The Tao of Josh / The Tao of Manny — A Tale of Two Ways, One Pint
Every once in a while, the beer gods drop a riddle instead of a recipe. This one arrives wrapped in Cascade mist and stainless-steel meditation: The Tao of Josh and The Tao of Manny, two West Coast IPAs born from the same ingredients, same blueprint, and utterly different souls.
One flows from the immaculate temple of pFriem Family Brewers, where founder Josh Pfriem has spent a decade turning restraint into art. His beers are cathedral-clean, equal parts monk and mechanic, proof that precision can taste like joy. Josh is the brewer who sees the world in balance — the crisp edge of a pilsner, the patient funk of a lambic, the hush that follows a perfect pour. His Tao is control through clarity, enlightenment by way of structure.
The other bursts from the joyous chaos of Georgetown Brewing, home to co-founder Manny Chao, the most affable beer philosopher ever to weaponize a smile. Manny’s Tao is generosity — the laughter-soaked kind that built Washington’s largest independent brewery on draft lines, loyalty, and a deep belief that beer is meant to be shared, never over-explained. Where Josh fine-tunes, Manny freewheels. Where Josh meditates, Manny jams.
Together, these two Northwest titans decided to play cosmic twins: to brew the exact same West Coast IPA recipe in their own houses, proof that identical ingredients never yield identical truths. The experiment became The Tao of Josh and The Tao of Manny — parallel paths to hop nirvana, each one whispering something different about water, yeast, and soul.
This Thursday, October 23, from 5 to 7 p.m., those paths meet in Tacoma. Peaks & Pints becomes the dojo of duality — a place to taste the yin and the yang of the same beer, the micro-differences that make craft brewing feel like philosophy in liquid form.
Are you a Josh or a Manny? A crisp-cut stoic or a smooth-talking hop mystic? Do you chase clarity or vibe? Either way, enlightenment pours at Peaks & Pints, where both Taos will meet on tap, side by side, glowing like twin suns in a West Coast sky.
THE TAO OF JOSH & THE TAO OF MANNY WEST COAST IPAS RELEASE PARTY, 5-7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 23, Peaks & Pints, 3816 N. 26th St., Basecamp proctor, Tacoma, no cover
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
