Tacoma Arts Month In the Cooler: Oct. 8

The spice flows tonight. King’s Books celebrates Tacoma’s own Frank Herbert — 105 years since his birth, 60 since Dune first shifted the sands — with costumes, Arrakis cocktails, and Bene Gesserit-level trivia at Proof in Old Town Tacoma. *Photo courtesy of Tacoma.Aroma.Flavor*

Frank Herbert Party! | Tuesday, Oct. 8 | Proof, 6–10 p.m. (21+)

All October long, we at Peaks & Pints are pairing Tacoma Arts Month happenings with beers from our 13-door cooler — because art deserves a pint after the applause, and beer tastes better when it carries a story from the stage, the gallery, or the street.

Tonight, the spice flows. King’s Books raises a glass to Tacoma’s own Frank Herbert — celebrating what would be his 105th birthday and the 60th anniversary of Dune with a full-blown Arrakis soirée at Proof next to Old Town Tacoma Park. Expect spice cocktails, Bene Gesserit costumes, sandworm trivia, and that warm, slightly unhinged energy that only Tacoma fandom can conjure.

And woven through this celebration is a local thread as rich as any sci-fi saga. Erik Hanberg — Metro Parks commissioner, author, and longtime Herbert champion — helped turn Tacoma’s industrial scar into Dune Peninsula, a civic love letter to Herbert’s ecological vision. Years ago, Hanberg even hosted Cocktails Through a Stillsuit: A Toast to Frank Herbert at the former Hilltop Kitchen, the sleek, mezcal-adjacent bar once owned by Chris Keil — who now owns Proof, where tonight’s party unfolds. It’s poetic symmetry: the same creative lineage, the same cocktail alchemy, the same city that refuses to forget its native world-builder.

Cooler Pairing: Saison Dupont
When you return from the desert’s shimmer and the spice-fueled laughter, join us at Peaks & Pints and crack a Saison Dupont — bone-dry, peppery, sun-baked straw in a glass. It’s the beer equivalent of a desert wind: brisk carbonation, farmhouse snap, a touch of spice that nods to melange without tipping into sweetness. In other words, perfect post-Arrakis hydration for plotting your next heist on House Harkonnen.