Tonight, Peaks and Pints hosts its inaugural Peaks and Pints Pastry Pairing Pop-up, launching the series pairing Urban Family Brewing’s “Hearts” sours with The Vintage Baker’s cupcakes. It’s a Valentine’s Day prefunk, if you will, pairing the Seattle brewery’s Briar Heart, Heart of Stone, Heart Strings, Coffee Dark Hymn and Addition by Addition sours with the Puyallup bakery’s dark chocolate cake with chocolate ganache buttercream, orange sponge cake with apricot infused buttercream and tiramisu cupcake soaked in coffee topped with a Chantilly mascarpone. The pairing begins at 6 p.m., but the Urban Family sours will pour all day in a
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 2.4.20 Look up. The number of stars, they say, are somewhere around 300 sextillion. And 300 of it is a 3 plus 23 zeroes, or three trillion times 100 billion, or a number so mind-scramblingly large that to imagine it crosses some internal threshold of basic understanding. Wait, there’s more. Three hundred sextillion, says our big brains, also happens to be the rough sum total of all cells inhabiting all human bodies on planet earth at this particular moment. 300 sextillion stars, 300 sextillion cells. Isn’t that fascinating? Isn’t that an odd coincidence?
This week’s Tree-dimensional Tacoma tree is the “Vanderwolf’s Pyramid” limber pine at Fawcett Elementary at East 60th and East A Street. Photo credit: Pappy Swarner Tree-dimensional Tacoma: “Vanderwolf’s Pyramid” limber pine “I love the big, established trees that create shade and beauty, but every tree has to start somewhere,” says Sarah Low, executive director of Tacoma Tree Foundation. “In the built environment of a city such as Tacoma, most trees are planted by people (hint: people like you). Last fall, Tacoma Tree Foundation planted some trees with the help of fantastic volunteers at Fawcett Elementary. Three
Whether its Miller Lite, Coors Lights, or Bud Light, the top cheap beers in the nation are low-calorie and watery. Then, there are beers such as Michelob Ultra that are promoted with athletes and for those with active lifestyles. Ugh. In crap beer, all of the goodness typically associated with beer has been filtered out, until it’s stripped clean to nearly water-like proportions. OK, you’re freaking over the high calorie count of craft beer. Thankfully, there were always full-flavored, semi-low-calorie options like Guinness, but for the most part bigger, full-flavored beers — most in the craft beer world — are
Tournament of Beer: West Coast Flagships nominations open In April 2020, Peaks and Pints will host the Tournament of Beer: West Coast Flagships. We’ve swept the court of last year’s pilsner tournament for West Coast brews that spawned, defined and advanced the craft beer movement, broken down by decades. Chosen through the nomination process below, the top 64 vote getters — the cream of the craft — will compete Monday-Friday on our website April 3-25. Through online voting, Washington, Oregon and California craft staple drinkers will pick daily winners until the best West Coast flagships from the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s
Are you enjoying Peaks and Pints’ February Get Stouts Done month? Could you use a break from the deep, dark deliciousness? Good news: it’s Monday, which means Peaks and Pints offers a flight of cider. Today, we pair the flick Frozen 2 with cider in what we call Monday Cider Flight and a Movie: Frozen 2, which is perfect since it snowed this morning. In the story, Elsa and her friends are compelled to leave home to seek their personal destiny in a land farther north. The animation is more refined, more realistic, and the story isn’t a simple rehash
Peaks and Pints Tap List Sunday February 2 2020 includes Bale Breaker’s Hazy L IPA. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Sunday February 2 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
In the buildup to Super Bowl LIV, all eyes are on Patrick Mahomes, the 24-year-old superstar quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs. Mahomes is just one game away from adding a Super Bowl ring to his rapidly growing collection of impressive statistics and electrifying highlights over his first two seasons as a starter. Standing in Mahomes’ way is the NFC’s best defense as the San Francisco 49ers have regained their early-season dominance on that side of the ball. It is only fair that this matchup gets top billing in the biggest game of the year, but there is another side to
Peaks and Pints’ staff knows February’s a struggle with cold rain and wind in the South Sound, and that’s why we’re making it rain stouts every day this month. First, stouts are one of our favorite craft beer styles, and second, it’s cool to sip a single style from several brewers side-by-side. Not all stouts — a style marked by the use of roasted malts and barley — are created equal though, with alcohol levels, recipes, flavorings and textures running the gamut. From the traditional stouts that emerged after porter rose to popularity in England in the 1800s to today’s kaleidoscope
A small cadre of Belgian iconoclasts go on quietly stirring the imagination of brewers around the world, showcasing deliciously dry, hop-forward beers, rustic farmhouse offerings, bold and complexly balanced strong ales, and all manner of tart and funky brews, including the unparalleled sensory experience that is authentic lambic. Gueuzerie Tilquin is one of those iconoclasts. Pierre Tilquin founded the small family brewery based in Bierghes, Brussels, in 2009. He exclusively blends lambic beers, such as the ones in today’s Peaks and Pints beer flight, Craft Beer Crosscut 1.31.20: Flight of Tilquin. Tilquin purchases worts from Boon, Lindemans, Cantillon and Girardin,
Peaks & Pints presents a flight of JuneShine Hard Kombucha today, in conjunction with tonight’s Lodge Meeting with the San Diego-based hard kombucha company. If Peaks and Pints was to host a hard kombucha company, it was going to be JuneShine. Founders Forest Dein and Greg Serrao live the Peaks and Pints way — outdoor adventures and craft beer. Although, that’s where we stop and the duo venture further. After the conscious eaters noticed a lack of healthy options in the grocery store alcohol shelves, the San Diego residents opened JuneShine Hard Kombucha in June 2018. Kombucha is made by
This week’s Tree-dimensional Tacoma tree are the London planetrees on Pacific Avenue near South 10th Street in downtown Tacoma. Photo credit: Kate Swarner Tree-dimensional Tacoma: London Planetree “Every time I look at the London planetrees along Pacific Avenue near 10th Street, I think how awesome it would be to have a block after block of these magnificent trees,” says Sarah Low, executive director of the Tacoma Tree Foundation. “London planetrees can grow to be 75 to 100 feet tall, which is quite large for a street tree. However, when we could consider the context of, say,
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 1.28.20 Après ski is as much a part of any winter experience as price-gouged lift tickets and frozen extremities. Thankfully, the post-slopes experience is no longer defined by shot skis and mulled wine. Craft beer has become a mainstay around the hot tubs and fireplaces. Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 1.28.20 has got your frozen back. These are perfect ice breakers and pain relievers in beer form. Stock up your cooler or cabin fridge with some of these beers and you won’t be disappointed. Or just throw a sixer in the
While sometimes used to indicate exceptional quality, cuvée generally means that the beer is a blend. Blending beers pre-carbonation has been a practice for centuries. Ninteenth-century English pubs would typically have a cask of strong, old ale on hand that they’d use to spike milder bitters. Belgian gueuzes are made the same way — they’re usually blends of old, sour beers and young, sweeter beers. Try a raw, unblended sour straight from the barrel and you’ll see why. Blending finished beers has seen a boost in popularity of late (and is far more complicated than the traditional black and tan
Happy National Chocolate Cake Day! Celebrate National Chocolate Cake Day at Peaks and Pints You’ve done a great job of sticking to that New Year’s resolution. So, it’s time to reward yourself by celebrating National Chocolate Cake Day, Jan. 27, with a sip of rich and moist cocoa goodness. The following chocolate ales are behind glass at Peaks and Pints, with the exception of Old Schoolhouse’s Melipona Stout, which is on draft. The Melipona is the most chocolate beer we have every tasted. Finished with whole Mexican vanilla pods, Ceylon cinnamon and Blue Star Coffee Roasters cold
Dr. John Dolittle, the Englishman who can talk to animals, has been a part of children’s literature for 100 years, ever since English author Hugh Lofting published the first Dolittle novel in 1920. The character has weaved his way through the century in children’s books, film and adaptations, and radio and television series, the latest being Dolittle from director Stephen Gaghan, which screens at 7 p.m. inside the Blue Mouse Theatre down the street from Peaks and Pints in the Proctor District. Robert Downey Jr., freshly released from his career-defining string of performances as Tony Stark, Marvel’s Iron Man, lends
Peaks and Pints Tap List Sunday January 26 2020 includes Top Rung Brewing’s Edge of Darkness CDA. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Sunday January 26 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,
In its quest for world-class lagers, Wayfinder Beer hired award-winning brewmaster Kevin Davey to lead the Way. Unlike most Portland breweries committed entirely to ales, Wayfinder Beer dedicates around half of its beer menu to crisp, refreshing lagers, including pilsners, helles and black lagers. That’s not a shocker. Davey studied brewing science at Chicago’s Siebel Institute and at Germany’s Doemen’s Institute (specializing in German style beers) in Munich before spending three years as lead brewer at Chuckanut Brewing, taking Josh Pfriem’s position who left Bellingham for Hood River’s Full Sail Brewing. Under the tutelage of Brewmaster Will Kemper, the two continued
We celebrate just about every special occasion (i.e. birthdays, really good weeks and sometimes really bad weeks) with a cake. And while Tacoma dessert options are more than plentiful, we’ve somehow exhausted our local options (eating our way through Met Market’s whole cake menu in a few short months) and began thirsting for something new — something worth celebrating, which meant it needed to have craft beer. Happy National Peanut Butter Day! Seriously, it’s today. Skipping traditional desserts we’re celebrating with a beer flight that combines our love of nuts and craft beer. Go nuts over our Craft Beer Crosscut
Peaks and Pints Tap List Thursday January 23 2020 includes Wingman Brewers Peanut Butter Cup Porter. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Thursday January 23 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
Valentine Prefunk: Urban Family Hearts Cupcakes Wine and cheese. Sake and sushi. Urban Family and Peaks & Pints. Beer and … cupcakes? Sometimes true love is right in front of your face. You just need to open the Peaks & Pints door to find it. Valentine Prefunk: Urban Family Hearts Cupcakes will pair Urban Family Brewing’s “Heart” sours with The Vintage Baker cupcakes at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5 inside Peaks & Pints in Tacoma’s Proctor District. Urban Family will spread the love with Heart of Stone Apricot Sour, Briar Heart Boysenberry Sour, and Tropic Heart Passionfruit Sour — enough
According The Oxford Companion to Beer, “the term ‘brown ale’ can easily be confusing, or at least not much more useful than the term “red wine.’” That confusion, however, is part of its allure, as the style leaves brewers plenty of room for interpretation. The brown ale has origins in 17th century England, where it was a name given to a dark-colored, mild ale. The American Brown is a style that home brewers have helped define over the past 30 years. The contemporary American Brown is flavorful, balanced and medium bodied, with more overall character than its early English cousins.
You don’t have to pack a striped tote bag, slather your face with SPF 50, haul a cooler heavy with ice, or even think about flip flops in order to bring the beach home. And Peaks and Pints doesn’t mean the layer of sand that ends up in the crevices of every tile and floorboard after the fact. Enter pineapple beer. Pineapple (Ananas comosus L.) belongs to the family Bromeliaceae and is one of the most important commercial fruits of the world. The pineapples fruits are normally eaten fresh or as fresh pineapple juice. Pineapple fruits are an excellent source
This week’s Tree-dimensional Tacoma tree the monkey puzzle tree at the corner of North 49th and North Baltimore Street, on the edge of Ruston. Photo credit: Kate Swarner Tree-dimensional Tacoma: Monkey Puzzle Tree “Monkey puzzle trees are super cool trees,” explains Sarah Low, executive director of Tacoma Tree Foundation. “One of my favorites is at North 49th and Baltimore, which is on private property so you have to observe it from a little bit of distance. It has an awesome view of the Sound. This particular monkey puzzle serves as a reminder that many urban forest
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 Here at Peaks & Pints, we don’t just serve beer—we curate a liquid pantheon, a cathedral of 650+ bottled and canned deities chilling in quiet reverence while 28 taps (yes, with nitro for the mouthfeel-obsessed mystics) pour forth everything from your favorite double-dry-hopped sermon to cider, wine, cold brew, and kombucha for the heretics and health-conscious among us. And today—oh, today—we summon Zwart Black Star, a deeply brooding old ale
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