Tacoma Beer Week 2026: Peaks & Pints Basecamp

Tacoma Beer Week has never really been about chasing the rarest pour or checking off a list of stops. It’s about movement — the quiet hum of people drifting between neighborhoods, the clink of glasses in rooms that feel familiar, and the shared understanding that Tacoma’s beer culture is built less on hype than on relationships. What began in 2014 as a small volunteer-driven celebration has grown into a ten-day snapshot of the South Sound’s creativity, collaboration, and grit.

From February 27 through March 8, nearly 50 events will ripple across Tacoma and surrounding communities — curated tastings, collaborative releases, tap takeovers, trivia nights, rock shows, charity drives, and moments that exist somewhere between festival and family reunion. Under the guidance of Tacoma Beer Week director Matt McLaren and a dedicated crew of volunteers, the annual celebration continues to evolve into something larger than beer alone: a living portrait of Tacoma’s independent spirit.

This year’s official kickoff arrives with Erica’s Mangonada Sour at Odd Otter Brewing, a collaboration celebrating Tacoma’s cultural diversity through one of Mexico’s most iconic dessert flavors. Elsewhere, events range from the Pro-Am IPA competition at Parkway Tavern to community-focused initiatives like Tacoma Against Hunger food drives, the Heidelberg Derby at 7 Seas Brewing, and the returning “Um…Actually” live game show at the historic Blue Mouse Theatre.

It’s a lot, which is exactly why Peaks & Pints created Tacoma Beer Week Basecamp.

The idea behind Basecamp is deceptively simple: if Tacoma Beer Week is a map filled with trailheads, Peaks & Pints becomes the place where you pause before choosing your route. Each afternoon and evening, Basecamp functions as both a destination and a prefunk — a moment to gather, experience something meaningful in the Proctor District, and then decide how the night unfolds across the rest of the city.

Peaks & Pints Tacoma Beer Week Basecamp

At 5 p.m. Saturday, February 28, Peaks & Pints opens the series with the Proctor Polar Bear Crawl, hosted by Party for Polar Bears and supported by Drinking for Conservation. What starts as a neighborhood stroll through Proctor District shops and breweries ends at Peaks & Pints, where draft sales help fund polar bear conservation — proof that a local beer event can ripple all the way to the Arctic.

At 5 p.m. Sunday, March 1, we shiftsthe tone from roaming to listening. Jazz saxophonist Kareem Kandi returns for his first Sunday monthly residency — joined by bassist Greg Feingold and drummer Jacques Willis — while rare lambic pours from Brouwerij Cantillon anchor the tap list. It’s the kind of night where improvisation stretches through both music and fermentation, a quiet counterpoint to the week’s busier energy.

At 5 p.m., Monday, March 2, Peaks leans into community storytelling with Disney & Dunkels, a fundraiser for Hunt Middle School’s musical theater program. Local singer-songwriters Erina McLaren, Rafe Wadleigh, Krissy Dustan, and Christy Taylor take the stage while Peaks & Pints donates draft proceeds to support young performers — a reminder that Tacoma Beer Week works best when it invests in the next generation.

At 5 p.m., Tuesday, March 3, Pints For Pines brings the Tacoma Tree Foundation into the taproom with a different kind of takeaway: live trees. Patrons leave with saplings to plant at home while draft proceeds help expand Tacoma’s urban canopy. Pine-kissed beers echo the theme, turning the evening into a quiet celebration of growth — literal and symbolic.

At 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 4, the Grit & Grain Podcast goes live from the Peaks & Pints side room, drawing brewers, drinkers, and curious listeners into a space where Tacoma’s beer culture is discussed, debated, and occasionally subject to laughter.

At 5 p.m., Thursday, March 5, Peaks & Pints highlights the Proctor District’s walkable rhythm with Proctor Prefunk, a warmup for the sold-out “Um…Actually” game show at the Blue Mouse Theatre. The Proctor IPA collaboration brewed with Narrows Brewing Company anchors the tap takeover — a Neighborhood Series release that captures the citrus-bright, easygoing energy of the district itself.

At 5 p.m., Friday, March 6,  we host our Socks & Suds for the Tacoma Rescue Mission, inviting guests to trade new socks for a chance to win brewery socks while helping provide one of the most requested essentials for people experiencing homelessness. It’s a small gesture, maybe, but Tacoma Beer Week has always been built on small gestures stacking up into something meaningful.

Seen together, the Basecamp events form a kind of narrative arc — conservation, music, education, environment, collaboration, compassion — each night reflecting a different facet of the city’s personality. None of them try to compete with the rest of Tacoma Beer Week. Instead, they frame it, offering a place to begin before the crowd fans outward into dozens of other venues. That’s the quiet genius of the concept. Tacoma Beer Week isn’t meant to be consumed in one place. It’s meant to be explored, discovered, and shared. Basecamp simply gives that exploration a heartbeat — a daily gathering where Tacoma’s beer culture pauses long enough to remember why it exists in the first place.

Ten days. Nearly 50 events. Countless conversations. And somewhere in the middle of it all, a Proctor District beer bar acting like a trailhead — not the destination, but the place where the journey starts.

Cheers to Tacoma.

LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory