Sunday, August 21st, 2016

Tumwater Artesian Brewfest 2016 recap

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Tumwater Artesian Brewfest 2016 recap

Let’s not pretend there’s a more sacred way to spend a scorched Pacific Northwest Saturday than gripping a cold craft beer in one hand, a hula hoop of questionable purpose in the other, sweating blissfully among a sun-dazed tribe of hop-heads on the golf-course-turned-playground otherwise known as the Tumwater Artesian Brewfest. Yes, that Tumwater—home of mystical aquifers, lagered legend, and now, human foosball and 16-ounce enlightenment.

Yesterday, on the forgiving green of the Tumwater Valley Golf Course Driving Range, amid a chaos of food trucks, super-sized beer pong, and a DJ spinning like the ghost of Studio 54 trapped in a Fred Meyer parking lot, the fourth annual Brewfest unfolded in a haze of malt and magic. Washington and Oregon’s finest poured forth—Elysian’s Night Owl summoned the pumpkin spice apocalypse, Ghostfish went full stout symphony with Coffee and Watchstander, and Base Camp’s S’more Stout toasted your inner camper into submission. Black Raven’s Coco Jones and Der Blokken’s shadowy Black Porter made sure every sip felt like midnight in a leather armchair. And just when you thought the Scotch Ales couldn’t get any more smolderingly broody, along came Olympia Beer itself, riding the fizzy ghost of Tumwater past.

And yes, because democracy still matters: the people voted. Bronze to Olympia—because nostalgia tastes better when it’s on draft. Silver to Portland Cider Co. for their Mojito Cider, a lime-mint miracle that whispered cool secrets to overheated souls. And the gold? Wild Ride Brew’s Nut Crusher Peanut Butter Porter—a beer that smells like a childhood sandwich and drinks like a grown-up dessert-fueled fever dream.

Another Tumwater Artesian Brewfest in the books. Another sweaty, delicious, wonderfully strange communion beneath the sun. Raise your glass, reapply your sunscreen, and start stretching for next year.