First grown by in Kent, England as a chance seeding in 1861, Richard Fuggle brought his namesake hops to market in 1875. Fuggle hit its peak in 1949 when 78 percent of the English hop crops were Fuggle. Today, Fuggle continues to be grown in the UK in addition to Oregon and Washington state, though the US version is slightly less potent than its English counterpart. Originally used as a bittering and aroma hop, it is more recently used as primarily an aroma hop. Fuggle is also used in breeding and is parent to Willamette, Cascade and Glacier hops. The
File Under: things that get you buzzed. Like many folks, you might be a slave to chemical rituals. Caffeine in the morning, and booze at night. In the name of efficiency, Peaks and Pints recommends combining the two at every opportunity. The pairing of roasted barley with roasted coffee is so natural; it’s almost surprising these stouts and porters didn’t catch on sooner. But coffee beers didn’t really start to percolate until the mid-90s, and even now they are far from a staple even among craft breweries. But almost no one argues with the inspiration — porters and stouts tend
Portland, Oregon’s five boroughs consist of 95 neighborhoods, each of which is represented by a volunteer-based neighborhood association, from St. Johns in North Portland to Arnold Creek in the Southwest. All of these places are rooted in city history and lore — and all are constantly changing. When you think of the Pearl District, does it bring to mind beat-up warehouses, desolate rail yards, and brewery brownfields, or the chic and stylish neighborhood it is today? Does Chinatown conjure images of rough frontier beginnings, or high-end art galleries? When Peaks and Pints thinks of the Kerns neighborhood, we think of
Did you know 98 percent of barley grown in the United States would never make it into your soup? Barley is refined to make barley malt — a key ingredient in beer and is also grown for feeding animals used for food. But, back to the beer thing. Barley, a member of the grass family, is used to make most beers because its carbohydrates are particularly well suited for malting. The malting process breaks down carbohydrates into sugars, which provide unique flavors and fuel for fermentation. Roasted barley, one of the darkest grains in the brewing process, is characterized by an
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 . It’s Monday, which means in addition to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it’s Peaks and Pints weekly cider flight. We bumped up the alcohol by volume today because, well, we need it. Crank up your personal volume and plan the nation’s karmic overhaul as you enjoy Peaks and Pints Monday Cider Flight 1.21.19: Dream Time.
Say kids — do you like the touchdowns? Get your butt to Points and Pints in Tacoma’s Proctor District. OK, we were drinking craft beer when we wrote this, but seriously — there could be all the point scored today in the AFC and NFC conference championship match-ups. On our 130-foot screen you’ll see the four teams still alive in the playoffs that just so happen possess the most efficient four offenses in football. The Chiefs led the league at 35.3 points per game during the regular season. The Rams were second at 32.9, the Saints third at 31.5 and
In 1994, Tomas and April Sluiter left their bakery jobs in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and hit the road. They traveled extensively. Then, in the summer of 2000, they discovered Portland, Oregon. Thomas took an assistant brewer job at the Old Market Pub in Southwest Portland. Within two weeks of his hire, the head brewer quit and Tomas was thrown into that role. He dismantled the old, tired brewing system and refurbished a 15-barrel system. In January 2017, seven years after Tomas left Old Market and almost two years after attempting to open his brewery in Portland’s Goose Hollow neighborhood, he
Enjoy these fine beers during the NFL Championship games: Aslan De La Rouge, Firestone Walker Mind HAze IPA, Decadent Ales Winter Spice French Toast, Culmination Illusions of Grandeur, Gigantic Cloudberries and Reuben’s Brews Gobsmacked. Peaks and Pints Six Pack 1.19.19: NFL Playoffs For football fans, there’s no better time than tomorrow’s NFL playoff games. Even fans without a playoff representative are still invested in framing their weekend plans around football. That’s because the stakes are high. While every game in the NFL regular season seems important, the playoffs are one-and-done. Loser goes home. There’s no best
The yins to Cascade’s yang, Centennial hops are often used in parallel with the famed citrusy varietal. Centennial hops are sometimes referred to as “Super Cascade” due to their higher bittering properties. They 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. Though not as aromatic as their smaller, older brothers, their excellent blend of floral and bittering characteristics make them well suited to
Last night, Peaks and Pints hosted Stoup Brewing as part of our monthly SudsPop beer education and live music event. Stoup co-owner Brad Benson lecture on the science behind bittering beer, among other brewing topics. Scientist Benson and foodie Lara Zahaba opened Stoup Brewing in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood in 2013. Washington state’s first female Cicerone, Robyn Schumacher, became Stoup’s third partner, assisting Benson in the brewing room. Benson graduated from Gonzaga University with a B.S. in Chemistry and has been crafting beer for more than 25 years. We learned Stoup produced 1,700 barrels of beer in its first year, and
If you’re anything like Peaks and Pints and are into Caribbean voodoo then you’re a fan of Azacca, the Haitian god of agriculture. He’s a simple, gentle, hard working farmer and thus respected by the peasants. But, he’s also a hillbilly who likes to eat, drink, gossip and chase girls, which makes him an ideal character for a hop and a beer. In the world of American agriculture, Azacca — formerly known as #483 (a way lamer name) by developer American Dwarf Hop Association in Washington state — is a hop with big citrus and tropical fruit tones and excellent
Chicago Tribune beer writer Josh Noel penned the term “pastry stout” in his recap of the 2018 the Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beer, or FOBAB, after finding a surprising number of cake and cookie-inspired beers — gingerbread, German chocolate cake, milkshakes, etc.— at the annual Chicago beer festival. What is a pastry stout? Stouts made with any number of baking ingredients, such as cinnamon, coconut, chiles, cacao nibs, (Noel also includes coffee in this mix, but Peaks and Pints thinks that’s crazy talk). Critics believe some of these beers have taken flavor additives too far and obscured the soul of good beer, but
Red Blend Wine Flight meets Roastmary Wines made from a blend of red grapes are usually medium-bodied and well-balanced. With their fruit, herb, and spice flavors, red blends work well with smoked or sharp cheese because all the flavors become enhanced significantly. Frankly, red blend wine tends to work well with all meal options because it is considered well-rounded. Peaks and Pints offers a flight of red blend wines this winter. We suggest pairing the flight with The Roastmary sandwich — our popular roast beef, smokes Gouda, red onion, and rosemary mayonnaise on marbled rye flagship sandwich. Here is our
American cider has a similarity to beer: Like the beer industry of the 1990s, the cider industry is starting to evolve. Just as big name brands like Budweiser didn’t tell beer’s whole story, those fizzy and sweet ciders sold at grocery stores across the country are only one example of what cider can be. Indeed, many of the world’s most highly-regarded ciders are not sweet, but actually are dry. What? Aren’t all liquids wet by definition? What does it mean to call a cider “dry”? Simply put, dry ciders are dry because they contain a lot less sugar. High amounts
Oh, you fancy Hof Ten Dormaal 2016 Barrel-Aged Project Blond Ale Fancy Pants Sunday: Hof ten Dormaal 2016 Barrel-Aged Project Blond Ale Probably not taking name inspiration from David Hasselhof and his female lifeguards, Brouwerij Hof ten Dormaal from Tildonk, Belgium opened in May of 2009. In fact, Andre Janssens and his family who bought the farmstead 30 years ago had no intention of brewing beer. Farming wasn’t paying off so they added a 100-percent self-sustaining estate brewery — they grow all their own grain, grow all their own hops, cultivate their own yeast strain, and even power
Beth and Andrew Russo enjoy a Double Mountain Cool Camp IPA at Peaks and Pints in Tacoma. No bugs. Impressive color. No bugs. Milder temperatures. No bugs. Falling leaves. Empty trails. No bugs. How can you not love the serenity of fall hiking? Most people associate Labor Day with the end of mountain play, but veteran hikers, such as Andrew and Beth Russo, know this is the most spectacular time of the year to enjoy a “cool camp.” Cool camp? Peaks and Pints has been surveying beer industry folks and customers on where their favorite cool
The Mimosa is a classic cocktail — it’s delicious, boozy, and because of the low alcohol content, you can sip all day. The grenadine and grapefruit create a perfect balance of sweet and citrus while the Champagne on top lengthens the cocktail and contributes a beautiful effervescent mouthfeel. At Peaks and Pints, we serve gose-mosas. You’ve heard of gose. It’s German, a sour beer. Pronounced “Go-zuh,” like the thing that wrecked New York in Ghostbusters. Reported to be between 200 and 1,000 years old, it’s sour and salty, a low-ABV session beer, which means it won’t get you sauced. It’s
The cocoa bean or simply cocoa, which is also called the cacao bean or cacao, is the dried and fully fermented seed of Theobroma cacao, from which cocoa solids and cocoa butter can be extracted. Chocolate is typically made from cacoa nibs, sugar, and cocoa butter, all of which has to be (hopefully organically) processed before it becomes something you’d recognize and want to put into your mouth. Most cocoa beans originate in Peru, Belize, or Madagascar and then stored in a climate-controlled room where inferior beans are removed. The good ones are then slow-roasted in a modified coffee roaster,
Peaks and Pints Six Pack 1.11.19: TGIF It is, they say, just a matter of time. How much time? No one can be sure, though we certainly hope it’s very soon — and by “we,” we mean every living soul in the conscious universe. And by “soon” we mean, you know, yesterday. Until then, Peaks and Pints offers a delicious six-pack of hope. ECTO CREAM POP, Decadent Ales: The newest entrant to the Decadent Cream Pop series of Milkshake IPAs, Ecto Cream Pop is smooth and creamy with big citrus notes and lots of vanilla. It’s definitely the most “milkshake”
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 1.11.19: A 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
Nov. 15, 1980: 26-year-old Ken Grossman brewed his first commercial beer, four years after launching his home-brewing hobby. There were just 40 breweries of all makes in the country, with sales dominated by Coors, Miller, and Budweiser. From modest beginnings on a 10-barrel brew system, Grossman now owns and operates the largest independent brewery in America ― Sierra Nevada Brewing. Grossman’s first batch, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, boasted 36 IBUs, at least thrice as high as Bud Light. Peaks and Pints doesn’t know how many times we’ve heard someone say they tried a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on a whim
We’re guessing you disbanded your Saturday-night Dungeons and Dragons league sometime back in junior high, but for some, the geekdom continues. Who, you ask? See for yourself tonight when Northish Beer Co. releases its glitter imperial oatmeal stout, Feat. Tim Curry as The Darkness. The beer’s inspiration arose while Northish’s sales executive R.J. Adler and Three Magnets Brewing’s former sales executive Abe Burt watched Ridley Scott’s fantasy flick, Legend. The 1985 film features fantastical creatures, a battle between darkness and light, a beautiful, innocent maiden and the unicorn she loves, Tim Curry’s bright-red, horny glory Lord of Darkness, and —
Why do “”English” and “toffee” go together like “Irish” and “stew”? “Belgian” and “waffles”? “French” and “fries”? (Er, wait, let’s skip that last one.) What’s so freakin’ special about the English and their toffee? In honor of National English Toffee Day, Peaks and Pints searched for an answer. Toffee in and of itself isn’t particularly complicated. It’s basically white sugar (or sometimes molasses) with butter and/or salt heated to the point of caramelization. Once the mixture reaches around 300 degrees Fahrenheit, it’s rapidly removed from the heat and poured onto a surface, at which point it cools and hardens (its
Peaks and Pints Cooler Bagger 1.7.19: Pick Six If you’re thinking six-pack, here is a suggestion from the Peaks and Pints cooler. … SULA, Modern Times Beer: This fruited sour gose is brewed with raspberries, blackberries, and black raspberries leans more toward raspberry with plenty of tartness, some sweet sugary malt, a little salt, a dab of lemon zest and very drinkable. 6.5% SHINY OBEJECT, Wander Brewing: Brewed with loads of flaked oats, wheat and Amarillo hops, this double IPA delivers a modest level of tangerine, cantaloupe, and pineapple fruity juiciness backed with a thin layer of bitter citrus hoppiness.
You wake in the same way have awoken every morning for the past three weeks: freezing cold and depressed. You moved to Washington state to take an awful job pushing paperwork in the bowels of a drab federal building, leaving behind family and friends in Maui. Some acquaintances have been kind enough to let you crash on an air mattress in their drafty apartment — a nice gesture, save the lack of blankets and the hour and a half commute to and from said federal building, which makes seeing the sun a novelty. You miss Maui — the warm sun,
You fancy, Stone Fyodor Imperial Russian Stout Fancy Pants Sunday: Stone Fyodor Imperial Russian Stout There are tales of Peter the Great, the Russian Tsar who traveled to England in 1689 and said to have fallen in love with strong British porter, which is weird since the style didn’t truly exist for another 30-plus years. Whatever. Peter the Great likely did have some influence on the origination of Russian imperial stouts as his modernization of the Russian economy allowed for the importation of British goods, which included beer. In 1729, Ralph Thrale purchased Anchor Brewery of
The Seattle Seahawks lost last night’s NFL Wild Card Playoff game. High winds messed with your clock radio (and Peaks and Pints’ website). You need some comfort. Founders Brewing Co. knows. A few years after opening in 1997, the Grand Rapids, Michigan brewery changed course brewing comforting porters, stouts, scotch ales and strong ales aged in boozy barrels. Soon enough, Founders became recognized on the national and international brewing scene, with accolades from Ratebeer, Beer Advocate, and the World Beer Cup. Flavorful, complex, and often stronger than your average pint, Founders’ beers aren’t for everyone, and they don’t claim to
Today is National Whipped Cream Day, which falls on the birthday of Reddi-wip founder Aaron “Bunny” Lapin. The fake holiday celebrates the ice cream topper, and its contribution to milkshakes. While whipped cream existed long before Lapin, it wasn’t until 1946 and the invention of the aerosol canister that the treat took off as many know it to be today. In honor of National Whipped Cream Day, Peaks and Pints presents a flight of milkshake IPAs that we call Craft Beer Crosscut 1.5.19: A Flight of Whipped Cream IPAs. Made with milk sugar and lactose to give it a creamy,
Quick, grab us a cell phone! We need to call someone. It doesn’t matter whom. It just doesn’t matter! We’re going to mash the keypad until some numbers come out and whomever picks up we’re going to scream with pleasure into the phone until they get to Peaks and Pints and try our beer flight of nuts. Our eyeballs are filling with flavor. Do your life a favor and buy this flight of these damn nut flavored craft. We don’t care what you’re doing; we close at midnight. After that, all bets are off. Did you hear that? All bets.
Aquaman was way cooler when he was a clean-cut ersatz Buster Crabbe who talked to flounder. He’s way less cool now that he’s a filthy, musclebound caricature of masculinity who is to lonely single women what feature strippers with 56GGG implants are to guys in raincoats. Still, James Wan’s giddy new epic Aquaman cannonballs into the pool, making a huge splash with razzle-dazzle imagination. Expect warriors of Atlantis straddling great white sharks and swimming into battle. Expect an ancient combat arena deep in the Atlantic where combatants face off above pulsing lava and a martial drumbeat is pounded out by
The craft beer movement has always been about the sense of adventure, going back to that little warehouse in south Chico where Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi brewed their first batches of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale way back in 1980 (to put that in context, that was the year The Empire Strikes Back hit theaters, and Lipps Inc.’s “Funkytown” was one of the biggest singles in the world), paving the way for the rest. Craft beer has come a long way since then, and Sierra’s Pale Ale is still the pale ale to which all other pales are judged. We
During our probably-too-long drinking career, the bloody Mary had ranked near the bottom of our desired beverage list, hovering somewhere around a Smoker’s Phlegm (Jägermeister and mayonnaise) in the gross department. We’re craft beer drinkers thank you very much. Still, it’s National Bloody Mary Day and that’s no accident. New Year’s Day, largely seen as a celebration of fresh beginnings, is also very much about recovering from New Year’s Eve and, rightly or wrongly, a Bloody Mary is universally regarded as a hangover cure. Peaks and Pints doesn’t pour booze. We do have spicy-ish beers. Stop by our little lodge in
A legitimate excuse for frivolous hedonism comes but once a year, so we say make the most of it. Don a silly hat (everyone else will look stupid, too), enjoy 16 hard ciders on tap and blow your horn: 2018 is finally done. Sixteen ciders on tap? Yes, it’s True. Peaks and Pints has tapped 16 ciders, well 17 when we tap 2 Towns Riverwood Brut Cider at midnight. It’s also Monday, which means Peaks and Pints always offers a flight of ciders. Indeed, all draft ciders are available to build a five-cider flight of your choice. In addition, to
Initially known as HBC 291, the hop has become known in the beer world as Loral. Loral comes with a noteworthy lineage. Its mother is the U.S. developed aroma variety Glacier; the grandmother being the long-established European noble aroma variety known as Tardif de Bourgogne originating in the Bourgogne region of Eastern France. The father is a son of the U.S. developed Nugget variety. Loral provides a more traditional yet unique hop character, providing the floral and herbal notes one would expect from a fine noble aroma hop. The aroma profile of this hop has some great floral, peppery, and
Peaks and Pints Cooler Bagger New Year’s Eve Edition As always, Peaks and Pints cares that you stay on top of things; that you have the latest info, the skinny, the 411, or something, regarding new beers in our cooler. What we’re trying to say, in a circular fashion, is that New Year’s Eve approaches, and you know what that means. So without much further ado, here’s a less-than-comprehensive list of new beers in our cooler. Excelsior! APRICOT SOUR, Mollusk Brewing: Aged 15 months in wine barrels, this barrel-aged sour is bright and zippy with tons of acidity and earthy
Competition is fierce when it comes to making alcohol. In the wine industry, collaborations amongst vintners are few and far between. One would be just as hard pressed to find two coffee roasters willing to join forces to brew the perfect cup. And good luck finding a maker of vodka, whiskey, or rum who’s clamoring to blend his or her sacred liquid with that of another distiller’s. But craft beer breweries have been collaborating with one another on everything from recipes to bottle artwork for decades. Peaks and Pints salutes craft beer collaborations with five craft beer collaborations on today’s
Happy National Box of Chocolates Day! Yes, it’s a thing. From conversations with friends, family, and customers around the Peaks and Pints cooler, it seems like giving your significant other a box of chocolates on Valentine’s Day has become horribly tacky and passé. What about today? Does a non-Valentine’s Day box of chocolates represent custom, convention and, therefore, cliché? Will you be accused of not putting any thought into the matter? Peaks and Pints wishes buying someone a box of chocolates didn’t automatically peg you as an uncreative loser with no taste. The chocolate in some of those boxes ain’t
Stock up on Elysian The Fix, Dirty Couch Herdsman, Urban Family Winter Heart, Shine S’more and Gigantic Massive! for New Year’s Eve. Peaks and Pints Holiday Season Restock Did Cousin Eddie clean out your refrigerator? Peaks and Pints bottle shop, taproom and restaurant is open until 11 p.m. today to load up for the remainder of the holiday, including New Year’s Eve. … THE FIX, Elysian Brewing: A big and bold imperial stout that is just as much a chocolate beer as it is a coffee beer. The Fix also may be the most caffeinated brew
Today, Louis Pasteur would have turned 195 years old. Cheers to the French biologist, microbiologist and chemist for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and prevention of diseases, and his discoveries improved the beer brewing processes, including pasteurization to stop the growth of the yeast that might remain in the beer after packaging. Once Pasteur demonstrated how to rid food and prep equipment of unwanted microorganisms using his namesake process and simple sterilization, brewers learned the importance of making sure the final product was free
Today is Dec. 26 — what Brits call Boxing Day. Sure, after Christmas you might want to strap on gloves and settle those unresolved familial scores, but Boxing Day isn’t about pugilism. And it has nothing to do with boxing up decorations or gifts you wish you didn’t get. Instead, the national holiday harks back to a bygone era like powdered wigs and pagers. Back in the days of the Empire, British citizens were split into hierarchies divided by arbitrary lines such as accent and lineage. Think Downton Abbey, in which the bottom floor of a huge house split two
’Twas the day before Christmas, and all through the city, everyone yearned for a cider and a Pesto Pastrami. The waffles were devoured, with nary a care, and boredom set in at every household lair. “Hey, it’s Monday,” they realized, “let’s head to Peaks and Pints! This is the glorious day that they serve cider flights!” Peaks and Pints Monday Cider Flight 12.24.18: Christmas Eve is a thing, five ciders on a log crosscut, all could be called cider bling. As the 11 p.m. closing time neared, folks summoned Uber, arm full of craft beer and cider were grabbed from
We have Northern California’s Dr. Elmo to thank — or blame — for the unsinkable Christmas novelty hit “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” a goofy little ditty that has surpassed Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” as the season’s most popular single. Annoying radio programmers love that song this time of year. So do kids in elementary school. But why couldn’t Run DMC’s “Christmas in Hollis” be the big contemporary Christmas classic, or “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Darlene Love? Or anything? “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” is now part of our cultural landscape, though, so you
Proctor Presents: Peaks and Pints and Envy The Proctor District in the North End is alive and shining with holiday shoppers. If this holiday season is any measure, this budding urban village may soon be where everyone wants to live. Peaks and Pints Proctor Presents pairs a Proctor District shop with one of our gift-worthy craft beers. … She would look great in this C+D+M coat, available at Envy boutique in Tacoma’s Proctor District. Envy Fantastic designer labels with excellent flattering cuts in some of the newest and hottest styles and pattern trends is what one
Essentially, Christmas beer isn’t a style; it’s a tradition. Unlike IPAs or bocks, which have specific criteria, Christmas beer has no confines. Unless, of course, you refer to the guidelines from the Beer Judge Certification Program, which states its aroma should be “reminiscent of Christmas cookies,” appearance of amber to dark brown, and must taste “rich and malty.” The guidelines state “spices are required.” However, BJCP cites some brands as leading examples of Christmas beers that actually contain no spices. So now, how do we define Christmas beer? Simple — it’s a beer that was brewed as a gift. It
