Peaks & Pints Prefunk: Ice Lights and Cider 12.5.22

Stop by Peaks & Pints for a three-can flight of marionberry ciders before or after Ice Lights at Sprinker Recreation Center in Spanaway in what we call Peaks & Pints Prefunk: Ice Lights and Cider 12.5.22

Daily through Dec. 31, Sprinker’s ice rink has been transformed into a winter wonderland for the holiday season with ice skating under a snowy-filled sky (indoors) with cascading lights on ice, more than 35,000 lights, ice bumper cars, a 20-foot choreographed holiday tree in the center of the rink, animated displays, holiday photo ops, holiday music, and more.

Peaks & Pints Prefunk

Marionberries and common blackberries (also known as Allegheny blackberries) are both members of the blackberry family. However, while the common blackberry is a species that has been around for thousands of years, the marionberry was developed in Corvallis, Oregon, in 1948 by Dr. George Waldo. A hybrid of two other types of blackberries, the Chehalem and the Olallieberry, the marionberry was then tested in Marion County and the name quickly became associated with the new fruit. The 28 to 33 million pounds of the Oregon-specific fruit each year make them the most common blackberry in the state, and they account for more than half of Oregon’s entire blackberry crop.

19 Acres Marionberry

5.6% ABV

For more than 40 years, Kyle McLennan’s family has grown apples in the Willamette Valley under the Oregon Heritage Farms name. Located between Hillsboro, Beaverton, and Scholls, his family farm has more than 400 acres of land, with 250 acres dedicated exclusively to apples. In 2020, he bought a 19-acre estate just down the road and began building what is now home of 19 Acres Cider Co. Using Oregon marionberries, 19 Acres blends these delicious berries into their semi-dry cider to make a 100 percent natural marionberry cider.

2 Towns Made Marion

6% ABV

In late 2010, Corvallis homebrewers Aaron Sarnoff-Wood and Lee Larsen filled a gap in the college town’s drinking scene — cider. The duo opened 2 Towns Ciderhouse crafting unique ciders brewed with the traditional English and French-style’s tannic apples, Oregon grown, of course. The cidery’s Made Marion marionberry cider is blended with Northwest apples. The nose is expressive dark berry and cherry, with apple and sweetness. The taste follows suit — blackberry-like, tart, and tangy with a medium bodied and low effervescence with a subtly dry finish.

Incline Marionberry Cider

6.5% ABV

Sticking to the Northwest, this Washington-born cider company added berries bred straight out of the Oregon Willamette Valley: marionberries. Pouring a perfect shade of deep purple-ish red, Incline Cider’s Marionberry cider pours a dark purple with an inviting dark fruit nose. Fruit forward with a tart finish that keeps it balanced.

ICE LIGHTS, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday, Dec. 5, Sprinker Recreation Center, 14824 C St. S., Tacoma

PEAKS & PINTS, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., 3816 N. 26th St., Basecamp Proctor, Tacoma

LINK: Peaks & Pints cooler inventory