Mashing-In News: 3 Fonteinen Tasting, Energy Cone 2025
GOOD MORNING, SOUTH PUGET SOUND!
Monday, Sept. 29, 2025 — Bryant Gumbel turns 77 today!
Today’s craft beer news spans continents and styles—from Seattle pouring legendary lambic and Yakima’s hop-fueled rites, to Portland losing a cider mainstay, Asia rewriting beer with tea and durian, and California, Sierra Nevada, and Lithuania all reminding us just how wide the brewing world truly is.
3 Fonteinen Comes to Seattle: Fair Isle Hosts Exclusive Tasting
Fair Isle Brewing in Seattle will host a ticketed lambic and geuze tasting with Christian Gregory of Belgium’s famed 3 Fonteinen on Sunday, October 19, offering VIP and general admission sessions plus limited bottles to-go. (Washington Beer Blog)
Cider Bite Bids Farewell: Portland’s Oldest Cider House to Close Oct. 19
After a decade as Portland’s go-to cider taproom, Cider Bite will close October 19, 2025, marking the end of the city’s oldest remaining cider house amid rising costs, downtown challenges, and shifting cider fortunes. (The New School)
Energy Cone 2025: Single Hill’s Fresh Hop Hymn Returns
Single Hill Brewing’s Energy Cone 2025 is the latest chapter in Yakima’s fresh-hop scripture — a once-a-year, Devo-hatted collaboration of brewers and bottleshops, brewed with just-picked cones and released as a fleeting, resin-soaked hymn to harvest. (Peaks & Pints)
Wicked Weed Faces Backlash After Firing Brewer Over Social Media Posts
Wicked Weed Brewing has drawn backlash after firing brewer Alex Weatherhead over social media posts about the late activist Charlie Kirk, spotlighting tensions between personal expression, corporate image, and at-will employment laws. (Here Florence)
Brian Grossman on 45 Years of Sierra Nevada—and What’s Next
The Full Pint sits down with Sierra Nevada chief brewer Brian Grossman to reflect on 45 years of the brewery’s legacy—Pale Ale, Celebration, Bigfoot—plus how a second destination brewery reshaped the company, the debut of an 8.4-oz canned Pils, and the push to reach new drinkers. (The Full Pint)
Golden State Pints: The Best Breweries in California, Ranked
California’s craft beer scene spans 1,100+ breweries from surf towns to wine country, serving everything from crisp lagers to hop bombs in welcoming taprooms that blend flavor, innovation, and community. (My Bartender)
Rediscovering Balance in the World of Dark Beer
Beyond pastry stouts and boozy novelties, dark beers are being rediscovered for what they truly are—balanced, nuanced, and often surprisingly light, from crisp schwarzbiers to complex Belgian ales. (Esquire)
Asia’s Craft Beer Revolution: From Tea Lagers to Durian Ales
Asia’s brewers are redefining craft with tea, fruits, spices, and bold local flavors—winning medals on the world stage and sparking a new wave of creativity that celebrates regional identity and culinary culture. (All About Beer)
Inside Lithuania’s Keptinis, the World’s Caramelized Oven Beer
Keptinis, Lithuania’s rare “baked beer,” delivers dark, caramel-rich depth by baking the mash in massive brick bread ovens—a farmhouse tradition nearly impossible to replicate outside its homeland and still scarcely brewed today. (Craft Beer & Brewing)
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
