering and aroma. Enjoy five craft beers brewed with Centennial hops in our Craft Beer Crosscut 1.3.20: Flight
Consider the vanilla bean. The Aztecs did. In addition to inventing long words ending in “atl” and awesome mythology, they had the patience to figure out how to cultivate vanilla — a particularly difficult flavor to come by. The pods are the fruit of an orchid plant (Vanilla planifolia), and they have to be cured and fermented over the course of about six months. If that weren’t involved enough, the high-maintenance orchid itself has to be pollinated by hand. Mexico continues to be a major producer, but bourbon vanilla pods from Madagascar are considered to be the Chanel No. 5
This week’s Tree-dimensional Tacoma tree the Western red cedar in the Puget Creek Natural Area. Photo credit: Kate Swarner Tree-dimensional Tacoma: Western Red Cedar “How about Western red cedar, Thuja plicata?” asks Sarah Low, executive director of Tacoma Tree Foundation in regards to this week’s Tree-dimensional Tacoma highlight. She couldn’t finish her sentence before we screamed, “Yes!” Peaks and Pints pours draft beer, cider and wine from a Western red cedar log found in the Key Peninsula area. Artist, guitarist, woodworker, solar power expert and owner of Matt’s Concrete Repair, Matt Eklund — with help from
Let’s face it, 2019 has been a dumpster fire. We could fill an entire novel with all the tragic and unfortunate events that have proved to be a major bummer over the past 12 months, but will instead focus on turning the page, moving on and looking forward to a brighter future. New Year’s Eve is an occasion to drink with friends (if you wanna), to dress up in your nicest duds (if you wanna), to laugh your ass off (if you wanna), and to remember all of the good things that happened over the past 12 months (yes, there
Peaks and Pints Monday Cider Flight: Jumanji Peaks and Pints Monday Cider Flights are back on! Today, we’re pairing five ciders with Jumanji: The Next Level. With its latest installment, the Jumanji franchise hasn’t elected to modernize itself the way the previous one did by upgrading the titular activity from a board game to a video game — which is a shame, because Peaks and Pints was looking forward to seeing Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan navigate a Jumanji environment injected straight into the human retina. As the gang return to Jumanji to rescue one of their own,
You fancy Superstition Blueberry Spaceship Box Fancy Pants Sunday: Superstition Blueberry Spaceship Box In 2009, husband and wife Jeff and Jen Herbert were planning a Thanksgiving dinner in their Prescott, Arizona, home when Jeff decided to create a beverage that paid homage to Jen’s family’s roots in Vermont. He busted open a home brewing kit she gifted him to make an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey with water and adding maple — mead. By 2012, the couple turned their hobby into Superstition Meadery, a mead and hard cider company that averages 3 million in revenue, including the
What are the first couple things that come to mind when you hear of Marshawn Lynch? The Beast Quake run and Skittles, right? If you don’t mention those two things, you probably don’t know the man, the myth, and the legend they call Beast Mode. Today, the 33-year-old, five-time Pro Bowler running back will don a Seattle Seahawks jersey again to face the San Francisco 49ers tonight. He has signed a deal that lasts only for the remainder of this season. He last played in Seattle, leading the Seahawks to a Super Bowl XLVIII victory in 2015. In celebration, Peaks and
Peaks and Pints Tap List December 28 2019 includes Epic Brewing Big Bad Baptist Hazelnut Vanilla Latte. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Saturday December 28 2019 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our tap list live from your phone,
If you drink enough lattes, you will come to realize that some are indisputably better than others. But, once you account for differences in quality, you have to admit, there’s a sort of sameness about them: espresso plus steamed milk, maybe a flavor shot or some sweetener. It almost makes you feel sorry for baristas. Why shouldn’t they get to experiment with flavors the way brewers do? Brewers incorporate coffee in their brew in several ways: mixing beans into the malt build, infusing during barrel aging or straight up cut the beer with cold press. With so many kinds of
Today, Peaks and Pints centers on strong ales for our daily beer flight — including Belgian and American strong ales — in a flight we’re calling Craft Beer Crosscut 12.27.19: Strong Ales. Belgian strong ales malty character can be rich and sweet, with complexity in flavors that include roastedness and mild hoppy bitterness. They are commonly brewed with Candi sugar, which can add to the style’s alcoholic strength, which ranges from 7% to 11% ABV. We also include several American strong ales in today’s flight, which are sometimes referred to as old ales, stock ales or winter warmers. These beers
Peaks and Pints Tap List Thursday December 26 2019 includes Culmination Brewing’s Drone Logic IPA. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Thursday December 26 2019 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our tap list live from your phone, click here
The backstory of Christmastime in a consumer culture always plays out in the alleys of Tacoma. This is where yesterday’s must-haves are temporarily tethered to trash bins in an effort to make room for a glut of new holiday gifts. Scruff-a-Luvs waits to make its final trip to the dump, where it will be entombed with a plethora of plastic playthings. Besides the insult of a scruffy rescue pet getting trashed, there is the sadness that the child who owned this toy outgrew it and now faces a lifetime of toil every time he or she sees a scruffy animal.
Peaks and Pints New Beer In Stock 12.26.19 Boxing Day is observed annually on Dec. 26 in the United Kingdom and other European countries that dates back to the days of Queen Victoria, though some historians trace its origins back much further—to medieval times. Today, it’s largely an extension of the Christmas holiday and a big day for sporting events, shopping, and, to Peaks and Pints, craft beer. In the event you didn’t get enough craft beer on Christmas Day, you’ll want to get in on Peaks and Pints New Beer In Stock 12.26.19. Belching Beaver Brewery PEANUT BUTTER LATTE
