Side by Side at Hale’s

We are doing the Side by Side at Hale’s. Currently, they’re featuring IPAs. Terminal Gravity (OR) by Firestone Walker (CA) by Hale’s Super Goose. This isn’t so much about which is better, however it is a great way to compare variation within the style.

Perhaps Dave Siler (the new “production manager” at Hale’s) brought the Firestone Walker with him. That’s where he came from. Maybe we’ll get to meet him tonight? We’ll see.

Live from The Burcham

Wow! What a selection of Washington beers! Come on down to the Beveridge Place and find a delicious Washington brew that fulfills your beer fantasy! Currently 19 WA beers on tap. More on deck.

The NEW Washington Beer Blog

The much anticipated day has arrived. Well, it means a lot to us anyway. We have just moved the blog over to new servers that will grant us more flexibility and enable us to add cooler new features. For example, check out our swanky new events calendar over there on the right. As always, we encourage you to contact us if there is anything you’d like us to add or improve. We can’t guarantee that we’ll do everything, but we do what we can.

Cheers,

Kendall & Kim Jones
(aka Mr. and Mrs. Beerblog)

Happening Tonight – Black Raven at Bev

Tonight (Thursday, June 11th) Black Raven Brewing will be at the Beveridge Place for a Brewers Night celebration. Come sample beers from one of Washington’s newest breweries. Beaux Bowman (with Andy and Kat) will bring some great beers from his new brewery in Redmond, including Trickster IPA (in a wooden cask), Tamerlane Brown Porter, Kristale Wheat, and Totem Northwest Pale! The fun gets started at 7:00 PM.

Washington Brewers Fest – Friday Night?

We are once again reminding you that you need to consider your parking and transportation plan for this year’s “Mother of all Fathers Day beer festivals.” As we originally reported here, parking will be a bit tricky this year and you are encouraged to use the shuttle buses the festival organizers are providing.

Let’s face it, if you’re reading this blog you are probably a beer geek. Well, here’s a really good option. Go on Friday night. Unofficially, that’s beer geek night at the festival. Not only will parking be free on Friday night, but the brewers will be bringing out their most interesting and creative beers. For example, the other day I was fortunate enough to sample the cask-conditioned Pinetop Red Ale from Elliott Bay Brewery, which had been conditioned using fresh hemlock needles. You will only get this beer at the Friday night session of the Brewers Fest. (Read about that beer.)

Friday night is a 21+ event, so no kiddies allowed. If you sometimes get a bit annoyed by the hording masses that show up on Saturday and Sunday afternoon and interfere with your beer geek experience, this is the answer for you. (Remember the line at Laughing Buddha’s booth last year?) Friday night will offer you a smaller crowd, no kids, and select breweries serving select beers. There will be live music and food vendors as well. And there are no parking issues on Friday night!

Get the details at http://www.washingtonbeer.com/wabf.htm

Happening Tonight: Last chance for Bob’s in 2009

We just got this note from Manny at Georgetown Brewing -

This is your last chance to drink 2009 Bob’s. Come out to Sport Restaurant and Bar tonight for our FINAL Bob’s Brown fundraising/drinking event for the Seattle Ronald McDonald House. Phew… my liver needs a break. It should be a good one. Keg is tapped at 6PM and we’ll have some cool giveaways including an autographed Edgar Martinez Jersey (SWEET!). Hope to see you tonight. Cheers, -Manny

We here at the WBB say, “twist my arm.” While Sport isn’t a great beer bar, we are suckers for a worthy cause, we love to catch the M’s there, and they certainly do have a good Kobe beef burger. Maybe we’ll see you there?

Follow Up -

We went to the event last night. Hosted by Ian Furness (KJR sports radio), the evening included a raffle for some really cool prizes. Someone walked away with an autographed Edgar Martinez jersey. Someone else walked away with a luxury suite –which handles up to 16 people– for an upcoming Mariners game. Lots of other great stuff, too. We even scored some M’s tickets!

Bob's Brown Ale - Sport Restaurant

Just in case people were not in a giving mood, they showed a video about a young family that has lost two children to cancer. The video really drove home the point about the importance of Ronald McDonald House. It was “pin-drop” silent in there. Not a dry eye in the house. Ronald McDonald house really does provide an angelic service and we’re proud of Georgetown for supporting such a great cause.

The event was the last in the series. No more brown beer until next year. They were very close to reaching their goal of $50,000. We’ll assume they did. We saw a lot of people drinking brown beer.  Cheers to that and cheers to Bob!

A Visit To Oroville’s Alpine Brewing

Many Washington beer lovers have enjoyed the fine German-style lagers produced by Bart Traubek’s Alpine Brewing Company, but few of us have actually visited the brewery in Oroville. Well, it just so happens that we were passing through Oroville recently and stopped in for a visit. Okay, we admit it, there are other ways to get from point A to point B, but the GPS in the Washington Beer Cruiser automatically programs our routes that way. A normal navigation device would tell you that there are three or four faster ways to get from Whistler, BC to Coulee City, WA; however, the GPS in the Beer Cruiser seems to have a mind of its own.

Alpine Brewing Company - Oroville, WA.

Oroville is a beautiful little town, but it’s not exactly located at the center of the Universe. It’s nearly three hours north of Wenatchee. It’s two hours northeast of Winthrop. That having been said, a significant part of your visit to Alpine Brewing is the gettin’ there. We approached Oroville from the northwest. After spending the night in British Columbia’s remote and beautiful Similkameen Valley, we repatriated ourselves at an adorable little boarder crossing near Nighthawk, WA. About 30 minutes later, we arrived at the brewery in Oroville.

The border crossing at Nighthawk, WA. Seriously.

Bart, who is the brewmaster and owner of Alpine, splits his time between King and Okanogan counties.  We’d made contact with him but were not able to meet him at the brewery. He was on his way, but we had a schedule to keep and unfortunately we missed each other by about an hour. Luckily, Jerry was there. While Bart might be the brewmaster, Jerry will tell you, laughingly, “I’m the one who does all the work.”