When Peaks & Pints finally swung open its cedar doors on the afternoon of November 1, 2016, craft beer was in full, glorious adolescence — swaggering and restless, still tasting the edge of its own rebellion. Hazy IPAs were the new heresy, pastry stouts the rising indulgence, and bitterness was still a badge of honor. Green Flash and Alpine commanded our taps for that inaugural Treasure Chest takeover, Dogfish Head’s madcap hop experiments ruled the East, and breweries like Firestone Walker, Deschutes, and Stone had become scripture — the durable spines in America’s beer bible. We opened halfway through the day and still poured like a broken hydrant; Tacoma was more than ready.
Now, nine years later, we crack open the past — a flight from our very first cooler, a liquid time capsule of beer’s wild middle age: Belgian mastery, California precision, Oregon balance, East Coast audacity, and one unapologetic snarl from Escondido. Also, hope to see you at our Ninth Anniversary Party at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1.
Peaks & Pints Ninth Anniversary Beer Flight: The Cooler, 2016
Brasserie Dupont Saison Dupont
6.5% ABV | Saison | Tourpes, Belgium
By 2016, Saison Dupont was already canon — a living saint of the farmhouse gospel. Six decades deep into defining rustic grace, it still poured the color of late summer wheat and hummed with pepper, citrus, and wildflower spice. Dry as wit, effervescent as gossip, it reminded drinkers that “farmhouse” was never simple — it was soulful. A legend in motion, as alive today as the day it first danced out of Hainaut’s cobbled fields.
Firestone Walker Pivo Pils
5.3% ABV | German-Style Pilsner | Paso Robles, CA
Only three years old when we opened, Firestone Walker‘s Pivo Pils had already redefined what “light” could mean. Inspired by Italy’s Tipopils and kissed with German Saphir hops, it arrived as a manifesto of precision: bone-dry, floral, and quietly electric. In 2016’s age of hop bombs, Pivo whispered — crisp, elegant, and subversively radical in its restraint.
Deschutes Brewery Black Butte Porter
5.5% ABV | American Porter | Bend, OR
By the time Peaks opened, Deschutes Brewery‘s Black Butte was myth made malt — a 28-year-old masterpiece still teaching that darkness needn’t be heavy. Coffee and chocolate trade verses here, roasted malt purring against a hint of hop. It’s the beer that built Bend’s legend, humming like a jazz standard no one dares to cover.
Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
9% ABV | Imperial IPA | Milton, DE
In 2016, 90 Minute remained the East Coast titan of lupulin excess — the beer that proved hops could be both art and obsession. Dogfish Head’s continuous-hopping contraption was still whispered about like alchemy, dripping pine and citrus into caramel malt reverence. Balanced, intense, and utterly unrepentant, it stood as the apex predator of the IPA world.
Stone Brewing Arrogant Bastard Ale
7.2% ABV | American Strong Ale | Escondido, CA
A brash 20-something by 2016, Stone‘s Arrogant Bastard had already carved its creed into craft beer’s psyche: “You’re probably not worthy.” Caramel malt and hop fire collide in a molten snarl — pine, resin, toffee, and defiance wrapped in one unrelenting pour. It doesn’t ask for approval; it demands respect. If you can handle it, you might just be.
So here’s to the beers that christened our first cooler — and the drinkers who’ve kept it alive ever since. Nine years later, Peaks & Pints still raises a glass to the era that brewed us: bold, curious, gloriously unfiltered, and still tasting like the best kind of beginning.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
