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
Founded in August 2020 by CEO Caitlin Braam and crafted by Head Cidermaker Monique Tribble, Yonder Cider makes savory, subtly sweet and high ABV ciders in Wenatchee with a taproom in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, which is shared with Bale Breaker Brewing from the Yakima Valley. Crafted using a blend of bittersweet cider apples and juicy dessert apples, Yonder ciders are hardly simple, and never straightforward, but you can always count on them being interesting. “Cidermaking is a playground of the pretty and the ugly, the bitter and the sweet: It’s never a one-note song when done well, says Braam. “Our
Peaks and Pints hosts Bale Breaker Frenz IPA: Sierra Nevada release party Friends Bale Breaker Brewing and Sierra Nevada Brewing collaborated on Frenz IPA, and Peaks & Pints hosts its release party 5-8 p.m. Thursday, July 6. 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. Competition is fierce when it comes to making
Peaks & Pints new beer in stock including Gigantic Brewing and Von Evert Brewing’s Enjoy House! IPA. Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.30.23 The first round of new beers in the Peaks & Pints cooler for your extended weekend fun. … Anchorage Brewing Visitor: Amazing juicy hazy IPA brewed with Nectron hops and Cosmic Punch yeast for big orange, tropical fruit, and emoji heart check-in, 6.4% Anchorage Replaced: Good replacement for sweet pineapple and piney hazy double IPAs brewed with Nectaron, Strata, and Nelson Sauvin hops that don’t fill your mouth with fluffy pillows,
Hops are a perennial vine with the scientific name Humulus lupulus, which means “small wolf,” a reference to its aggressive climbing nature and tendency to take over other nearby plants. There are more than 250 different hop varieties used today. To be a true fan, the appeal of hops must be more than just bitterness. Hops offer a range of flavors and aromas that resemble herbs, pine, tropical fruits like grapefruit and tangerine and more. Citra hops, well, the name says it all. Released in 2008 by Hop Breeding Company of Yakima, Citra adds the trademark blend of juicy citrus
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who like pineapple-and-ham pizza and those who are pitied by the first group. Granted, the idea of eating pizza with pineapple on it sounds a little funky — until you try it. Once you do, the gates of understanding open and the pizza-delivery vehicle drives straight through to the brain’s pleasure center. The same can be said about pineapple flavored craft beer and cider. After the first sip, the gates of understanding open and the beer-delivery vehicle drives straight through to the brain’s pleasure center. Fruit lends a perceived sweetness
It’s Monday, which means Peaks and Pints celebrates the taking of apples and pears and making them alcoholic and drinkable via a cider flight. Today, we focus on Portland, Oregon. While Portland is known for having more breweries than any other city in the world, amazing wines from the nearby Willamette Valley and a host of craft distilleries, the latest beverage trend in town is hard cider. Sure, the city has a penchant for drinking, but maybe also because of Portland’s proximity to some of the world’s best apples that it’s quickly become the place to go for the country’s fastest-growing
For such a geographically small country, Belgium sports quite an impressive number of beer styles — and tasty ones at that. Belgian beers are primarily ales with a heavy emphasis on malts and a lot of fruity yeast flavors. Overall, Belgian beers impress beer enthusiasts with their light body, low bitterness, and yeasty taste that often includes spicy or fruity notes. Belgian beers include pale, golden, and dark ales, farmhouse ales and saisons, Trappist ales like dubbel and tripel, and fruit and sour beers such as lambics and Flanders ales. All are crafted with centuries of brewing history and offer
In 2017, ready-to-drink cocktails became a thing. Then, the pandemic pressure cooker catapulted the segment into overdrive. The Oregon-based team behind 2 Towns Ciderhouse joined in grabbing the steering wheel and pushed hard on the accelerator, releasing Craftwell Cocktails, a line of apple wine-based cocktails made with real fruit. 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 Strawberry Margarita — served in cans. Similar to its canned cocktail
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
Peaks and Pints Tap List Wednesday, June 21, 2023, includes Aslan Brewing’s B Proud Pride IPA on our Proctor Pride Tap. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Wednesday, June 21 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 from your
The summer solstice is upon us: today is the longest day of 2023 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 occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer, or 23.5° north latitude. This will occur at noon. 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
Nearly everyone loves to eat a good strawberry. When strawberries are in season, there is almost nothing as satisfying as walking out into the garden and harvesting a colander full of these sweet, fragrant, and beautiful fruits. But damn you strawberries! You’re only fresh during June and July in Washington state. Then, they become ticking time bombs. Within a day you have withered; in three days you are moldy. Still, your flavor lives on from the freezer, or in hard cider. The fresh taste of strawberries, soft and deep red, backed by mouth-watering sweetness and previous alcohol. Today, Peaks and
Peaks and Pints Tap List Saturday, June 17, 2023, includes Stillwater Wavvy Triangle Hazy Double IPA. Peaks and Pints Tap List: Saturday, June 17 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 from your phone, click here for iPhone and here for Android.
Holy Mountain Brewing is in their final stretch to open a taproom at 7009 Greenwood Ave. N. in Seattle’s Phinney Ridge residential neighborhood. The new location will offer a pet- and kid-friendly spacious environment with sidewalk seating available when weather permits. Expect rotating Holy Mountain taps with proper half liter mugs of lager poured from their side pull tower, housemade hop waters and spritz-inspired drinks, Whitewood Cider and Timber City Ginger pours, and sweeping views of the Puget Sound and Green Lake from the rooftop will be the backdrop for some intimate dinners in the future. Until then, Peaks &
Fat Orange Cat, Hoof Hearted, and Nightmare Brewing return to Peaks & Pints — and they brought friends. Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.16.23 It’s the weekend, and Peaks & Pints has a ton more delicious beverages in our 850+ cooler. We also have plenty of tasty options on draft to enjoy while shopping the cooler. Cheers! Fat Orange Cat Welcome To Harga: New England-style double IPA greeted by copiously amounts of Nelson and Motueka for notes of grass and Sauvignon Blanc grape juice blowing in the breeze, 8.5% Fat Orange Cat Walkabout Tangelo
Stillwater is the brainchild of Baltimore native Brian Strumke, whose past life as an internationally renowned electronica DJ and producer led him down a path to crafting some of the world’s most unique and highest rated beers slapped with haute couture can and bottle labels. A homebrewer turned pro in 2010, nomadic brewer Strumke slapped his Stillwater sticker on many a brewery’s cooler around the world before the pandemic nudged him to place roots at the Talking Cedar Brewery & Distillery in Thurston County, Washington. Today, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house flight of Stillwater beers — a flight we’re
The Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium’s conservation fundraising unit, Drinking For Conservation, hosts an Australian Wildlife benefit at Peaks & Pints tonight. For every draft pull from 6-9 p.m., Peaks will donate 50 cents to the Wildlife Conservation Network Australia. To set the tone, Peaks will tap several beers brewed with Australian hops. Galaxy, Ella, Vic Secret, Enigma, Eclipse, and Topaz and many other Australian grown hops bring wild, tropical, and overwhelming bright, fruity characteristics. Today, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house flight of craft beers brewed with said hops — a flight we call Peaks and Pints Beer Flight:
Craft beer is best fresh. If you drink a fresh hop IPA the day it is bottled or canned, it will be at its peak. Never again will it taste so good. Day by day, by degrees, its lushness will fade. Beer, unlike vinegar and Pop Tarts, is not a fixed food product. So why then do brewers barrel-age beer? Because the barrel’s porous, wood allows for very slow oxidation, which can make darker, malty beers more complex. The barrel’s former resident — the wine or bourbon or whatever that first made its home there — is also important. While
First, today’s weather in Tacoma calls for cloudy skies becoming partly cloudy in the afternoon with temperatures reaching 69 degrees. Second, stouts are better suited than many light-colored beers for pairing with summery foods like charred vegetables and barbecued meats. Think about it: Their earthy flavors and rich, toasted aromas mimic the ones already billowing out from your backyard grill. And stouts benefit from the weather — as the beers warm, their complex, smoky undertones begin to unfurl. Since Fremont Brewing just released their annual The Rusty Nail bourbon barrel-aged stout, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house flight of three
Cider became the most widely consumed alcohol in Northern Europe and Great Britain for a very long time. When the English settled in America, they brought cider apple seeds with them. By the late 1800’s cider production began to decline due several factors including the increased consumption of beer and later, prohibition. Luckily, cider has made a massive revival and is available everywhere in excellent quality and variety … and with other fruit in addition to apples. Once considered a maligned novelty, fruit other than apples is now one of the arenas where cidermakers experiment most, uh, fruitfully. Normally condemned
New beer arrivals in the Peaks & Pints massive cooler. Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.11.23 Hello Sunday. Hello Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.11.23. Aslan Brewing B Proud: A dry, citrusy IPA brewed to benefit Bellingham Pride and Pride month, 6.5% Avery Brewing Island Rascal: Lusciousness of a Belgian-style wheat ale with juicy of passionfruit, 5.4% Bale Breaker Brewing Clarity Rarity #11: A hazy IPA featuring aromas of pineapple, melon, nectarine, pine resin, and citrus from El Dorado, Simcoe, Citra, and Mosaic hop additions, 7.1% Fair Isle Brewing Hanami: Saison steeped
Childhood friends Jim Solberg and Roger Worthington reunited in 2008 to create Indie Hops and reboot Oregon State University’s hop-breeding program with a huge donation. They were determined to do something new and enlisted Shaun Townsend, a PhD in breeding and genetics, to lead the effort. They gave him the mandate of breeding a hop that could flourish in the Willamette Valley, produce a hop with associated with strawberry, passionfruit, grapefruit, bubble gum, sage, and cannabis. Eventually X-331 emerged, which was later named Strata. Today, Peaks & Pints presents an in-house flight of beer brewed with Strata hops — a
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.8.23 It’s Thursday and that means it’s time for fresh delicious new arrivals to the Peaks & Pints cooler. Swing by, grab a pint and shop Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 6.8.23. We’re here until 11. Cheers! Belching Beaver Brewery Death By Blueberry: Wheat ale brewed with fresh blueberries, 4.5% Belching Beaver Fall of Troy: This Mosaic hop laden double IPA is smooth and juicy with notes of orange and vanilla, 8.8% Birrificio Italiano Tipopils: The OG Italian pilsner dry hopped with Spalter Select for special citrusy, lemon-zest touch, 5.2% E9
After being relentlessly hounded by a spamming ice cream marketer — which conjured up horrific mental imagery of biting the bottom of an ice cream cone off and the chocolate ice cream covering the white shag carpet — we are capitulating. We will inform you that today, Wednesday, June 7, is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day. In the spirit of National Chocolate Ice Cream Day – which has yet to be declared an official holiday – Peaks & Pints is playing to your craft beer. Luckily for us craft beer lovers, there are many delicious and unique chocolate beers being
Fort George Brewery 2023 3-way IPA Version Two is brewed with Kölsch yeast (Kaiser German Ale yeast from Imperial Yeast) in purple-ish cans. Version Two kegs will be on tap at Peaks & Pints Friday, June 9. Photo courtesy of Fort George Brewery Fort George hosts Fort George Brewery 3-Way IPA v2 Party “It’s not a Kölsch,” says Fort George Brewery in an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice from the movie, Kindergarten Cop, which was filmed in Fort George’s hometown of Astoria, Oregon. We’ll be back to address that statement. … Peaks & Pints will host a release
Pride is the civil rights movement of our generation. Fifty-three years ago, this summer, New York City bar patrons of many genders, sexualities, and racial identities trapped a group of police officers inside the Stonewall Inn after they shut down the bar in yet another routine raid. Riots continued the following two nights as the LGBTQ community spread word that something unique was happening in Greenwich Village. But whatever happened that night lit a spark that lasted for several days and propelled America’s gay rights — the Gay Liberation Movement – forward. Every June, Pride Month, we celebrate their uprising
The Puget Sound is Washington’s largest saltwater inlet and is connected to the Pacific Ocean via the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Admiralty Inlet. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defines “Northern Puget Sound” as bounded to the north by the international boundary with Canada, and Mukilteo to the south. Peaks & Pints points out these boundaries to define our Monday in-house flight of Northern Puget Sound ciders, which includes Bellingham Cider and Lost Giants Cider Co. in Bellingham, Garden Path in Burlington, and Elemental Hard Cider in Arlington. Drop by Peaks & Pints craft cider and beer bar,
For years, Miller High Life has used the “Champagne of Beers” slogan. Last April in Belgium, that appropriation became impossible to swallow. At the request of the trade body defending the interests of houses and growers of the northeastern French sparkling wine, Belgian customs crushed more than 2,000 cans of Miller High Life advertised as such. The Comité Champagne asked for the destruction of a shipment of 2,352 cans on the grounds that the century-old motto used by the American brewery infringes the protected designation of origin “Champagne.” And while it is kind of funny in its own American-branding, ham-fisted
People worldwide have known how to make cider for thousands of years. Archaeological evidence shows that ancient European and Asian cultures used apples to make a crude version of cider as early as 6500 B.C. The art of cider making improved over the years as people developed a better understanding of the factors that impact cider flavor. During the sixth century, a profession of skillful brewers was established in Europe. These people made beer-like beverages and cider. By the 16th century, Normandy became one of the largest cider-making areas in the world. Experimentation with different types of apples ensued, which
Peaks and Pints celebrates World Cider Day Peaks & Pints presents a World Cider Day celebration Saturday, June 3 at our craft beer and cider bar, bottle shop and restaurant in Tacoma’s Proctor District. We’ll triple our cider taps on our Western red cedar tap log from open to close. People worldwide have known how to make cider for thousands of years. Archaeological evidence shows that ancient European and Asian cultures used apples to make a crude version of cider as early as 6500 B.C. The art of cider making improved over the years as people developed a better understanding
In England, ESBs fall into a category known generically as “bitters” as ESB stands for “extra special bitter.” The English bitter workaday session brew, which is also knows as an English pale ale, has been brewed and enjoyed in the UK for centuries as an alternative to milds and IPAs. English pale ales are richly flavored, medium bodied with residual malt and defining sweetness, earthy, herbal English-variety hop character, and medium to high hop bitterness. The yeast strains used in these beers lend a fruitiness to their aromatics and flavor, referred to as esters. Today, there are three kinds that
Amarillo wasn’t so much developed as it was discovered. In 1990 Virgil Gamache Farms found this strain growing next to a field of Liberty hops. It still took 13 years from discovery for it to be publicly released. Amarillo is a citrus bomb with notes of lemon, orange, and grapefruit thanks to its off the charts Myrcene oil content. It’s amazing on its own but works fantastically with other citrus and tropical hops. If it were socially acceptable to drink beer in the morning, one with Amarillo hops would be the perfect way to start the day. Wake up to
It’s not white. And it’s not necessarily Belgian. But Belgian white beer — witbier in Flemish, bire blanche in French — is undeniably flavorful and refreshing. White beer originated in the eastern part of the province of Brabant, about 25 miles southeast of Brussels. The city of Louvain and the nearby village of Hoegaarden (pronounced “who garden”) were famous for their white beers. The more than 400-year-old style nearly went extinct in the mid-20th century, until Pierre Celis single-handedly revived the witbier in 1965 from his barn in Hoegaarden. Just as German wheat beers are sometimes called weissbier, witbiers are
In 2002, Navy veteran Mike Hinkley opened Green Flash Brewing in Vista, San Diego County, California, with investors Cindy and Matin Blair and Pam and Philip Palisoul. They struggled. The brand’s rise followed the 2004 hiring of a veteran brewer, Chuck Silva, with a portfolio of distinctive recipes, including the West Coast IPA. In 2011, the company left its small Vista brewery for a massive Mira Mesa plant, giving it a seven-fold increase in production capacity. In 2014, Hinkley purchase of Alpine Beer adding several legendary beers, including Nelson and Duet, to his portfolio. In 2015, he opened a barrel-aging
In 2002, after eight batches, Manny Chao and Roger Bialous high-fived in their Seattle backyard after nailing their Manny’s recipe — a pale ale that went on the be Seattle’s beer. Chao was the first employee at Mac & Jack’s Brewing where he learned the craft beer business from washing kegs to selling beer. Chao and Bialous relocated their Georgetown Brewing Company from their garage to the historic Seattle Brewing and Malting Plant, where Rainier Beer was once produced. In 2008, the duo relocated the business to a larger Georgetown neighborhood space keep up with Manny’s demand. Today, Peaks and
Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 5.28.23 Keep the long weekend going with Peaks and Pints New Beer in Stock 5.28.23! Aslan Brewing Disco Lemonade: Berliner weisse with hints of lemon, 4.5% Block 15 Brewing Fresh Flow: Summertime IPA with a soft malt base beneath a tidal wave of exotic tropical and juicy citrus hop varietals, 6.5% Block 15 That’s the Badger: English pub style ESB that balances complex malt notes of toasted nuts and caramel with a mellow hop bitterness and a gentle, spicy hop flavor, 5.4% 450 North Brewing Bug Blaster Slushy XL: Fruited sour with red
Middle Memorial Day Weekend weather forecast calls for 71 degrees and partly cloudy, dipping into the lower 50s tonight. Whether you’re pitching a tent at Ohanapecoch, glamping at Guemes North Homestead, or just hanging out in your backyard, the odds are there will be a fire to sit around after dinner. As you sit around your appropriate blaze, you’ll want something to drink. Peaks & Pints suggests five beers ready for a night of flannel, stories, and glowing embers, or just enjoy at our craft beer and cider bar, bottle shop and restaurant. Either way, Peaks and Pints Beer Flight:
The unofficial start of summer is officially here. As the amuse bouche of the summer season, Memorial Day weekend brings with it all the sweet signs of the warm weather to come in the greater Tacoma area. From barbecues and baseball games to road trips and chill nights around a campfire, there are so many excuses to celebrate over the (much needed) long weekend. While you relax over the next few days, make sure to include a few local sips as well. Peaks and Pints has gathered five Tacoma brewery beers for today’s in-house beer flight. Stop by our craft
Craft beer is best fresh. If you drink a fresh hop IPA the day it is bottled or canned, it will be at its peak. Never again will it taste so good. Day by day, by degrees, its lushness will fade. Beer, unlike vinegar and Pop Tarts, is not a fixed food product. So why then do brewers barrel-age beer? Because it’s porous; wood allows for very slow oxidation, which can make darker, malty beers more complex. Wood can also host microflora, bacteria that add the sourness to wild ales and lambics. The barrel’s former resident — the wine or
Astoria’s Fort George Brewery has brewed 3-Way IPA since 2013, featuring two different craft brewery collaborators every year. This year, Anchorage Brewing from Anchorage, Alaska, and Cellarmaker Brewing from San Francisco, California, shared ideas and techniques with Fort George founder Chris Nemlowill, and after many beta test batches, blind tastings, lab tests, aroma analysis, color checks, last Saturday’s Lupulin Ecstasy Festival in Astoria, and long conversations, what pours from Peaks & Pints’ Western red cedar tap log, as well as what sits in our 850+ cooler, is the first of three 2023 3-Way IPAs. This year, Fort George will offer
The owners of Channel Marker Cider — Zack Lough, Nicole Lounsberry, and Chris Irish — named their Seattle Ballard neighborhood cidery for their mutual love of sailing. Channel markers are nautical navigation aids for mariners. “The name is meaningful to us since we met sailing the Pacific Ocean and find inspiration on and near the water,” the trio state on their website. Lough, a sailor, would ride out a hurricane season in New Zealander by making Sauvignon Blanc at a winery, which sat across the street from a New Zealand cidery. He eventually added cidermaking to his life, which he took pro
