Simcoe was introduced in 2000 by Yakima Chief Ranches as a proprietary hop varietal with strong bitter and aromatic qualities. Little has been released about its parentage, but it has been compared to Cascade. Simcoe isn’t a one-style pony; this variety can do great things in a number of beer styles, and is often used in conjunction with the Cascade, Centennial, Chinook and Citra hop varieties. Although not used much as a bittering hop, many craft brewers favor Simcoe for its unique aroma profile composed of piney, woody, and grapefruit citrus notes mixed with slightly dank and spicy notes of
Tournament of Beer: Northwest Porters First Round April 10 Favorites or underdogs, English or American, Brown or Baltic — it’s all the same in the Tournament of Beer: Northwest Porters. In the end, brewers from Washington, Oregon and Idaho have one chance to soak malted barley in hot water to release the malt sugars, then boil the malt sugar solution with hops for seasoning, cool the solution, add yeast to begin fermentation to create a porter that can take the prize. Sixty-four Northwest porters were selected and seeded by beer enthusiasts in March for the Tournament of Beer: Northwest Porters,
Tournament of Beer: Northwest Porters First Round April 9 Let’s look at malty moments in history. … 4,300 BC – Oldest-known written recipe — a formula for beer — inscribed in clay cuneiform tablet. The Babylonians are producing beer in large quantities with around 20 varieties, including Suck It Sumerian Stout. 500-1000 AD – The first half of the Middle Ages, brewing begins in European monasteries and convents; hops added to process. Hello Bring Out Your Dead Doppelbock! 1490 – Columbus finds Native Americans making beer from corn and tree sap in the Bahamas. First Caribbean bar fight breaks out
Today is National Beer Day, but it’s also Session Beer Day. The annual pseudo-holiday was launched in 2012 by Lew Bryson, a Pennsylvania-based drinks writer who also started The Session Beer Project five years before his easy-drinking holiday. In celebration of Session Beer Day, we present a five-beer sampler of session beers we call Craft Beer Crosscut 4.7.18: A Flight of National Beer Day. What is a session beer? Well, it depends on whom you ask. The term’s precise origins and coinage are fuzzy. Beer experts can’t seem to agree on a specific year, for instance, but consistently point to
Tournament of Beer: Northwest Porters — First Round results Porter. Everyone drinks it. Everyone has a favorite. No other craft beer can inspire the rabid fandom of a true porter devotee. The Pacific Northwest turned out in force to vote in yesterday’s kickoff of the Tournament of Beer: Northwest Porters competition. Phone trees were instigated. Neighbors were harassed. Computer labs were invaded. Our poor little website had to work overtime as droves voted in Round One action. The public picked 64 Northwest porters for the Tournament of Beer, which, as said, kicked off yesterday with two games in the Seattle/King
Friday, April 6, is the day we all celebrate New Beers Eve. This is a real thing. New Beer’s Eve was the night before the first alcoholic beer became legally available after 13 years of prohibition. From 1920 to 1933, no alcoholic beverages were legal in the United States. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had barely been president for a month when he and a new anti-prohibition majority in Congress known as “The Wets” brought back beer. The Cullen-Harrison Act increased allowable alcohol in beer from 0.5% to 3.2%. Prohibition would be completely reversed later that year with ratification of the 21st
Tournament of Beer: Northwest Porters – Let the games begin! Poor Porter. What was once the most popular style of ale in 18th century London, Ireland and the American colonies – beloved by George Washington and a possible business adventure for Thomas Jefferson – the Porter fell on hard times. Roughians Pale Ales, Mild Brown Ales and Stouts shoved beer foam in Porters’ face, eventually taking over Northern European taste buds. In mid-19th century America, German immigrants opened their long mohair coats with larger beers dangled inside, winning the hearts of Blue and Gray, as well as the Gold out
If you are new to the Portland, Oregon area or have been a long time resident it is always fun to explore the beautiful city. The city is divided into four quadrants, Northwest, Southwest, Northeast and Southeast. There is also what is known as the fifth quadrant, North Portland. Peaks and Pints knows it doesn’t make sense to have five quadrants. It’s probably, part of the keep Portland weird movement. The division of the quadrants is easy to distinguish. Burnside is the street that divides North and South and the beautiful Willamette River divides East and West. North Portland is
Since 1997, the Grand Rapids, Michigan brewery, Founders Brewing Company, helped to put the Midwest on the map as a craft beer mecca. With cult favorites such as All Day IPA, Kentucky Breakfast Stout and other sought-after beers, it’s almost incredible that their initial offerings, according to legend, were “well-balanced but unremarkable,” and the brewery was on the verge of bankruptcy. That’s when the Founders team decided to change course, focusing on brewing the beers that got them excited about brewing in the first place: complex, crazy, drop-your-pants kinds of brew. Today, Founders’ philosophy states: “We don’t brew beer for the
Calling all wine freaks! Peaks and Pints Freakshow Flight is on. We have selected Michael David Winery as our wine flight for April, pouring three, 3-ounce glasses of rick, ripe and oaky 2015 Freakshow Cabernet, full-bodied and plush 2015 Petite Petit and dark, dense and thickly tannic Freakshow Red Blend. Do delicious. For five generations, the Phillips has farmed in Lodi, California-self-proclaimed “Zinfandel Capital of the World” — producing wine from century-old vineyards. They’ve long grown wine grapes, among other crops, but founded their winery only in 1984, adding a tasting room to the roadside produce stand they’d built in
Today, we’re hopping on a plane and heading to New Zealand — home of insane landscapes, Lord of the Rings, dedicated rugby fans and, of course, Motueka hops. Named after the town of Motueka on the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, nestled at the shores of the Tasman Bay, Motueka is a relatively new variety — the offspring of an unnamed New Zealand variety and one of our favorite Noble hops, Saaz. Part of the “Hops with a Difference” initiative from New Zealand Hops Limited, Motueka is beloved by brewers for its versatility and distinct characteristics, from both
Peaks and Pints has unveiled the official bracket for its Tournament of Beer: Northwest Porters, a voter-based public tournament seeking to crown the best porter from the Pacific Northwest. Patterned after the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, the Tournament of Beer features 64 porters from Washington, Oregon and Idaho, all seeded by public vote March 1-15, and separated into four geographical regions: Seattle/King County, Washington state, Oregon and Idaho with no more than the top two porters per brewery. A couple breweries had two of their porters voted into this year’s Tournament of Beer. These top 64 vote getters
TACOMA PREFUNK MONDAY, APRIL 2 2018: Stone Buzzer Beater and Duane Mark Band PREFUNK: Stone Brewing co-founder Greg Koch is a platoon captain. He can lead brewers to war. Brewers would gladly die for him. They would run over barbed wire. They would charge into a battery of machine guns. They would limp toward a field of death on his word. In his Buzzer Beater Double IPA, the brewers, once again, went to battle for him. The brewers pressed for him with Mandarina Bavaria and Mosaic providing the juicy orange flavors. They picked and rolled for him using the one-two-three
Fort George Brewery co-owner Jack Harris gets mic’d up before his screen test. Photo courtesy of Fort George Brewery The Goonies is one of the most loved kids’ movies of all time, a tale of young Chunk and Data and Mikey “Rudy” Walsh hunting for One-Eyed Willie’s pirate treasure while being chased by the nefarious Fratelli gang. Peaks and Pints is thrilled to hear The Goonies 2 is headed for the big screen. Check out the press release from Fort George Brewery, where most of the sequel was filmed. [Astoria, Oregon] You’ve heard the buzz for
Fancy Pants Sunday: Perennial Sump Coffee Stout Ah yes, the eternal question that haunts only the most spiritually evolved among us, the ones who sip not just with mouths but with intent: Does the world truly need another Fancy Pants Sunday? To which we say: Does the moon need tides? Does basil need bread? Does your rain-soaked existential despair need a velvet sledgehammer of 10 percent ABV solace poured into a snifter and whispered directly into your soul? Yes. Always yes. Because this is not about logic or restraint or the so-called beer cellar you swear you’re building someday. This
Not every combination of two good things leads to another good thing. Pickles and Mad Dog? Salami and Zima? Skittles and Hot Dog Water? These are a few examples that would make horrible combinations (but great buddy cop team names). Sometimes, though, magic happens — and at the Peaks and Pints Cheesy Flannel Fest, Maître Fromager Kris Blondin has found the sweet spot where beer and cheese put away their differences and come together. If you think wine is the only appropriate pairing for cheese, then let Maître Fromager Kris Blondin, the founder of former downtown Tacoma wine bar Vin
Cloud Person rocks The Valley tonight. TACOMA PREFUNK FRIDAY, MARCH 30 2018: Founders KBS and Cloud Person PREFUNK: In 2002, Founders Brewing Co. wanted to age their Breakfast Stout in bourbon barrels. A call to Jack Daniels with a request to use their barrels was accepted as long as they picked them up. The first run was a success. Something magical happened in the barrel. The recipe needed refinement since the bourbon notes were overwhelming in the beer. The solution was to create an imperial (higher alcohol content) version of Breakfast Stout. The result is Kentucky
Every year at this time, Peaks and Pints’ friend Simon sends out an anxious little email asking his most craft-crazed friends — brewers, homebrewers, us, anyone for whom craft beer is less a casual dalliance and more like lifeblood — to send around their personal lists of favorite craft beer, so we can all discover something new and/or gently mock each others’ weird tastes in lumberjack doom Kölsch beers, South American sour IPAs or Russian imperial funk. And every year, we dive into this venture with an all-consuming fervor while blithely ignoring the obvious fact that any list of this
MORNING FOAM FOR WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28 2018: A seven-taster flight of craft beer news, from the fluffy head all the way to beer foam art. … Bale Breaker Brewing is releasing Fresh off the Farm IPA in cans and kegs throughout Washington April 13 to celebrate its fifth anniversary. Fresh off the Farm IPA debuted at the 2017 Seattle Beer Week. Bale Breaker’s 5th Anniversary Celebration will take place April 13-15 at the brewery’s recently expanded Taproom in Yakima. Flowers of the hop plant provide both bitterness and “hoppy” flavor to beer. Hops are, however, both a water and energy intensive
The South Sound brewing world is being rocked by the news that 26-year-old Western Washington beer distributor Marine View Beverage has been sold to one of the biggest distributors in the country, Portland-based Columbia Distributing, which itself was acquired by private equity firm the Meritage Group in 2013. For Peaks and Pints the news is heartbreaking. Marine View Beverage isn’t just a partner; six of the sales staff are friends. Director of Craft and Imports Pete Giste, Craft Brand Manager Kent Wetzler, Key Account Specialist and Events Coordinator Terry Richardson, On-Premise District Manager Erik Dahlin, Key Account Manager/Craft Brand Manager
TACOMA PREFUNK TUESDAY, MARCH 27 2018: Stone Enjoy By 4.20.18 and NESC Open Mic PREFUNK: In late summer 2012, Stone Brewing blew minds with a new imperial IPA. OK, the Escondido, California brewery brews a lot of imperial IPAs, but this one was light in body, had late-addition hops to the gills, scaled back finishing bitterness and designed to perish within a short window of time. Stone releases its Enjoy By series quarterly, including Enjoy By 4.20.18, which is on tap at Peaks and Pints. It’s one of the better batches with 10 types of hops and some other tricks
Like Bridget Jones’s Baby actress Renee Zellweger and The Hangover hottie Bradley Cooper (dated for a whole TWO years before splitting in 2011), grapefruit and beer may seem an odd pair at first glance. But, it works. Well. Grapefruit has a diverse flavor profile — sweet, tart and bitter all rolled into one. Methods for brewing with grapefruit depend on the brewery, and each has its own take on this tart fruit. Some prefer to put the fruit flavor in the boil, allowing the sugars and sweetness to ferment out to leave a subtle citrus flavor. Others layer by adding
The MVB’s Flying Barleywines are such rascals they left off Jeff Lee from the event poster. Graphic design by Michelle Lemon We all have our own Mount Rushmore of comedy: the TV shows, movies, stand-ups and humor writers that rule Funny Land in our minds like Odin rules Asgard, only without Loki. For Peaks and Pints, that pantheon will always include Marine View Beverage: a prominent beverage distributor serving seven Western Washington counties. Since 2002, owners Fred Bevegni, Mike “BJ” Bjerke and Lance Kahn (who passed Feb. 1, 2017), have grown Marine View Beverage to include
Mandarina Bavaria is often cited as a next generation German varietal being bred to compete with the novel hop varieties being grown in the Pacific Northwest. Mandarina Bavaria is one of three “special flavor hops” that were developed by the Hop Research Institute at Hüll, in Germany’s Bavaria region. In addition to the sweet lady Mandarina, the other two hops are Hallertau Blanc and Huell Melon. Daughter of Cascade and an undisclosed male from the Institute’s breeding program, Mandarina was released to the brewing masses in 2012. It’s extremely limited and in high demand for all kind of beer styles.
TACOMA PREFUNK SATURDAY, MARCH 24 2018: Orval Day and The Disaster Artist PREFUNK: Today is Orval Day — created by Seattle specialty beer importer Merchant du Vin in honor of the famed 1000-plus-year-old Orval Trappist Ale brewed within the walls of Notre Dame d’Orval Monastery. Merchant du Vin aims to donate $1,000,000 of direct benefit to nonprofit MAP International, which provides humanitarian assistance and relief aid to those in need during disasters, and every bottle of Orval sold in March will go toward that goal. Additionally, Peaks and Pints offers a taste of Orval 2016 and 2017 for you to
In a time where American craft beer is more obsessed with hazy IPAs, pastry stouts, and sour ales, it’s refreshing to revisit Belgian-style Abbey and Trappist Ales, which Peaks and Pints will aim our daily beer flight toward Craft Beer Crosscut 3.24.18: A Flight of Trappist Ales. Of the many thousands of beers produced worldwide, only 11 can use the name “Trappist.” Six are made in Belgium, one in the United States, two in Holland, one in Italy, and one in Austria. These beers are all brewed with three criteria to earn the name and mark “Trappist”: The beer must
The Russian Imperial Stout originated in England as an export to the Baltic states and Russia, takes its name from its popularity with the Romanov Imperial Court and inspired Peaks and Pints’ beer flight Craft Beer Crosscut 3.23.18: A Flight of Collusion No Collusion? Russian Imperial Stout. There are tales of Peter the Great, the Russian Tsar who traveled to England in 1689 and said to have fallen in love with strong British porter, which is weird since the style didn’t truly exist for another 30-plus years. Whatever. Peter the Great likely did have some influence on the origination of
Once upon a soot-streaked time, Tacoma was tough—brutal, beautiful, bruised, and unapologetically industrial, the kind of city that smoked cigarettes with its coffee and wore its grit like a badge of honor. Former mayor Harold Moss once compared it to war-torn Beirut, which felt more like a compliment than a warning. And while some of that edge still clings to the bricks and bay air, Tacoma has evolved—grown an artsy heartbeat, a culinary strut, a startup sparkle. But through all its reinventions, through the muraled alleys and skyline tweaks, one sacred constant has remained: Tacoma drinks. We’ve been at it
Despite its name, the barleywine is indeed a beer but at wine strength — ranging as low as 7-percent alcohol by volume in British versions and upwards of 15 percent in American interpretations. Despite its name, barleywines aren’t made with tons of specialty grains, as one might assume. Historically, barleywines are brewed with pale malt, the same malts used for pale ales. Brewers achieve that rich caramel flavor that’s expected in barleywines by extending the length of the boil, which caramelizes the flavors and imparts that deep color. Yeast and hops vary between English-style and American-style barleywines, but either way,
In ancient Europe, brewing was almost exclusively a woman’s role. The medieval times, however, brought about the frequency of brewing in monasteries to accommodate travelers, and as time passed, the number of female brewers dwindled, brewing in the home became rare, and commercial taverns became a predominantly male domain. Today, while women have since shed the label of “alewives,” they are continuing to infiltrate what has since become an XY-dominated scene by owning and running breweries. This year marks the 11th anniversary of the Pink Boots Society, a nonprofit with the mission to encourage the professional advancement of women within
South Sound women in beer brewed Ladies Of The South Sound Pink Boots Collab 2018 at Pacific Brewing Company session IPA March 2, 2018. Photo credit: Pappi Swarner Craft beer is an equal opportunity industry. Because much of it has its roots in the home brew scene, it is not a world dominated by the pasty white European males that long ruled the fermenters. Most likely a woman invented beer. The oldest beer recipe is in The Hymn to Ninkasi, referring to the Sumerian goddess of brewing. Other cultures also attribute beer to a goddess. Brewing
Europeans have been putting beer in wooden vessels for hundreds of years. Before industrialization, beer was fermented in wood, stored and shipped in wood, and poured directly from wood. Beer spoiled often. Life sucked. By the mid-20th century, most breweries had happily traded their temperamental wooden barrels for the reliability and convenience of metal tanks. Then, breweries realized how kind wood can be to beer that’s treated properly. Sure, it’s expensive, and predicting when a batch will be ready is tricky. But, results are rarely disappointing — such as aging beer in wine barrels. Wine barrels induce fruit flavors and
More than 33.3 million U.S. citizens identify their heritage as Irish. That’s not only about 44 percent of the world’s 75 million-strong Irish diaspora, but it’s also more than five times the 6.5 million population of Ireland itself. Also, with apologies to Arthur Guinness, his namesake beer has an audience here in the U.S., but not a large one. There are two main beer styles that we typically think of in connection with the Emerald Isle: dry stout and red ale. When it comes to Irish dry stouts, your natural inclination is likely to order a Guinness. That’s fine. It’s
TACOMA PREFUNK WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14 2018: Block 15 A Nugg Hugg and The Last Jedi PREFUNK: Block 15 Brewing sits heart of downtown Corvallis, only a few blocks from Oregon State University. The brewery’s name hails from Corvallis’ previous incarnation as Marysville and the old plat map location from the old town. In late 2011, homebrewers Nick and Kristen Arzner opened the brewery and restaurant serving beers true-to-style with ingredients imported from different parts of the world, along with all the Willamette Valley produced grains, hops, fruits, herbs and yeast. Block 15 Brewing’s A Nugg Hugg (7%) arrives via the
Craft beer is a movement of equal parts tradition and innovation. Though the many major style categories establish framework in which many beers exist, the beer world includes other distinct styles, flavors and aromas that often depart from traditional brews and carve out their own niche — and they’re just as fun to explore. For example, some brewers use unusual ingredients like fermentable sugars and starches, while others include vegetables as flavor adjuncts. Hybrid beers are produced from a mixture of ingredients and fermentation temperatures to come up with unique flavors and aromas. Hybrid and specialty beers can include everything from
The Animation Show of Shows: The Burden (Min Börda) by Niki Lindroth von Bahr at The Grand Cinema today. TACOMA PREFUNK TUESDAY, MARCH 13 2018: Rooftop Scotch Scotch Scotchity Scotch and Animation Show of Shows PREFUNK: Rooftop Brewing Company approaches Scotch ale with the philosophy “More Peat, Less Sweet.” The Seattle brewery’s Scotch Scotch Scotchity Scotch Ale (7.8%) recipe includes Scottish malt smoked with peat — just like an Islay Scotch — for an amazingly delicious smoky, peat-y finish that is more dry than a typical Scotch malt bomb. Scotch Scotch Scotchity Scotch pours from Peaks
India Pale Ales emerged in the 1700s when British brewers found a market for hoppy beers in India and territories of the British Empire. The American spin on IPAs began to capture widespread appeal in the U.S. by the late 1990s. Those early versions in the craft beer movement often focused on sharp citrus and pine flavors. They were intentionally unbalanced and sometimes unabashedly bitter. More recent trends favor hops with a range of fruity, tropical and juicy flavors resembling orange, tangerine, lemon and sometimes even grape, strawberry and mango. Today, Peaks and Pints presents a flight of old school
Although there’s nothing official about it, it’s traditional to say the March or vernal equinox signals the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. This equinox does provide a hallmark for the sun’s motion in our sky, marking that special moment when the sun crosses the celestial equator going from south to north. In the Northern Hemisphere, we’re enjoying earlier sunrises, later sunsets, softer winds, sprouting plants. The 2018 vernal equinox arrives March 20. In the meantime, let’s enjoy today’s 70-degree weather with a beer flight, Craft Beer Crosscut 3.12.18: A Flight of Sun.
While most beer is brewed with barley, the addition of a percentage of rye in the grain bill can add a welcome layer of aroma and flavor. If you want a master class in rye’s many faces, Rye on Rye from Kansas City, Missouri’s Boulevard Brewing offers a delicious lesson. The base style — a rye beer fermented with Scottish ale yeast—combines two-row malt (standard barley malt) with English crystal and German rye, plus a few other specialty malts sprinkled in like seasoning. To double up on the rye angle, that beer is aged in Templeton Rye whiskey barrels for
Numbers are everywhere in daily life. They have become an indispensable part our world. Can you imagine not having numbers? Look around you. They are everywhere, including the craft beer world. You often see numbers on tap lists and menus that are meant to help explain what a particular beer will be like, including alcohol by volume, or ABV. The standard measurement of the alcohol content of drinks is alcohol by volume, which is given as the volume of ethanol as a percent of the total volume of the drink. If a certain beer is tagged with ABV 14% or
TACOMA PREFUNK THURSDAY, MARCH 8 2018: Best of the West beer and Nate Jackson PREFUNK: The West Coast is dotted with hundreds of craft breweries giving beer lovers a righteous selection of brews from West Coast-style IPAs to sour beers and other groovy styles. Peaks and Pints will host seven of the best West Coast craft breweries (and one cidery) in Columbia Distributing’s portfolio for an outtasight brewers’ night. Expect to drink two craft beers from Ballast Point Brewing, Crux Fermentation Project, Fremont Brewing Co., Georgetown Brewing, Lagunitas Brewing, Rogue Ales, Seattle Cider Co. and Two Beers Brewing Co. 6:30
Since 1978, Zymurgy magazine has been the leading light for amateur brewers in North America and around the world. The magazine features innovative and award-winning recipes, articles on do-it-yourself projects, explanations of brewing science, presentations of brewing techniques and a coveted annual Best Breweries in America survey in which its readers voted on the best breweries in the nation. Last June, the Zymurgy readers’ refined palates readers named Bell’s Brewery of Comstock, Michigan, the number one brewery. Since Bell’s and number three voted brewery Russian River Brewing of Santa Rosa, California, don’t distribute in Washington state, Peaks and Pints thought
TACOMA PREFUNK TUESDAY, MARCH 6 2018: Pelican Beak Bender IPA and The Lowest Pair PREFUNK: Pelican Brewing Co. has added a new IPA to its year-round line-up. Pelican calls its new Beak Bender IPA “a contemporary hop-forward yet astonishingly drinkable IPA. A super clean bitterness and punchy, juicy hop flavor are the hallmarks of this unique beer.” Brewmaster Darron Welch invented “The Hopppinator,” a more productive and sanitary system for dry-hopping beer, introducing much less oxygen — the hop pellets go directly into the clean vessel, then the brewer seals the vessel and purges with CO2. As a result, there
Along the Oregon Coast ominous clouds can blow in at a moment’s notice. These storm systems bring heavy precipitation and high winds across the entire Pacific Northwest seaboard. Often the strongest squalls will be over in a matter of minutes while others can last for days. Monstrous waves, some twice the size of a two-story home, can batter the coast. Knowing exactly when a storm will hit land is very difficult to predict. There are, however, a couple storms pounding Peaks and Pints today, thanks to Pelican Brewing Co. The Pacific City, Oregon brewery’s coastal chaos craft beers are swirling
