You fancy The Lost Abbey Gnoel de Abbey Fancy Pants Sunday: The Lost Abbey Gnoel de Abbey If you’re looking to curl up in front of Peaks and Pints’ fireplace with a delicious beer on an autumn day, we suggest you consider this week’s Fancy Pants Sunday offering: The Lost Abbey Gnoel de Abbey. The Lost Abbey calls its newest seasonal “a winter warmer brewed to be lighter in body while maintaining nuanced notes of oak.” Winter warmers are not within a narrowly defined style; rather, they’re a broad range of beers that offer bold flavors, often with sweet maltiness and
Peaks and Pints Tap List Sunday November 17 2019 includes Avery Brewing’s Old Grumbler old ale. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Sunday November 17 2019 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our tap list live from your phone, click
First things first… SNOW. Snow prompts Peaks and Pints to think that the All Mighty, while he may not shoot craps with the universe as Albert Einstein said, at least has a sense of humor. She makes existence uncertain by conjuring up mountain-level snow every now and then, but at no apparently regular interval, and throws in a few earthquakes, ice storms, floods and the like now and then just to let us know who is boss. Now what? Well, the original downhill pioneers damn near strapped entire tree trunks to their feet, doggedly steering them like great monoliths. Those
Peaks and Pints Tap List Friday November 15 2019 includes Finnriver Cranberry Rosehip. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Friday November 15 2019 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our tap list live from your phone, click here for iPhone
Peaks and Pints is convinced that our co-owner Pappi Swarner’s cat, whose eyes glow in the dark, is actually an extraterrestrial spy, sent here to simply observe, monitor, and report the actions of him back to the Feline Mother Planet from whence he came. I know it sounds odd, but trust us on this one. We can hear him now, just this morning, sending back his findings: “All right, true masters, you sent me down here to live with this joker, and it’s just getting worse all of the time. And I think I’m losing my control. He still keeps
Level Three Alert Everyone knew Level Brewing would be level headed when it opened in July 2017. After all, the (way) Northeast Portland brewery’s three co-founders were well-established in Oregon beer: Jason Barbee is a former Deschutes brewer and Ex Novo head brewer, Shane Watterson is also a former Deschutes brewer and Laurelwood brewmaster, and Geoffrey Phillips is the founder of Bailey’s, the pioneering taproom in downtown Portland. Housed in a former produce market, Level has been brewing award-winning beers, when they’re not kicking it at their massive covered patio in the previous tenant’s greenhouse. Peaks and Pints has brought
Think mountain climbing in Washington state and the mind naturally gravitates to Mount Rainier. No other mountain within the contiguous United States is as extensively glaciated or has as much prominence. Climb for Clean Air is an exclusive mountaineering training and fundraising program designed to give you the training, technical support and guide services you need to summit magnificent mountains safely, including Mt. Rainier. Famous Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. guide Lou Whittaker help create Climb for Clean Air, helping novices reach the top while raising money for the American Lung Association.Tonight, from 6:30-8:30 p.m., the Climb For Clean Air folks will
The tulip poplar tree at Fifth and K in Tacoma’s North Slope neighborhood is Tree-dimensional. Photo credit: Jessica Madsen Tree-dimensional Tacoma: Tulip Poplar “There is a really terrific tulip poplar at the corner of Fifth and K streets,” says Tacoma Tree Foundation Executive Director Sarah Low. “It’s special because the community members who admire the tree protected it from removal about year ago when a street improvement project was set to cut it down. The result of saving the tree led to a different design at the intersection which reduced the amount of impervious surfaces, such
After working for a company building farms in developing countries and then earning a master’s degree in environmental policy, Brian Dunn was flying to interview with an agribusiness company when he decided to scrap those plans and open a brewery instead. He grabbed a loan from the city of Denver to open up in what was then a desolate Ballpark neighborhood, and he would begin brewing at 3 a.m. before heading out to peddle his new product to local liquor stores and bars. The year was 1994. The product was Great Divide Brewing Co. That one-man operation grew as American
Three new beers from Portlandia Attention humorless feminist-bookstore owners, DIY musicians, militant bike riders and even more militant animal lovers! Peaks and Pints received three new beers from Portlandia. … Breakside Brewery FRENCH QUARTER: Inspired by the flavors of New Orleans’s famous Vieux Carré cocktail, French Quarter is a luscious and rich rye wine-style ale. Three types of malted rye form the base of Breakside’s extravagant beer, which then aged 15 months in American brandy barrels. 11.1% Ecliptic Brewing SIXTH ORBIT HAZY PLUM IPA: Celebrating their sixth anniversary, Ecliptic used real plums along with Amarillo, Chinook, Columbus, Citra, Sabro, BRU-1,
In 1993, Adam Avery launches his Avery Brewing Company in a garage off an alley in Boulder, making him one of the pioneers of Colorado’s craft beer scene. At first, consumers were apprehensive when it came to the new tastes Avery introduced to the market place. In 1996, Avery was among the first breweries in Colorado to offer an IPA. Many of the deliveries were returned because the beer tasted too bitter. Pushing the limits in the brewhouse, they began experimenting with barrel aging in 2003 and barrel-aged fanatics throughout the nation seek the results out. Many of the big
Peaks and Pints Tap List Monday November 11 2019 includes Logsdon Eagle Kriek sour blend. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Monday November 11 2019 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our tap list live from your phone, click here
The historical epoch of Armistice Day began with the Nov. 11, 1918, signing of a ceasefire between Germany and the Allied powers of World War I. President Woodrow Wilson initiated it. In the South Sound, we’re reminded of war’s impact more often than people in most other cities. But even so, it’s not often enough. Our freedoms, our heritage and the way of life we enjoy today are made possible because of our military veterans. Today’s 100th anniversary of Veterans Day honors all of America’s veterans for their patriotism, service and sacrifice. And for their families, there is no better
In case you haven’t heard, the Seattle Sounders will play Toronto FC in the Major League Soccer championship game, the MLS Cup, today — the third time in four seasons, and people are excited. These two clubs have consistently ranked among the top performers in both the regular season and postseason. They have also collected multiple trophies in domestic cup competitions — Seattle in the U.S. Open Cup and Toronto in the Canadian Championship — and they have regularly represented MLS on the international stage in the Concacaf Champions League. In the all-time series between these two teams, Seattle has
Craft Beer Crosscut 11.9.19: Flight of Beer Monsters pulls together all the science-fiction brewing goodness available to give adults a mad monster party for the ages. This craft beer flight takes place at Peaks and Pints where five of the globe’s beer monsters are kept cold at the craft beer bar, bottle shop and restaurant in Tacoma’s Proctor District. The flight opens with a narrator introducing the five monster beers and shows how Peaks and Pints keeps them restrained on the tree crosscut flight board without harming them. But the world’s peace suddenly faces a dangerous threat: Block 15 Brewing’s
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 11.9.19 What better accessory in the long bitter watches of the winter nightlife than scarves? They’re not just for warmth or declaring your Hogwart’s house allegiance anymore; now they’re a fashion statement. Peaks and Pints sees people wearing them outdoors and inside shopping our cooler, with or without jackets. Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 11.9.19 is definitely scarf worthy. … Aslan Brewing HOOK’S STASH: In collaboration with Mt. Baker Ski Area Aslan Brewing brewed a beer to celebrate the life of former Pro Patrol and Mt. Baker legend, Randy Hook. This
The conical, green flowers of the Humulus lupulus species provide not only a vast array of flavors for beers but also create distinctive aromas, varying levels of bitterness and lend a hand with preservation duties. Until recently you would struggle to find anyone who could name the hops used in their favorite beer, but these days the varieties take center stage, emblazoned across beer labels, allowing discerning drinkers to use them as a guide to what they should order next. Often brewed as occasional “specials”, single hop beers help spread the knowledge of each individual variety and demonstrate a brewer’s
In 2010, Boneyard Beer was started in an old auto shop tucked away in the backstreets of Bend, Oregon’s historical district. Without any outside investors or major bank loans, Boneyard’s inception was unconventional to say the least. After decades in the brewing industry, owner Tony Lawrence built up a “boneyard” of old equipment he collected from 13 different breweries around the country. Alongside co-founders, Clay and Melodee Storey, this second-hand brewing equipment was pieced together to brew the first batch of Boneyard Beer in May 2010. In July 2018, Boneyard opened a new taproom at 1955 NE Division Street in
Black pepper, one of the most ubiquitous ingredients in existence, is what usually comes to mind when people think of peppercorns. But there are several other kinds, all drupes (fruit) from the same species of flowering vine. Where black peppercorns are the unripened seeds of the pepper plant, boiled and dried, green ones, also unripened, are either brined or dried without being cooked first. Red peppercorns are ripened and usually preserved in brine, but sometimes dried; white ones, also ripened, have their red outer coating rubbed off before being dried. Pink and Sichuan peppercorns come from different plant families altogether.
Election Night Stouts Tacoma Can you hear it? That’s the sweet sweet sound of silence on the horizon. We’ve finally arrived at Election Day, which means by tomorrow the barrage of political ads will be all but a distant memory. Until then, we thought we’d help make election day a little more satisfying with new roasty, boozy imperial stouts: Reuben’s Brews BBIS: The majority of the barrels in this year’s blend have been aging for about one year, and the addition of some two year-aged BBIS into the blend adds layers of complexity. 14% Port Brewing Santa’s Little Helper: This
Peaks and Pints Tap List Tuesday November 5 2019 includes Reuben’s Brews Life On Mars IIPA Peaks and Pints Tap List: Tuesday November 5 2019 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our tap list live from your phone, click
It has been 413 years since Guy Fawkes, an English conspirator against the crown, was arrested and executed for his part in an attempt to blow up the Parliamentary branch called the House of Lords while the young King James was inside it. In 1605, England had just laid to rest one of its most famed monarchs — Queen Elizabeth I, popular, never married, and protestant. Her father, King Henry VIII, established the Anglican Church of England to break with Catholicism — declaring himself head of the newly minted religion. Elizabeth left no heirs, so instead the crown passed to
Tree-dimensional Tacoma: Sugar Maple Walt Whitman wrote in his preface to Leaves of Grass, “Whatever satisfies the soul is truth.” Peaks and Pints’ soul-satisfying spots can be found under trees. Inspired by our house beer, Kulshan Brewing Tree-dimensional IPA, Peaks and Pints branches out for a weekly look at terrific trees of Tacoma, in conjunction with our friends at Tacoma Tree Foundation. The TTF recommends we kick the series off this week with Tree-dimensional Tacoma: Sugar Maple. Sure, it’s lost all its leaves, and probably feeling really naked, but the sugar maple in Tacoma’s Wright Park is definitely Tree-dimensional material.
But as any boozer who’s been awake in 2019 knows, hard seltzer has risen from the sea like a terrifying, gluten-free Kraken, throwing its dark, lower-calorie shadow across craft-beer’s hazy fleet of ships. Hard-seltzer sales, led by White Claw, have grown by more than 200 percent over the past year, according to Nielsen data, and the $550 million category could grow to $2.5 billion by 2021, according to MarketInsider. Peaks and Pints carries a few hard seltzers, as well as mead and hard kombucha. We thought it would be fun to add a little excitement to our weekly Monday cider
Peaks and Pints Tap List Sunday November 3 2019 includes Decadent Ales S’mores IIPA. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Sunday November 3 2019 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our tap list live from your phone, click here for
You fancy Ommegang My Watch Has Ended Fancy Pants Sunday: Ommegang My Watch Has Ended You’ve seen them. A giant of a man wearing a Wun Wun mask weeping at a bus stop bench. Your neighbor gardening with a Khal Draogo foam Arakh sickle. A proud parent cheering at Stadium Bowl donning The Hound helmet. Thronies don’t know what to do with themselves since the Games of Thrones finale. “What do I do now?” asks the barista making White Walker face foam art. If only there were a closure beer. If only. Over the last few
Trees provide an indispensable service. They block the sun, color the landscape, and give us something we can truly look up to. And the extra oxygen? Yes, trees filter countless pounds of CO2 though all those sun-dappled branches to make us healthier. And happier. Because of pine trees. We mean, clearly. They also stand silently as physical corroboration of the passage of time, tangible proof that the world existed before we happened to arrive at a given spot. Sadly, many millions live nowhere near a good, healthy clump of trees, much less a deep, funky forest that, within minutes of
Peaks and Pints Tap List Saturday November 2 2019 includes Seattle Cider Punch Bowl. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Saturday November 2 2019 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our tap list live from your phone, click here for
Peaks and Pints has hosted 987 different daily craft beer and cider flights since we opened on this date in history in 2016. That’s 686 more than the number of forks we accidentally dumped into our trash bin. The number of times our electronic menu screens malfunctioned is 799 times less than the number of flights we served. Our chalk “A” frame sign sat outside overnight 950 less days — two never returning inside. Xfinity Internet had to be reset 430 more times than flights served, including 640 days less without Outside TV. A playing card has been stuck on
Peaks and Pints Tap List Thursday October 31 2019 includes Perennial Fantastic Voyage pastry stout Peaks and Pints Tap List: Thursday October 31 2019 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our tap list live from your phone, click here
Healthy, active, stubborn, funny, Tacoman 12-year-old Ella has an ailing heart. After weeks and a steady line of shoulder shrugs by medical professionals, an echocardiogram revealed she had severe heart failure, dilated cardiomyopathy. She had been dying due to a lack of blood flow to her internal organs, which all showed signs of damage. Mary Bridge and Seattle Children’s Hospital summoned their best, holding her Ella’s hand through procedures and surgeries many adults couldn’t handle. Recently, Ella underwent a third heart surgery. Her parents have partnered with the non-profit Children’s Organ Transplant Association, or COTA — experts at raising tax
Hops have long defined life at B.T. Loftus Ranches in the Yakima Valley. Back in 1932, Kevin Smith and Meghann Quinn’s great-grandparents founded the family hop farm that’s now run by their older brother, Patrick. Meghann and her husband, Kevin Quinn, and younger brother were keen homebrewers. Wouldn’t it be natural to start a brewery on the farm? In 2013, the trio took down three acres of the farm’s Field 41 and built Bale Breaker Brewing Company, which is surrounded by fields of hops. Bale Breaker has grown to become the fourth largest independent craft brewery in Washington. With a
Double Mountain Brewery Cool Camp IPA makes it to Mt. Rainier’s Camp Muir. Photo by Bryan Johnson Ron Swarner Cool Camp: Camp Muir “Nothing like a little lighting to pick up the pace,” said Win Whitaker as he rushed us up Mount Rainier on a Wednesday afternoon. I nervously laughed at the accomplished guide’s remark as a thundercloud hovered above my fellow American Lung Association Climb For Clean Air climbers and RMI Expeditions guides, buzzing our ice axes and rattling our thoughts. The Whittaker and his team lit a fire under our butts, most likely setting
Peaks and Pints Monday Cider Flight And A Movie: Ad Astra The film Ad Astra is set in the “near future: a time of both hope and conflict.” Brad Pitt plays Major Roy McBride, an astronaut and scientist working on the international space antenna. After a series of unexplained electrical surges nearly takes his life, top government officials confide in him that similar surges in the future may threaten all life on Earth. The surges seem to be caused by an uncontrolled release of antimatter originating from the remains of a mission to Neptune. That expedition, which was tasked with
You fancy Sierra Nevada Tequila Barrel Aged Otra Vez Fancy Pants Sunday: Sierra Nevada Tequila Barrel Aged Otra Vez Craft brewers find the good in wood. Because it’s porous, wood allows for very slow oxidation, which can make darker, malty beers more complex. Beer aged in barrels will absorb some of the various chemical compounds present in the wood, such as lactones (floral aromas and flavors), phenolic aldehydes (vanilla), and the simple sugars (caramel). When the beer is first in the barrel, it will begin to absorb very strong caramel and vanilla flavors, as well as
If you visit peaksandpints.com, you know we observe pseudo-holidays and exploit them into beer flights. But today — well, today is National American Beer Day, an occasion we’ll let serve as an excuse to enjoy made-in-the-homeland brews. Not that we really need one. Last year, as the Brewers Association reports, the number of breweries in this country was at its highest since the 19th century — and many of those 7,450-plus establishments turned out some pretty innovative, complex, and downright delicious stuff. Beer was once the unfussy option, the tonic of the masses. On Cheers, Norm simply orders beer —
Peaks and Pints collaborated with Kulshan Brewing on our third anniversary beer, Tree-dimensional IPA. Kulshan brews Peaks and Pints Tree-dimensional IPA “Ski patrol, mountain biker, wilderness poet, Army Ranger, kayaker …” one by one Peaks and Pints bartender and former ice skater Amy Kirk pointed at guests nestled against our wooden bar as if she was pointing to judges in the movie, “Flashdance.” The avid snowboarder received a hip bump as fellow Peaks bartender and weekly backcountry hiker Erin Miller stepped in pointing, “hiker, hiker and HIKER!” “You’re very tree-dimensional Peaks and Pints!” shouted Katie Johnson,
Peaks and Pints Tap List Saturday October 26 2019 includes the Ecliptic Brewing and Russian River Brewing collaboration, Belgian Style Hoppy Golden Ale. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Saturday October 26 2019 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our
“Milk is for babies! When you grow up you have to drink beer.” So declares Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1977 film, “Pumping Iron,” (Seriously, it’s a classic. If you haven’t seen it, add it to your Netflix.) But the decision of whether to drink milk or beer now seems as anachronistic as Lou Ferrigno. The craft beer boom has injected new life into the milk stout, an English classic that withered with the advent of World War II and the milk rationing that followed. Milk stouts, trendy as they may be, are definitely here to stay. Also called “sweet stouts,”
Dr. Hoppy Dankenstein has isolated himself from his family, friends and colleagues. Unknown to them, Dankenstein has been experimenting with the stickiest of the icky, the dankest of the dank, the bombest of the bomb-diggity. Dankenstein scoured the planet for face-meltingly awesome hoppy beers, with the goal of showcasing five of them at Peaks and Pints today. Upon learning Dankenstein’s plans, his friends, family and colleagues believe that he’s treading in dangerous territory in creating what they believe is a flight of weed. Dankenstein argues that, yes, “dank” refers to beers that “smell like good weed” but dank also refers
In 1996, Jeff Schons and Mary Jones founded English-focused Pelican Brewing Company in Pacific City — Oregon’s only oceanfront brewpub. Celebrating its 21st year, the brewing company has created tasty treats such as Kiwanda Cream Ale, India Pelican Ale, MacPelican’s Scottish Ale, Tsunami Stout and Doryman’s Dark. Founding brewmaster Darron Welch and Pelican have won more than 300 awards including the 2014 World Beer Cup Champion Small Brewing Company and Brewmaster of the Year. Today, Peaks and Pints offers a five Pelican beer flight we call Craft Beer Crosscut 10.24.19: Flight of Pelican Brewing. Craft Beer Crosscut 10.24.19: Flight of
Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 10.23.19 includes Standard Brewing’s Faithful And True oak aged saison. Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock 10.23.19 GOOD NEWS: Our six-pack carriers have returned! No more stacking in four-packs. No more juggling to your car. Just place these six new arrivals in the Peaks and Pints New Beers In Stock: 10.23.19 six-pack and confidently walk away. Then, bring back the empty carrier and re-fill with tomorrow’s new beers. It’s so simple. 54-40 Brewing SHARK DESTROYER: “I’m going to go on an overnight drunk, and in 10 days I’m
In 2001, Doug Ellenberger packed up his 1987 Volvo Station Wagon and made the haul from Indiana to Hood River, Oregon, following his love of craft beer and mountainous terrain. He brought with him a few duffel bags belongings and a load of knowledge from his time brewing for Lafayette Brewing Co. He landed himself a job at Full Sail Brewing, honing his craft. In 2002, Christine McAleer left her life and career as a social worker in West Virginia to pursue her passion for the outdoors, landing her in the great Columbia River Gorge. One seasonal gig after the
Peaks and Pints Tap List Tuesday October 22 2019 includes Rogue Batsquatch IPA. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Tuesday October 22 2019 Peaks and Pints houses a mind-boggling array of suds: some 650 or so bottled and canned in our cooler, with another 28 on tap, including nitro lines. While craft beer remains our foundation, you don’t have to be embarrassed for ordering artisan craft cider, wine, cold brewed coffee and kombucha as those delights are on tap too at Peaks and Pints. To follow our tap list live from your phone, click here for iPhone
