Beer Line Blog

Craft Beer Crosscut 7.31.18: A Flight of Raspberry Beer

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Did you know today is National Raspberry Cake Day? No? You’re not alone. Every local baker we contacted was oblivious to the existence of this food holiday. But exist it does. After looking around online, however, the origin of this day is still a mystery to us as well. Even with its dubious history and lack of prominence, National Raspberry Cake Day deserves at least a little attention. Did you know an individual raspberry is made up of about 100 drupelets? Did you know Raspberries contain vitamin B1, vitamin B3, folic acid, magnesium, copper and iron? Peaks and Pints doesn’t

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Peaks and Pints celebrates Tacoma Beer Week 2018

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Peaks and Pints kicks off Tacoma Beer Week 2018 with Two Beers Brewing and Seattle Cider Saturday, Aug. 4. Peaks and Pints celebrates Tacoma Beer Week 2018 Tacoma Beer Week begins Sunday, Aug. 5, kicking off a seven-day celebration of craft beer. While the countywide festival is organized by Zoe Brackney, who founded Tacoma Beer Week five years ago, most of the events associated with the celebration are operated independently, produced by local bottle shops, bars, breweries and restaurants. These include beer-pairing dinners, tasting parties, special beer releases and tap takeovers. Peaks and Pints, the craft

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Peaks and Pints Monday Cider Flight 7.30.18: A Flight of Oregon

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With Washington state’s mammoth apple orchards and the Columbia Gorge’s huge pear groves providing ample supply and new cider-specific apple orchards springing up all over Oregon, the hard cider boom is on. Oregon cider makers now number 57 statewide from only about a dozen five years ago. This ranks Oregon fifth in the country according to the Cider Guide. 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

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.28.18: A Flight of Double IPA

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The first India pale ales originated in Great Britain as a modestly hopped pale ale, with just a little bit more hops flavor than other beer. Then American brewers started using newfangled hops such as Cascade, which Anchor’s Liberty Ale and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale use to great effect, giving the beer big citrus aromas and flavor. Then Lagunitas Brewing founder Tony Magee brewed his Lagunitas IPA in the mid-1990s, invented the West Coast IPA, which is all about the hops. Next came Vinnie Cilurzo — who went on to co-found Russian River Brewing — who brewed the first double IPA at

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Zwart Black Star shines at Peaks and Pints

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For this year’s De Proef Brouwerij’s annual Brewmaster’s Collaboration series, Dirk Naudts partnered with Surly Brewing’s Jerrod Johnson and Ben Smith to craft an old ale with star anise and Brettanomyces, creating a delicious beer that will continue to develop with time. Dip your nose into Zwart Black Star for big, sultry, woody caramel, brown sugar, ripe tree fruit and a hint of tropical Brettanomyces. The Brett is back for the flavor profile with lots of oak, whispers of bourbon, a bit of plum, and dark Belgian fruity malts. Zwart! Zwart Black Star awaits in Peaks and Pints’ cooler.  

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.27.18: A Flight of Breakside Brewery

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In 2010 — with his Siebel Institute education, training in Germany and Belgium, and degree from Yale tucked under his arm — Ben Edmunds opened Breakside Brewery in the quiet Woodlawn neighborhood of Northeast Portland as a restaurant and nano-sized brewery. Breakside expanded to a 3.5-bbl brewhouse while winning their first medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2011 where they have earned medals each year since. In late 2013 the brewery expanded operations to Milwaukie, Oregon with a 30-bbl production brewery. In 2014 Breakside was awarded with the highly coveted Gold Medal for American-style IPA at the Great

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Mix-A-Six: Yes You Can

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Mix-A-Six: Yes You Can You can now enjoy a can The use of beverage cans by craft brewers has grown in leaps and bounds since Oskar Blues Brewery first canned its now iconic Dale’s Pale Ale back in 2002. Here are a few beers in Peaks and Pints’ cooler that have recently appeared in cans. Elysian Snailbones 9.2% No snails were harmed during this Manic IPA Series imperial IPA, but piney hops, a hint of resinous hop oils and dry biscuity malt were boned. Boulder Pulp Fusion 6.5% If the brewery’s flagship Shake is a bit heavy for our hot

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TACOMA PREFUNK THURSDAY, JULY 26 2018: E9 Brewery Holy Diver and Mirrorgloss

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Mirrorgloss TACOMA PREFUNK THURSDAY, JULY 26 2018: E9 Brewery Holy Diver and Mirrorgloss PREFUNK: Belgian strong dark ales are always rich, detailed and strong, but the style is open for interpretation. Trappist versions are generally drier than sweeter, fuller Abbey styles, but similar ingredients and bottle-conditioning set forth some general parameters: Aromas are rife with malty sweetness and floral alcohol with some dried fruit notes, flavors are similar with low bitterness, and colors appear deep amber to copper-brown. E9 Brewery’s Holy Diver Belgian strong dark ale is aged in Syrah barrels straight outta Napa. It’s a

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.25.18: A Flight of Christmas in July

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Right about now is when the heat becomes too much and we begin dreaming of a white Christmas to come and cool us all down. So what better way to mark that there are 23 shopping weeks left until Dec. 25 than with Peaks and Pints Christmas In July. It’s true. We’ve invited Boundary Bay Brewery to slide down our chimney and spread good will and great craft beer to all the good girls and boys, 21 and older of course, while we play holiday music and screen holiday classics on the big screen. Ugly Xmas attire is not recommended,

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.24.18: A Flight of Breakfast Beer

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Beer. It’s what’s for breakfast. We know what some of you are thinking. Beer for breakfast? Who does that? But the true advocate of craft beer knows there is nothing quite like waking up, making scrambled eggs and bacon and cracking open 22 ounces of your favorite brew. In an effort to repeat the magic of the day’s first meal, some genius breweries have injected quintessential breakfast flavors into their beers. Who are we to judge? Enjoy our Craft Beer Crosscut 7.24.18: A Flight of Breakfast Beer. Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier – Urbock 6.5% ABV, 40 IBU One day we hope

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Peaks and Pints Monday Cider Flight 7.23.18: A Flight of Cider

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When English colonists first arrived in North America, they enthusiastically embraced the wide range of wild fruits they found growing, from grapes to berries. Unlike back in England, however, edible apples were tough to find. The colonists quickly got to work on rectifying this situation, and as early as 1623 they were planting cider apples in New England from imported seeds. Apples flourished in the fertile soil and friendly climate, and soon everybody drank cider until the Industrial Revolution. John Adams began his days with a draft of hard cider. Plus, in the absence of money, hard cider became as

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Fancy Pants Sunday: Avery Brewing Twenty Five

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Fancy Pants Sunday: Avery Brewing Twenty Five There are two types of beer drinkers. The first want a smooth, easy-going beer — something that they can drink without pushing their palate too much or leaving much of a flavor in their mouths. The later want a beer that’s going to kick their ass by way of their gastrointestinal track; one that pushes boundaries and makes them re-evaluate what they like, and don’t like, about beer. Yeah, yeah, there are probably other types of beer drinkers in between those two extremes. The point is: there are beers, and entire breweries perhaps,

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.22.18: A Flight of Fruity IPAs

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Look at the flavor and aroma descriptors of many new-wave hops: oranges and grapefruit, papaya and peaches, tangerines and lychee. By doctoring India pale ales with honest-to-goodness produce, brewers can crank up the inherent fruity characteristics, flavors and fragrances that people already love, amped up to 11. It’s also a style that can act as a welcome mat for those less familiar with craft beer’s particularities. Fruited IPAs can help folks understand the liquid waiting inside the keg, can or bottle. Not every drinker understands the difference between Citra and Cascade hops, but slapping “grapefruit” or “orange” on a label

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.21.18: A Flight of Sweet Stout

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If you like your beer sweet, with little bitterness, and maybe some subtle (or not so subtle) hints of coffee and chocolate, you’ll find a perfect companion in a sweet stout. Also called a “milk” or “cream” stout, this beer is a traditional English style. The sweet stout 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 milk stouts. Brewers intensified the dark, chocolaty malt body with lactose, and the sugar in cow’s milk, hence why they’re more often called milk stouts. Brewer’s yeast

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.20.18: A Flight of Great Divide

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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

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TACOMA PREFUNK THURSDAY, JULY 19 2018: Brew Five Three Party and the Avengers

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TACOMA PREFUNK THURSDAY, JULY 19 2018: Brew Five Three Party and the Avengers PREFUNK: The Broadway Center for the Performing Arts’ Brew Five Three: Tacoma’s Beer & Blues Festival continues to be the one-stop check-in for craft beer in the South Sound. Saturday, Aug. 5, you can walk up and down Broadway with a taster glass and introduce yourself to the new craft breweries as well as 30 or so other breweries from around the state, while blues bands encourage you to get their crazy dancing on. At 5 p.m., Peaks and Pints has the pleasure of hosting a crew

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.19.18: A Flight of Colorado

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Today’s Peaks and Pints beer flight, Craft Beer Crosscut 7.19.18: A Flight of Colorado, salutes Colorado craft beer, which happens to rank third nationally in terms of number of craft breweries, 348 (as of 2017). The state has a long history of beer. Brewers started to show up to Colorado in 1858 when gold was discovered in the Rocky Mountains. Many brewers were making small batches and selling it to miners in mining camps and on access roads to the small mining communities popping up across the state. Denver was founded in 1858 in a small saloon on Larimer and

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.18.18: A Flight of Thurston County Beer

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Thurston County’s beer roots run as deep as its famous artesian wells. In 1896 successful Montana brewer Leopold Schmidt opened the Capital Brewery after discovering the famous artesian water was ideal for brewing beer. Originally housed in a stackhouse in Tumwater, and eventually renamed Olympia Brewery, it was a significant player in the region’s sudsy brew movement. The brewery slogged through Prohibition during the early 20th century and ownership changes 50 years later. The brewery closed in 2003 when its parent company shuttered the Tumwater plant and moved the production operation to Irwindale, California. In 1993, Crayne and Mary Horton

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.17.18: A Flight of Matt Swihart

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Matt Swihart and Charlie Devereaux crossed paths while working at Full Sail Brewing in Hood River, Oregon. They became instant friends, chatting up food, beer and music while starring out Full Sail’s window at the beautiful Columbia Gorge. Devereaux didn’t see Swihart climb to assistant brewery as he followed his dreams in 1995. They’d reunited here and there, spit-balling future project over beers and music. In February 2006, Swihart caught glimpse of a “For Lease” sign in one of the few light-industrial-zoned storefronts in downtown Hood River. St. Patrick’s Day 2007, Swihart and Devereaux opened Double Mountain Brewery & Taproom

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Peaks and Pints Monday Cider Flight 7.16.18: A Flight of Pineapple Cider

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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 pine cones). 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

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Fancy Pants Sunday Eric Bordelet NV Poiré Authentique

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Fancy Pants Sunday Eric Bordelet NV Poiré Authentique During the 1980s, Eric Bordelet was considered one of the most influential figures in the Parisian wine scene, as he spent several years at the helm of the wine program at the illustrious Michelin Three Star restaurant of l’Arpège in Paris. However, his native Normandy called him, and he handed over his sommelier duties at l’Arpège and returned to the windswept orchards of Normandy in 1992, desiring to bring his superb palate to bear on the high-powered ciders of the region. Believing that cider and poiré, or perry as it translates to

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.15.18: A Flight of Stone Brewing

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Since Greg Koch and Steve Wagner founded it in 1996, Stone Brewing Co. has been producing an ever-expanding line up of well crafted and often in-your-face beers and interesting collaborations. Stone’s gargoyle mascot watches over each of these beers, attempting to draw in their ideal consumer and to scare off the Keystone-swilling undergrad that stumbled into the display. Don’t let it intimidate you. Known for its bold, flavorful and largely hop-centric beers, Stone has earned a reputation for brewing outstanding, unique beers while maintaining an unwavering commitment to sustainability, business ethics, philanthropy and the art of brewing. Today, Peaks and

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.11.18: A Flight of Southern Washington

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Meriwether Lewis and William Clark concluded their 8,000-mile exploration along Southern Washington, arriving at the West Coast in the autumn of 1805. Interpretive markers trace the explorers’ last 100 miles to the Pacific Ocean. Known for fertile estuaries and the Willapa National Wildlife Reserve, Southwest Washington is characterized by small towns and century-old landmarks. The region is also home to the dramatic Columbia River Gorge, a protected scenic area known for its delicate ecology. The Columbia River curves through Southwestern Washington before the river ends its 1,200-mile journey at the Pacific Ocean. The vibrant city of Vancouver, Washington’s fourth-largest metropolis,

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.10.18: A Flight of Dubbel

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Belgian-style beers are the holy grail of beer-making, according to most brewers. Belgian beers are unique in their fruity, spicy, warming flavors, and over the centuries, the monks of Belgium have perfected their brewing and left an indelible mark on the beer world. At roughly one-fifth the size of Washington state, Belgium has contributed more original beer styles than any other nation. Dubbel? Tripel? Quad? There are several schools of thought regarding the origin of these numerical names. As the tradition of brewing in Belgium emerged in the Middle Ages, the monasteries likely had a single brew house, and one

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TACOMA PREFUNK MONDAY, JULY 9 2018: Blue Mountain Cider Rita Limely and Pulp fiction

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TACOMA PREFUNK MONDAY, JULY 9 2018: Blue Mountain Cider Rita Limely and Pulp fiction PREFUNK: “Wasted away again in Margaritaville. …” You can practically picture Jimmy Buffett, who made it fashionable to fritter away sunny days, spending an idle July afternoon in Tacoma, belly-up to the Peaks and Pints bar. What? Indeed. We have Blue Mountain Cider’s Rita Limely on tap and the cider tastes like a freakin’ margarita. The sweet apple flavor is nicely balanced by the tart, zesty lime juice and a small hint of cinnamon. 5 P.M. PARKWAY RANDALL: When the Parkway Tavern announced tonight’s “Randall” beer

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Peaks and Pints Monday Cider Flight 7.9.18: A Flight of Cider Guidelines

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If brewing beer is a science, then making cider is an art. The difference is in the raw ingredients and how they combine to produce the desired end result. Beer-making finds the raw ingredients fairly uniform in taste, and the brewer in full control of the process. On the other hand, the apples that form the main ingredients of cider making can vary in flavor from year to year due to the weather and other conditions present at the time. Not only do apple crops change from year to year, but the time when apples are actually pressed and used

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.8.18: A Flight of Collaboration

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Collaborations are common in the friendly craft beer world, where like-minded brewers often team up to meld brains over the kettle for a day. Sometimes, brewers journey cross-town or even cross-state for such projects with the results eventually being tapped at both brewers’ home pubs. Typically, whoever owns the collaboration brewing system and sells the beer sets the rules. Also, when professional brewers collaborate with other professional brewers, the conversations lean toward technical details. When professional brewers collaborate with civilians, the brewing room chatter tends to be more about big ideas and work up something possible. Today’s beer flight today

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.7.18: A Flight of Scotch Ale

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Scottish style beers can be a malt lover’s dream beer, with its smooth sweetness and body. The epitome of malty, scotch ales are boiled twice as long as ordinary beer, caramelizing the sugars to build these deep flavors of maple and molasses. Recipes may include peat-smoked malt, which can lend smoky, earthy tones to the aroma and flavor. Scottish ales commonly fall into four general types: Light, Heavy, Export and the Scotch Ale. Historically these distinctions carried labels of the shilling currency, which reflected the price charged per barrel of beer in the 19th century. For example, 60 shilling was

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.6.18: A Flight of Slurpee

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Peaks and Pints has long assumed the slush of the gods, Slurpee, was developed in a lab by world-class scientists trying to determine the closest thing to Zeus’ nectar. In actuality, it was a big ol’ screw-up that led to the world’s greatest frozen treat. The Slurpee was created by accident. In the late-1950s, Omar Knedlik of Kansas City owned an old Dairy Queen whose machinery was always breaking down. When his soda fountain went out, he improvised by putting some bottles in the freezer to stay cool. However, when he popped the top, they were a little frozen and

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Tacoma Beer Week 2018 Barrel Cruise

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From left, New Belgium Brewing Company’s Wood Cellar Director Eric Salazar, Firestone Walker’s live-beer program Barrelworks Director Jeffers Richardson and E9 Brewery’s brewer Donovan Stewart will lecture and taste you on sour beers during the Barrel Cruise, a Tacoma Beer Week 2018 sour beer education session and bus tour Sunday, Aug. 5, sponsored by E9 Brewery, Parkway Tavern and Peaks and Pints. Tacoma Beer Week 2018 Barrel Cruise One of the most exciting developments in beer is that sour beers, once neglected like documentaries in a Blockbuster, started popping up at bars everywhere — on tap.

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.3.18: A Flight of Fourth of July-Themed Beer

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Fourth of July is peak season for the beer industry, according to Nielsen. In fact, the four-week period surrounding July 4 accounts for 8 percent of the beer industry’s overall annual sales. And during the two weeks around the holiday last year, domestic premium beer recorded sales of $648 million, while craft beers took in $248 million. It makes sense. Summer is a perfect time for any light, crisp refreshing beer. Still, doesn’t our nation’s independence deserve better than that? Just like how Halloween-themed beers are dragged to the table each October, Peaks and Pints votes to bring some of

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TACOMA PREFUNK MONDAY, JULY 2 2018: Fremont 2017 The Rusty Nail and Life Of The Party

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TACOMA PREFUNK MONDAY, JULY 2 2018: Fremont 2017 The Rusty Nail and Life Of The Party PREFUNK: Fremont Brewing’s The Rusty Nail begins life as The First Nail, an oatmeal stout of epic proportions with brewer’s licorice, smoked barley, and pale malt and is then aged on cinnamon bark. It becomes the Rusty Nail after spending 15 months in 12-year old bourbon barrels. Peaks and Pints is pouring the 2017 version of The Rusty Nail today. The cinnamon and hot bourbon have mellowed with the chocolate, vanilla, fudge and roasty coffee moving to the forefront. It’s freakin’ delicious. 5 P.M.

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Craft Beer Crosscut 7.2.18: A Flight of Off-Center Your Summer Pack

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Ever been left in dire need of a cooler for your just-purchased craft beer? Dogfish Head has got you covered. The Delaware brewery has released the Off-Center Your Summer Pack, an assortment of canned goodness all wrapped up in a variety 12-pack featuring cans of 60 Minute IPA, SeaQuench Ale, Lupu-Luau IPA and Namaste White. In addition to containing a broad selection of distinct beers, the Off-Center Your Summer Pack converts into a functional cooler with wet-strength paperboard that can hold ice and water for up to six hours — just pop it open and add ice. Each of these 12 packs

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Fancy Pants Sunday: The Bruery White Chocolate

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Fancy Pants Sunday: The Bruery White Chocolate A wheatwine is basically a barelywine with 50 percent or more wheat malt. They’ve become our favorite sipping style, offering just as much sweetness and booze as barleywines, but with lower hop levels. For me, they’re simply the quintessential winter beer, delivering a hefty dose of warming alcohol alongside complex sweet, fruity malts. That’s all fine and dandy, but it’s summer AND the latest installment of Fancy Pants Sunday, a column that champions high ABV, complex and delicious craft beers — and The Bruery’s White Chocolate (14.25%) fits the bill. We have no

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Tacoma Fourth of July Growler Power Hours

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Tacoma Fourth of July Growler Power Hours It’s time to celebrate the anniversary of the United States gaining independence in 1776. To commemorate, Peaks and Pints will celebrate in the only way we know: 20 percent discounted growler fills! Sure, eating and drinking, bouncing around on inflatables, ogling classic cars, watching stunt dogs perform and laying down with everyone and looking at the sky for explosions are awesome, but so are 20 percent discounted growler fills. Peaks and Pints will have limited hours Wednesday, July 4. Stop by 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for a pint, load up a six-pack

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Craft Beer Crosscut 6.30.18: A Flight of Pales

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According to the Brewer’s Association, pale ales are the second most popular style of craft beer, trailing only IPAs. Pale ales originated in the UK in the late 1700s after reliable methods existed to produce pale barley malt, and that meant pale-colored beer. At first, the new pale malt was expensive, so the pale beers were limited to wealthier drinkers. But as pale malt became more affordable, pale-colored ales displaced dark ales in popularity, slowly overtaking porter and stout. Bass Brewery of Burton-upon-Trent, England made pale ales famous, thanks to their local hard water suited for the production of pale

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Craft Beer Crosscut 6.29.18: A Flight of English Hops

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Though English hops comprise only about one percent of the world’s production, they have a dedicated global following. They tend to be grassy, floral, lemony, woodsy, minty, or tea-like, and are generally used in beer styles of English origin or their spin-offs made around the world. Various “Golding” types can be traced back to the 1790s. Fuggle was propagated by Richard Fuggle in 1875. There has been an active hop-breeding program at Wye College in Kent for most of the 20th century, which has led to many recent English varieties: Admiral, Brambling Cross, Brewer’s Gold, Bullion, Challenger, Northern Brewer, Pilgrim

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Craft Beer Crosscut 6.28.18: A Flight of Fremont IPAs

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Long-time environmentalist, community organizer and homebrewer Matt Lincecum brought his bank statement to a well-known real estate developer to lease space to his startup craft brewery in the middle of a recession in the “center of the universe” aka Seattle’s funky Fremont neighborhood. Apparently $10,000 and awesome homebrewed beers CAN get you somewhere. In August 2009, Lincecum kegged his first Fremont Brewing craft beer. Today, Fremont is regarded as one of the best craft breweries in Seattle with distribution throughout the state, as well as Oregon and Idaho. In addition to its reputation for consistent quality and innovation, Fremont Brewing

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Peaks and Pints Craft Beer Cooler Bagging: In Stock June 23, 2018

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Peaks and Pints Craft Beer Cooler Bagging: In Stock June 23, 2018 When hiking our cooler save room in your backpack for these restocks and new craft beers. … DO YOU EVEN ZEST DOUBLE IPA, Crooked Stave: Do You Even Zest?! is a limited-release citrus double IPA “loaded with an immense amount of hops and freshly tested citrus,” the brewery says. “Our team meticulously zests fresh citrus for each and every batch, which begs the question, do you even zest?” 7.5%, 12oz HOP TRIO 3XIPA, Knee Deep Brewing: Sacramento-area Knee Deep Brewing Company recently grabbed a first place medal for

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Craft Beer Crosscut 6.23.18: A Phlight of Phaedra Russell Miller

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At 50 years old, people rarely go to parties anymore, and not because everyone is younger and better-looking than they are (even though they are), but because 50 year olds can’t hear anything anyone is saying. Huh? Can someone turn down the techno? Mostly they nod. Got a Bitcoin theory you’re dying to talk about? Fifty year olds would be the perfect people to tell it to. They can’t tell you you’re crazy if they’re only getting every fourth word. Fifty year olds don’t go to cool restaurants because of throbbing chooka-chooka-unh-unh beats. Beer? Probably not rich, barrel-aged stouts. It’s

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Craft Beer Crosscut 6.22.18: A Flight of Farmhouse Ales

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Consider the saison. History did. During the 19th century, Belgian farmers brewed saisons, or “farmhouse ales,” using the leftover grains from the fall harvest. In fact, not only did farmers decrease leftover grains (and keep busy during the non-growing months) but also livestock ate the spent grain feed, and seasonal workers drank during the hot summer months to stay hydrated. That’s what you call a win-win. And back then, saisons only clocked in at about 3.5% ABV, making it a sessionable, hydrating beer during warm weather. The reason for so much of the funky yeast commonly found in saisons? Farmers

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TACOMA PREFUNK THURSDAY, JUNE 21 2018: Ninkasi Growler Night and Mountain

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TACOMA PREFUNK THURSDAY, JUNE 21 2018: Ninkasi Growler Night and Mountain PREFUNK: June 15, 2006, Ninkasi Brewing Company set out with a single mission: Perpetuate Better Living. Operating under this core purpose, the brewery has grown from a two-man team — Jamie Floyd and Nikos Ridge — to become the 38th largest craft brewery in the United States, operating entirely from its facilities in Eugene, Oregon and employing more than 100 employees. Producing award-winning craft beers, giving back to each community that serves its beers, and garnering national recognition as a top employer are just a few milestones the brewery

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Craft Beer Crosscut 6.21.18: A Flight of Summer Solstice

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The summer solstice is upon us: today is the longest day of 2018 for anyone living north of the equator. If pagan rituals are your thing, this is probably a big moment for you. If not, the solstice is still pretty neat. Technically speaking, the summer solstice occurred at 4 a.m. when the sun was directly over the Tropic of Cancer, or 23.5° north latitude. Of course, Peaks and Pints has summer craft beer on the brain. In case you hadn’t noticed, American craft brewing prides itself in flaunting conventions and ignoring or breaking traditions, enough so that our Craft

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Peaks and Pints Craft Beer Cooler Bagging: In Stock June 20, 2018

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Peaks and Pints Craft Beer Cooler Bagging: In Stock June 20, 2018 When hiking our cooler save room in your backpack for these restocks and new craft beers. … G LOVE’S SPECIAL SAUCE IPA, GoodLife Brewing: In 1994, Philadelphia-based blues/hip-hop artist G. Love scored his biggest mainstream hit with “Cold Beverage.” His band, G. Love & Special Sauce has been touring pretty much nonstop ever since. Last June, that included a set on the lawn at GoodLife Brewing in Bend, Oregon. That, in turn, led to GoodLife’s latest collaboration between the brewery and G. Love himself, to make what the

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