Every May, Fort George’s 3-Way IPA arrives like the unofficial opening ceremony for Pacific Northwest hop season — not merely a beer release, but a strange annual summit where brewers from different corners of the beer universe gather to construct one temporary citrus cathedral before disappearing back into the fog. What started in 2013 as Fort George Brewery teaming with two breweries on a single collaborative IPA slowly evolved into one of the Northwest’s most beloved beer traditions: rotating partners, escalating hop obsession, wildly different brewery personalities colliding inside the same can, and beer nerds across Oregon and Washington immediately reorganizing their calendars accordingly.
This year’s 3-Way partnership carries a particularly joyful kind of chaos. Fort George anchors the whole operation from Astoria, those river-and-stormcloud alchemists somehow capable of making expressive hop beer feel soulful instead of exhausting. Joining them is Shred Beer Co. out of Rocklin, California — already building cult affection through bright modern IPA and skate-video energy — alongside Spokane’s Uprise Brewing, whose sharp modern haze and polished West Coast IPA continue turning Eastern Washington into a serious hop destination. Sadly, Shred Beer doesn’t currently distribute into Washington, meaning Peaks & Pints can’t pour their standalone beers for the release party. Uprise, however, absolutely made the trip westward, so today’s all-day 2026 3-Way IPA Flight becomes this lovely little Fort George/Uprise crossover episode: Astoria coastal atmosphere colliding beautifully with Spokane citrus geometry somewhere in the middle of Tacoma.
And tonight, Peaks & Pints hosts the second official 2026 3-Way IPA Release Party beginning at 5 p.m., turning Tacoma’s Proctor District into a temporary hop embassy with 11 Fort George beers pouring on tap — including the brand-new 3-Way IPA itself — alongside several beers from Uprise Brewing and brewery swag floating around the room from both collaborators like summer souvenirs for people who prefer their memories served in pint glasses. Which honestly feels exactly right for 3-Way season: breweries sharing tanks, playlists, yeast, mistakes, road stories, fermentation philosophy, and deeply overcomplicated hop opinions while the rest of us stand around happily drinking the evidence.
So today’s Peaks & Pints 2026 3-Way IPA Party Flight runs all day long with farmhouse saison carrying coastal fog, lager built for community, hazy tropical saturation, and razor-clean West Coast IPA humming with resin, stone fruit, and summer momentum. Five beers orbiting the same central idea: good breweries make good beer; great breweries make each other better.
Peaks & Pints 2026 3-Way IPA Party Flight
Fort George Weather Systems
6% ABV | Saison | Astoria, Oregon
Every great beer flight needs at least one beer that arrives carrying sea air, lemon peel, and the vague sense somebody nearby owns too many wool sweaters and surprisingly persuasive opinions about fermentation. Bright citrus zest and soft farmhouse grain move gently across the palate while peppery yeast and faint tartness slowly emerge like fog lifting off the Oregon Coast sometime around noon, the body crisp and lively as delicate herbal notes and rustic dryness keep the saison balanced between refreshment and beautiful little moments of existential drift, finishing airy, windswept, and quietly poetic.
Fort George Lone Fir Lager
4.6% ABV | Texas-Style Lager
Not every beer in a great flight needs to scream through a megaphone made entirely of hops and emotional instability. Lone Fir Lager operates with calmer instincts — soft grain sweetness, fresh bread crust, and faint floral snap gliding effortlessly across the palate with the easy confidence of somebody who already understands the evening lasts longer when at least one person remembers tacos and hydration, the feather-light body staying clean and endlessly drinkable without collapsing into anonymity, lingering crisp, bright, and socially magnetic in the way proper lager always seems to gather strangers into the same conversation by round two.
Uprise 3D Glasses
6.4% ABV | Hazy IPA | Spokane, Washington
Somewhere inside 3D Glasses, a Pacific Northwest sunset apparently achieved sentience and decided beer sounded more fun than astronomy. Pineapple and ripe peach immediately flood the palate before flashes of mixed berry, lime zest, and soft tropical haze begin glowing underneath like neon fruit reflected across rain-slick arcade floors after midnight, Mosaic and BRU-1 building plush juicy saturation while Wai-iti quietly lifts everything with delicate citrus edges that keep the haze buoyant instead of heavy, finishing radiant, dreamlike, and pleasantly reality-adjacent.
Fort George Vibe IPA
6.5% ABV | West Coast IPA
“Vibe” is one of those dangerous little words capable of meaning absolutely everything or absolutely nothing depending entirely on who’s holding the beer and whether incense has entered the situation. Grapefruit oil, ripe mango, and vivid tangerine streak through the palate before sticky resin and sharp green bitterness pull everything into crisp West Coast focus, Simcoe and Mosaic scattering tropical energy in every direction while Krush adds soft citrus depth like sunlight bouncing off river water somewhere outside Astoria city limits, the finish landing dry, electric, and oddly transcendent — less beer than temporary access to a very hoppy radio frequency.
Uprise Bright Side
7% ABV | West Coast IPA
Some West Coast IPAs show up swinging bitterness like a tire iron in a roadside argument. Bright Side prefers precision — grapefruit peel, ripe peach, and flashes of mango carving sharp clean lines across the palate while pine resin and herbal bitterness tighten everything into beautiful geometric clarity, the Citra and Simcoe hops throwing bright tropical sparks against a lean body that stays fast, crisp, and gloriously uncluttered rather than drifting into haze softness, finishing with the exact energy of rolled-down windows, open highway, and absolutely no confirmed plans beyond sunset.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
