Scientist Brad Benson and foodie Lara Zahaba opened Stoup Brewing in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood in 2013. Washington state’s first female advanced 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. In the summer of 2017, the brewery opened “Upstairs at Stoup,” which was an 800-square-foot expansion of the 3,000-square-foot taproom and brewery to include event space upstairs. The space holds up to 40 people seated and 60 to 70 standing. This year, Stoup expanded into a 6,000-square-foot space
Our beer mugs runneth over here in Tacoma and Pierce County. Tacoma Beer Week 2023, the 10-day showcase of craft breweries and their beers, is an excellent way to experience Tacoma’s bubbling beer culture. The eighth annual edition of Tacoma Beer Week official starts today and continues through Sunday, Aug. 20. Whether you’re making your first visit to a local brewery tasting room, heading out on a craft beer special event, or exploring how beer and food interact, Tacoma Beer Week is the perfect time to dive into the craft beer scene. For a complete listing of Tacoma Beer Week
After farmers David and Brenda Simmons switched from selling their slow-moving culinary grapes to making wine, they eventually added a brewery, taproom, and restaurant to their Columbus, Indiana, farm. Then, in April 2016, their 450 North Brewing released a hazy IPA. Things blew up, in a good way. They rebranded and grew exponentially. Just as they were a pioneer of hazy IPAs, 450 North was also ahead of the smoothie fruited sour game. Their smoothie sours are often brewed with so much fruit puree that they look less like beer than a thick smoothie. These beers can clobber you with
Peaks & Pints celebrates Tacoma Beer Week 2023 with four fun events. Peaks and Pints celebrates Tacoma Beer Week 2023 The eight annual Tacoma Beer Week 2023 runs Aug. 11-20, and this year’s festivities will tantalize the local beer lover. From large-scale events such as Tacoma Arts Live’s Brew Five Three Beer & Music Festival to the Parkway Tavern’s Hoppywood Squares — craft breweries, taprooms, beer bars and restaurants are celebrating grain, hops, water, and yeast in the form of tap takeovers, educational programs, beer and food tastings, films, and unique beer launches. Peaks & Pints
You’ve probably squeezed a cherry into the mouth of a stout bottle, or at least seen others do it. That little twist of cherry turns your chocolate stout into a Black Forest cake. Luckily many brewers these days are infusing cherries into their beers in a produce-aisle range of offerings. Cherries can balance otherwise heavy beers or add extra freshness and flavor to the lighter styles. Cherries have been added to beer for centuries, especially with Belgian lambic styles, which are called krieks. Cherry beer is no longer a throwback to centuries past. North American brewers are adding cherries to their craft,
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 8.8.23 Sidle up to bar for a sip on draft then shop for home. … 54-40 Brewing Fluffy Kittens: Hazy IPA brewed with Simcoe and Calypso hops for tropical fruit, 7.1%\ Away Days Brewing Juicy Jack: Super juicy, dry hopped Pilsner brewed with Ocho and HBC 586 hops for tropical fruit notes, 5.2% Away Days Underground IPA: West Coast IPA brewed with Mosaic, Simcoe, and Citra hops, 6.8% Bale Breaker Brewing Clarity Rarity #11: Hazy IPA brewed with El Dorado, Simcoe, Citra, and Mosaic hop additions for aromas of pineapple, melon, nectarine, pine
In 2008, Nick and Kristen Arzner opened Block 15 Brewing in the 1926 Gazette-Times newspaper building, just blocks away from Oregon State University and its prestigious Fermentation Science program. The Arzners took full advantage of Willamette Valley’s agricultural abundance, which, of course, includes hops. Block 15 built a reputation for first-rate IPAs and other hop-forward ales, rock-solid renditions of classic recipes from around the world and a dazzling variety of Belgian-style brews, including cask-conditioned specialties featuring wild yeasts and exotic flavors. Today, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house flight of Block 15 craft beer that we call Peaks and Pints
The word pineapple in English was first recorded in 1398, when it was originally used to describe the reproductive organs of conifer trees (now termed pinecones). When European explorers discovered this tropical fruit, they called them pineapples (term first recorded in that sense in 1664) because of their resemblance to what is now known as the pinecone. The term pinecone was first recorded in 1694 and was used to replace the original meaning of pineapple. Historians believe that the pineapple originated in Brazil. It was imported to Europe later. It is also believed that Christopher Columbus and his crewmembers were
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 8.6.23 Keep the weekend drive alive with these recent arrivals to the Peaks & Pints cooler. … AleSmith Brewing Party Tricks: West Coast IPA brewed with Strata, El Dorado, and Citra hops for notes of grapefruit, strawberry, and passionfruit, 6.8% Double Mountain Brewery Escape From Indiana: West Coast IPA that showcases the fusion of flavors from both sides of the Columbia River with Thiolized yeast and New Zealand hops for aromas of ripe mango and cantaloupe, strawberry and rhubarb fighting for the right to party, finishing clean and dry with a backhand of
As the dog days of summer crest upon the beer world, a familiar collective roar gathers volume: Oktoberfest beer in August. The party began in October 1810, when a great horse race was organized to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Everyone had so much fun that it was held again, and eventually became an annual event, dubbed “Oktoberfest” in 1872. It has since evolved into a 16-day Munich blowout in late September and early October, when there isn’t a pandemic or World War. The party has evolved into Oktoberfest beers being released in
It feels like every week there’s another quirky beer holiday to remember, from Beer Can Appreciation Day in January to yesterday’s National IPA Day. Today is International Beer Day! Even if it sounds like a recently created holiday, we’re happy to use it as an excuse to build a to-go beer flight. Started in 2007 in Santa Cruz, California, International Beer Day is, as explained by its website, “a day for beer lovers everywhere to raise a toast to our brewers and bartenders, and rejoice in the greatness of beer!” Indeed. Celebrating the passing of another work week? International Beer
There is something you should know about beer: There is a holiday for virtually everything about beer that is celebrated somewhere, somehow, including today’s IPA Day, which gives glory to hops, bittering units, and IPAs. Founded in 2011 on the first Thursday in August, IPA Day is a global celebration of craft beer. It is a universal movement that was created to unite the voices of craft beer enthusiasts, bloggers, and brewers worldwide. IPA Day was originally developed as a social media-based holiday, but has since expanded into a worldwide party, boasting hundreds of IPA-themed events, celebrations and Peaks and
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 8.2.23 Peaks & Pints has more new craft beer arrivals to our massive cooler. Some delicious new liquid has also hit the draft list to enjoy while enjoying our sandwiches, salads, and appetizers. We’re here until 11. Cheers! AleSmith Brewing Clasico: Sublime Mexican Lager rebranded with German and Vienna malts and a subtle hop aroma, 5.2% Chimay Premiere Ale Barrel Fermentation (2023): Blend of Chimay Première fermented in both American and French oak barrels for barrel derived flavor of wood and smoky dubbel, 8.5% Ex Novo Brewing Manager Expectations: Baltic porter with notes
As it does at the beginning of every year, RateBeer, one of the world’s leading resources for beer reviews along with BeerAdvocate and Untapped, unveiled its much-anticipated list of the 100 best breweries in the world. AleSmith Brewing ranks ninth. But for AleSmith, an artisanal brewing company born out of the San Diego craft beer boom in the 1990s, it’s hardly a new accolade. AleSmith has been consistently ranked on RateBeer’s list of best breweries in the world for years. The brewery focuses on Belgian and British brewing styles, barrel-aging, and recently hazy IPAs. AleSmith has grown exponentially over the
What are Mexican lagers? Some say their entire reason for existence is to lull the drinker into an 18-minute vacation. Others claim they were invented to soothe a grass-torn throat after mowing the lawn. Or, maybe even to serve as a crisp contradiction to the 10,000 Taco Tuesdays in Tacoma. It’s still common belief that Mexican-style lagers are simply Vienna-style lagers based on the preferences of early German expats in Mexico. But based on contemporary Mexican lagers, they vary widely in flavor, style, and appearance, and, therefore, so do the American-made Mexican-style lagers that pay homage to them. Because the
Like many brewers in Northern Oregon, Kyle Larsen got his start at Full Sail Brewing. Then, in 2010, he walked across the street to Double Mountain Brewery and became head brewer for two other Full Sail alums — Matt Swihart and Charlie Devereaux — while earning a Masters in Brewing Science and Engineering from Heriot Watt University, a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. After a long stint at Siren Craft Brew in the UK, Larsen returned to the Columbia Gorge to add his talent to Thunder Island Brewing and Trap Door Brewing before he and his wife, Kacie,
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 7.29.23 Peaks & Pints has delicious new beverages for this weekend! Also, plenty of tasty options on draft to enjoy. Grab a pint of Russian River Pliny The Elder or Bale Breaker Skyward IPA and fill up your six-pack with these tasty treats. … Anderson Valley Brewing Fall Hornin’: Pumpkin ale with aromas of caramelized malt and baking bread, seasonal spices, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin, followed by a pleasantly creamy, silky body, sweet caramel flavor, the tang of the spices, and a hint of hops, all wrapped in a round smooth finish, 6%
In the early ’90s, Dusty Trail converted the historic Engine House No. 9 bar into a brewpub at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Pine Street, officially becoming the first microbrewery in Tacoma. Dick Dickens grabbed the Engine House reins in 2002, bringing in head brewer Doug Tiede. Heads turned and medals were hung. In 2011, The X Group added the Engine House to their local restaurant empire, with Shane Johns and Donovan Stewart running the kettles and hanging even more medals, mostly for their sours and saisons. Four years ago, they separated the brewery from the restaurant and opened
It’s National Milk Chocolate Day! Oh, what a day! What a day! What a day! Milk chocolate, you see, is the way chocolate should be consumed. Dark (or real) chocolate is disgusting and bitter and gross on the tongue. It is also pretentious and stupid. People who enjoy high-percentage cocoas are the most annoying people you will ever have the displeasure of meeting. They flock to dark chocolate the same way they do to bacon, pirates, and condescending prattle about how vegetables should always be crisp and barely cooked. The only cure for dark chocolate is, you guessed it, delicious
Founded in 2012 by Bellingham native David Vitt, Kulshan Brewing is one of the fastest-growing breweries in Whatcom County. Just one year after opening, they doubled the size of their brewhouse to 15 barrels to keep up with demand. In 2015, Kulshan opened a second brewery, affectionately named “K2”, across town with a 30-barrel brewhouse. In 2019, Kulshan won the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest Pilsners with their German-Style Pilsner, which will be on tap Thursday night. In the summer of 2021, Kulshan opened Trackside Brewery and Beer Garden, a pilot brewery and seasonal, pop-up beer garden located
At Goose Island, John Laffler worked with one of Chicago beermaking’s cult successes: Bourbon Brand County Stout, an imperial stout with a fearsome 14 percent alcohol content, aged in used bourbon barrels, and once hunted for by fans on their release dates like a Wonka golden ticket, but these days you can find them at 7-11. Laffler left Goose Island and in March 2013 launch his own Off Color Brewing with Dave Bleitner (formerly of Two Brothers) in a factory building on the western edge of Chicago’s Logan Square. In November 2017, Off Color opened their Mouse Trap taproom in
Sean Bowman, Timothy Czarnetzki, and David Powell founded Urban Family Public House in the heart of Old Ballard in January 2012. The partners initially served a range of styles from other breweries, but later devoted a few of their taps to house beers made on a 15-gallon system. A little over two years later, the renamed Urban Family Brewing traded Ballard for Magnolia and upgraded to a 7-barrel brewhouse. Andy Gundel started helping the company with social media and logistics soon thereafter, and in 2016 became a majority owner. In the years since, Urban Family moved back to Ballard into
Despite COVID, higher costs, smoke and fires, international wars, and market interruptions, the Northwest cider industry is still thriving. The Northwest continues to be the nation’s premier apple producer. Oregon cider makers now number 61 statewide from only about a dozen nine years ago ranking Oregon fifth in the country. Oregon’s agricultural underpinnings create a perfect opportunity for close relationships between cider makers and apple orchardists in a state where farm to table and drinking local are deeply held Oregonian values. Half the apples in the United States are grown within 300 miles of Portland. It’s Monday, which means Peaks
Fremont Remainders – Barrel-Aged Cuvee brewed with Fort George Brewery is in the Peaks & Pints cooler. Peaks and Pints Cooler New Beer and Cider July 2023 Peaks and Pints Cooler houses more than 850-plus craft beer and cider cans and bottles, not counting all the bottles of wine on our shelves, including the new choice July 2023 arrivals listed below. Peaks & Pints strives to fulfill customer requests and supply our neighbors with the latest craft beer and cider. If you have questions regarding beer availability or special orders, please contact feedback@peakcandpints.com. Shop our cooler
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 7.23.23 Peaks & Pints has some absolute gems in our cooler for your Sunday adventures. Come enjoy the A/C, sip a pint, and grab some cans to go! We’re here until 11. 🔥🍺🔥 450 North Brewing Alien Orange Rocks Slushy XL: Smoothie sour conditioned on orange, mandarin orange, blood orange, cherry, pineapple, and marshmallow, 5.3% 450 North Breaking Dab XXL: Smoothie sour conditioned on triple peaches and marshmallow, %NA 450 North Dab Collab Slushy XXL: Collaboration with Claim 52, Baa Baa Brewhouse, and Urban South, this fruited sour is brewed with banana, blackberry,
In 2004, after Ron Beatson — principal scientist (Hop Breeding & Genetics) at Plant and Food Research in New Zealand — crossed bred two parent hops. Two years later, those plants produced their first harvest of hops and Hort 4337 was identified for further trials. After another two years of trails, Hort 4337 was tagged as a good potential for the market. Another five years passed before Plant & Food thought the hop had “sufficient merits” to be cloned and put it into replicated trials alongside other selections. There were still more tests for Hort 4337 to pass. First it
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 7.21.23 What’s better than shopping for beer? Shopping for beer while drinking a beer! Swing by Peaks & Pints, grab a beer on draft, and browse our selections! Abomination Brewing Drippy Popsicle Rocket Pop: Fruited smoothie sour with cherry, blueberry, and raspberry that tastes like the half-melted Rocket Pops we all remember, 5.5% Fat Orange Cat Brew Baby Kittens: Hazy IPA with a medley of fresh citrus, mango, pineapple, a hint of pine and invigorating grapefruit, 6.5% Fat Orange Cat Polydactyl Cat: Hazy double IPA brewed with El Dorado, Mosaic and Citra hops
Today isn’t just Friday; it’s Belgian National Day — a celebration that dates back 192 years, to July 21 1831, and the happy moment when Leopold of Saxe-Cobourg swore allegiance to the Belgian constitution and became the first king of a newly forged European country. In Belgium, the anniversary will be marked with wild scenes and general merriment — or, at least, a few beers and maybe a walk in the park — from Antwerp to Zaventem. At Peaks and Pints, the anniversary will be marked by a few extra Belgian beer on tap and a Belgian beer flight we
Tonight, the Peaks & Pints bartenders will pour 20.5-percent cocktails — but the plotline thickens with apple wine, which is essentially apple juice that has gone through the same process as you would making wine. Craftwell Cocktails blends apple wine with real fruit and ingredients to recreate the cocktail experience. The Oregon-based team behind 2 Towns Ciderhouse created Craftwell Cocktails, prioritizing taste above all else. The ready-to-drink Craftwell Cocktails rely on the expertise developed over a dozen years using real fruit to make their cider. The initial launch featured four distinct flavors — Pineapple Margarita, Grapefruit Paloma, Blueberry Cosmo, and
In October 2008, Brian Ewing launched Twelve Percent Imports selling imported beer to New York out of his Toyota Prius. The first beer he imported was Gaverhopke Extra, a 12 percent Belgian ale, thus the name of his distributing company. Ewing began distributing an unusually heavy roster of nomadic brewers and contract brewed beer such as Hoof Hearted from Columbus, Ohio, and Fat Orange Cat Brew Co. from East Hampton, Connecticut. He eventually partnered with Alex Blank to form Twelve Percent Beer Project, a contract brewing facility at State Street Brewing in North Haven, Connecticut. Many of Ewing and Blank
TUESDAY, JULY 18: New craft beer in the Peaks & Pints cooler. Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 7.18.23 Tuesday is an awesome new brews day. Grab a pint and shop Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 7.18.23. Cheers! Block 15 Brewing Ice Knife: West Coast and New England style hybrid IPA brewed with cutting-edge hop technologies, including Co2 extracted Salvo and cryogenically frozen Strata CGX for vibrant factions of sticky and pungent hop characters with a razor-sharp hop showcase of bright citrus peel oils and dense resin, 7% Block 15 Kumo: Dry, Japanese-inspired
Every July 18, locals in Brussels take to the streets for the “Day of Beer,” a raucous parade in honor of their beloved national beverage and Arnold. No, not Schwarzenegger, Palmer, or Matsuo “Arnold” Takahashi, but rather Saint Arnold of Metz, a saint of the Roman Catholic Church and the patron saint of Brewers, as well as Arnold (Arnoul) of Soissons or Arnold or Arnulf of Oudenburg (ca 1040–1087), the patron saint of hop-pickers and Belgian brewers. We honor the Arnolds with five beers from Belgium in today’s in-house beer flight, Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Arnold of Belgium. Arnold
In late 2010, Corvallis homebrewers Aaron Sarnoff-Wood and Lee Larsen filled a gap in the college town’s drinking scene — cider. The duo opened 2 Towns Ciderhouse crafting unique ciders brewed with the traditional English and French-style’s tannic apples, Oregon grown, of course. Named after the cities of Corvallis and Eugene (Larsen’s a Beaver; Sarnoff-Wood a Duck), 2 Towns believes “… that the long history of cidermaking demands respect and deserves to be done right,” states the cidery’s motto. Since it’s Monday, and Peaks & Pints offers a to-go cider flight on this day every week, enjoy Peaks and Pints
Peaks and Pints will pour apple wine based Craftwell Cocktail Thursday, July 20. Craftwell Cocktails Night at Peaks & Pint Thursday, July 20, the Peaks & Pints bartender will write “Cocktail Night” on our outdoor sandwich board. Yes, Peaks & Pints will pour 20.5-percent cocktails — but the plotline thickens with apple wine, which is essentially apple juice that has gone through the same process as you would making wine. Craftwell Cocktails blends apple wine with real fruit and ingredients to recreate the cocktail experience. In 2017, ready-to-drink cocktails became a thing. Then, the pandemic pressure
Why another Fort George Brewery flight so soon? The Astoria, Oregon, brewery just released their Beta 33.1 and a collaboration with Black Raven Brewery. Founded by brewers Jack Harris and Chris Nemlowill, the two combined their brewing expertise from previous Oregon coast gigs at Bill’s Tavern and Astoria Brewing Company to open Fort George Brewery in March 2007. Harris and Nemlowill drove their first 8.5-barrel brewhouse — nicknamed “Sweet Virginia” —from the East Coast and through a tornado to open a small pub in the Fort George Building on Duane Street in Astoria, Oregon. In 2009, they bought almost the
Named after both its founding region in New Zealand and the Sauvignon Blanc grape, Nelson Sauvin is an exciting, distinctive hop varietal that hit the kettles in 2000. Hailing from a small bay on the north coast of the country’s South Island, the hop sports a compact cone shape with a tapered end. Nelson Sauvin hops have vigorous spring growth and can lend either a dominant hop character to a beer or something much more subtle. Aromas and taste range from citrus to mango and gooseberry, which are supplemented by hints of pepper and allspice. Known to impart a cool
During the pandemic, Conrad Andrus left his five-year brewing job at Culmination Brewing to join head brewer Mat Sandoval at Modern Times Beer’s Belmont Fermentorium, a Portland location for the San Diego brewery. After Modern Times in Portland shutdown in February 2022, Andrus and Sandoval opened Living Haus Beer Co. in the shuttered Belmont Fermentorium with former pFriem Family Brewers’ Head Brewer Gavin Lord joining the partnership. The Living Haus trio transformed the space into a sleek, modern brewery and taproom while keeping the building’s character, which dates to the 1930s. Saturday, Living Haus celebrates their first anniversary with special
Major League Baseball’s 2023 Home Run Derby is set for tonight at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park. Headlining the eight-player field is New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso, a two-time Home Run Derby winner (2019 and 2021). Alonso is looking to join Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. as the only three-time champions in Derby history. Also participating in this year’s bracket are Randy Arozarena (Rays), Mookie Betts (Dodgers), Adolis García (Rangers), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays), Luis Robert Jr. (White Sox), Julio Rodríguez (Mariners), and Adley Rutschman (Orioles). In celebration of the 5 p.m. big fly fest, Peaks & Pints presents
The hefeweizen has been around a long time. Some beer historians say it was brewed as far back as the 11th century. In German, hefeweizen (pronounced HEH-feh-vite-zen) means yeast wheat, so called because the beer is traditionally unfiltered, leaving the tiny particles of yeast sediment to turn the golden beer cloudy and turbid. It may be this suggestion of solidity that leads Germans to occasionally refer to hefeweizen as bottled bread. The beer style can have a variety of flavors including clove, vanilla, apple, banana, even bubblegum. They have low amounts of hoppiness. Hefeweizens are made with more than 50
In early October 2022, Two Seattle beer scene veterans opened Bizarre Brewing with the goal of brewing lower ABV beers in a bona fide community space. Derek Brown and Colette Boilini met working at Fremont Brewing in 2014. Boilini has also served at Holy Mountain and both Cloudburst locations. Brown was the first outside brewing hire at Holy Mountain where he went on to lead their respected barrel-aged beer program. Bizarre Brewing recently opened their taproom inside the building Urban Family Brewing occupied in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood before moving to Ballard. Today, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house flight of
Peaks and Pints Tap List Friday, July 7, 2023, includes Fort George 3-Way IPA Hazy Chico on our Western red cedar tap log. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Friday, July 7 2023 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 850 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 hard seltzer as those delights are on tap too. To follow our tap list live
Normally condemned to rot in a mediocre ceramic bowl, the fruit cup has finally been given the respectable and stylish home it deserves — Peaks & Pints 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 made
Peaks and Pints Friendship Is Magic Party at 5 p.m. tonight stars the Bale Breaker Brewing and Sierra Nevada Brewing Frenz IPA friendship collaboration. In addition to enjoying Frenz IPA and other Bale Breaker and Sierra Nevada beers on tap — including a blend from the two breweries — Peaks & Pints will also host friendship bracelet crafts and best friend approved swag. This celebration of friendship benefits GLAAD, a non-profit organization focused on LGBTQ advocacy and cultural change. In celebration of the Bale Breaker and Sierra Nevada Frenz IPA release party, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house beer flight
Now that Structures Brewing has opened their second location, their beer is flowing back into the market. Founder James Alexander wanted to open a second location since opening in 2015 but kept his head down brewing Belgian farmhouse and mixed fermentation beers and hazy IPAs. During the pandemic Chuckanut and pFriem Family Brewers head brewer Bryan Cardwell and longtime friend of Structures has joined the ownership expanding their beer portfolio. In March 2023, Structures opened their second location in the former Chuckanut Brewery, which was taken down to the studs. It’s beautiful with two massive glass garage doors in that
