TACOMA PREFUNK JAN.23 2018: Firestone Walker Velvet Merkin and Two-Stepping
PREFUNK: Its coffee, roasty, dark chocolate character defines Firestone Walker’s Velvet Merlin. Aged for about a year in retired bourbon barrels, including those from Heaven Hill and Four Roses distilleries, and it’s transformed into Velvet Merkin. After the aromatic opera of charred oak, buttery vanilla and roasty, chocolatey goodness — thanks to Roast Barley, English Dark Caramel, Medium Caramel, Carafa malt and oats — it would be hard for any flavor to live up to. Merkin makes an attempt, with sweet toffee and vanilla bean followed by definite alcohol notes and oodles of vinous new oak. A simple wave of chocolate rolls in mid-palate; notes of sweet toffee settle in the back; soft oats join after the swallow. Peaks and Pints has this smooth, decadent sipper pouring from our Western red cedar tap log today.
11:30 A.M., 1:30 AND 7 P.M. THE FINAL YEAR: Greg Barker had assembled nearly all his footage for The Final Year, a behind-the-scenes look at President Barack Obama’s globe-trotting foreign policy team, when something unexpected happened — so unexpected that it left its main characters literally speechless. Donald Trump was elected president. The development not only shocked those onscreen, but changed the trajectory of the film rather dramatically (not to mention the country and the world, but we’re talking about the film here.) Check out this documentary at The Grand Cinema.
7 P.M. LONG LIVE THE KINGS: Jacques White grew up in Olympia. He earned a Ph.D. in Marine, Estuarine, and Environmental Science from the University of Maryland, and has conducted estuarine and oceanographic research along three major U.S. coastlines. White is a catalyst for wild salmon recovery and sustainable fishing in the Pacific Northwest, serving as executive director of Long Live The Kings and providing support and guidance for the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council and Washington Sea Grant. White will be at Immanuel Presbyterian Church to talk about Long Live the Kings — what they are doing, why and how you can help.
8 P.M. TWO-STEP LESSONS: Where have all the cowboys gone? Steel Creek is a little piece of country amidst the City of Destiny. It’s all about the boot scootin’ boogie, the Stetsons, giant belt buckles, tight-fitting Wrangler jeans and $300 snakeskin boots that have mostly never seen a cow pie in their lives. People are so friendly that even if you’ve never country danced in your life someone might even offer to spin you around the two-steppin’ dance floor just to show you the ropes — especially every Tuesday and Thursday during $5 two-step dance lessons, which includes a dink. Yee-haw!
