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 &
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
