MORNING FOAM FOR THURSDAY, FEB. 23 2017: A seven-taster flight of craft beer news, from the fluffy head all the way to the bottom gallery. …
Ah, the beer gods giveth—and this week, they giveth maps, yeast genomes, Star Wars pints, and a liquor-licensed Amazon future where groceries (and maybe growlers?) are summoned to your chariot with the click of a mouse. In South Seattle, a newly anointed South Seattle Brewery Coalition wants you to break your monogamous brewery habits and “be disloyal” with the help of a gorgeously inked beer map, guiding you through 14 glorious stops of cask pours, gluten-free pours, and everything fermentably in-between. It coincides—divinely—with the Washington Beer Open House on Feb. 25, and yes, maps will be available at all participating breweries because good beer deserves direction. Meanwhile, NASA found seven Earth-ish planets (cue beer-on-Mars jokes), White Labs just sequenced 157 strains of yeast like mad scientists of malt, and Ecliptic and Gigantic Brewing dropped Star Destroyer, an Imperial Schwarzbier from the dark side. Oh, and Instagram just got gallery mode—so now you can finally post all ten angles of your hazy IPA in one swipeable tribute. Welcome to the new multi-dimensional, hyper-hopped galaxy. Drink accordingly.
The newly formed South Seattle Brewery Coalition (SSBC) is encouraging visitors and locals alike to “be disloyal” with the help of a new map highlighting South Seattle’s vibrant craft beer scene. Featuring 14 distinctive breweries – offering the city’s most diverse range of beer from cask to gluten free and everything in between – the new map recommends three easy-to-navigate routes through the historic brewing district’s unique territory. Coinciding with Washington Beer Commission’s Brewery Open House, SSBC maps will be available for pickup at all participating breweries beginning Saturday, Feb. 25.
More than 40 breweries will participate in this year’s Washington Cask Beer Festival, the state’s largest festival dedicated to cask-conditioned beer. The event takes place Saturday, March 25 at Seattle Center. There are two sessions (afternoon and evening) and they both usually sell out. For a list of participating breweries and tickets, click here.
Amazon has applied for a liquor license for its drive-through grocery store in Seattle. Plans for the 9,700 square-foot building describe it as “a new model of grocery shopping.” Customers place their orders online, then drive by during a specific 15-minute to two-hour window and have their groceries delivered to their cars.
Those who follow science news will know that NASA has announced the discovery seven Earth-size planets orbiting a star a mere 40 million light years away—in our backyard, astronomically speaking. Scientists say these planets all have the potential for water, and thus life. What’s less obvious in news reports is beer’s small role in helping to fuel the discovery.
As part of an ongoing collaboration with several genomics groups that took nearly three years, the White Labs team has painstakingly sequenced — or, in layman’s terms, mapped — the genetic information contained in 157 different strains of the brewer’s ale yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Ecliptic Brewing has a new collaboration with Gigantic Brewing in Star Destroyer. The latest in Ecliptic’s Cosmic Collaboration series, brewed in the style of an Imperial Schwarzbier and with a nod to Star Wars, Star Destroyer is cleverly styled as an Imperial Darkside Lager.
Instagram will allow more than one picture per post. Starting… whenever it rolls out, you’ll be able to share as many as 10 photos or videos in a swipeable gallery.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
