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.”

West Seattle Getting Another Great Beer Bar

Silas Reynolds knows beer and he knows food. He also knows that West Seattle needs another great pub. Silas is about to give them one.

Silas has formal training and professional experience in the culinary arts but has also worked as a self-described “keg monkey” for Arlen Harris at the LaConner Brewing Company. He was also instrumental in opening the Rockfish Grill and Anacortes Brewery. Today, he is the proprietor of the Porterhouse Pub — Mt. Vernon’s exceptional beer destination.

We just spent a few minutes with Silas at his new digs in West Seattle’s Admiral Neighborhood, where he will soon open a second Porterhouse Pub. The location could not be easier to find. It is literally next door to the historic Admiral Theater, near the corner of Admiral Way and California Avenue. If you know the neighborhood, we’re talking about the space that was formerly Black Bird.  It is a great space in a great neighborhood. Heck, the bar even has patio seating!

In Mt. Vernon, the Porterhouse is a “grown-ups only” establishment (21+). Anyone who knows West Seattle understand that it would be foolish to not allows parents to bring their kids. It’s a demographic reality. Silas is a West Seattle native and a new father, so he will make the West Seattle Porterhouse an all-ages pub.

There will be 25 tap handles pouring a rotating selection of west coast beers, with an emphasis on local beers. Cheers to that! They will likely have a featured brewery each month. That brewery will host a brewers night to kick things off and then will have four tap handles for the month.

Silas described the food as being, “Pub food with an ecclectic twist.” He also explained that he has an abnormally large number of farmers and gardeners in the family, so you can look forward to fresh, locally grown veggies.

He told us that he hopes to open in July. While we admire his vision and the purity of his intentions, we’ll be amazed if that happens. Very, very happy, but amazed. We will keep you posted as thing progress.

It just so happens that West Seattle’s Admiral neighborhood is the place that I call home. With all respect to Circa, my neighborhood so desperately needs a great beer bar. Mrs. Beer Blog and I could not be happier that Silas is bringing his show to town.

WA Brewers Bring Home 25+ Medals at NABA Awards

Each year the North American Brewers’ Association sanctions a competition which provides a chance for commercial brewers to have their beers judged alongside the best beers in North America. This year’s awards were just announced and our Washington brewers deserve to be congratulated for another outstanding performance. This year, Washington brought home a total of  25 medals. Fish Brewing Company brought home a 26th medal (gold) for their Spire Mountain Cider.

Both Pike Brewing Company and Silver City Brewing Company won four medals. Flyers Restaurant and Brewery (Oak Harbor) brought home three medals (congrats to Tony Savoy, the brewer at Flyers).  Three of Washington’s newest breweries — Big Al Brewing, Black Raven Brewing, and Chuckanut Brewery — brought home medals in their first attempt. Can I get a “Hell Ya!”

You can see the complete list of awards, and learn more about the awards, on the North American Brewers’ Association Web site.

Gold Medalists

Chuckanut Brewery – Dunkel

Silver City Brewing Co – Fat Scotch Ale

Pike Brewing Co – Pike Entire

Redhook Ale Brewery – Belgian Tripel

Silver Medalists

Ram Brewery (Tacoma) – Big Horn Hefeweizen

Silver City Brewing Co – Beautimus

Chuckanut Brewery – Strong Bock

Flyers Restaurant and Brewery – Spitfire Best Bitter

Harmon Brewing Co – Brown’s Point ESB

Pike Brewing Co – Pike Pale Ale

Black Raven Brewing Co – Trickster IPA

Flyers Restaurant and Brewery – First Flight Amber

Silver City Brewing Co – Ridgetop Red

Ice Harbor Brewing Co – Sternwheeler Stout

Pike Brewing Co – Old Bawdy Barleywine

Ram Brewery (Tacoma) – Big Horn Blond

Bronze Medalists

Ice Harbor Brewing Co – Kolsch Brand Ale

Silver City Brewing Co – Copper Mt. Bock

Pike Brewing Co – Pike IPA

Flyers Restaurant and Brewery – Barnstormer Brown Ale

Boundary Bay Brewery – Imperial Oatmeal Stout

Scuttlebutt Brewing Co – Old #1 Barley Wine 2008

Redhook Ale Brewery – Slim Chance Light Ale

Big Al Brewing – Smoked Porter

Hales Ales – Cerebus (Tripel)

Happening Tonight – Pike Tasting at Malt and Vine

(Friday, June 5th) – Redmond’s Malt and Vine will be hosting a Pike Tasting tonight (5:30 – 7:30). Sample selections of Pike’s great beers. As a special treat, they’ll have a cask of Pike IPA. The truly adventerous can even try a vertical tasting of  the Pike Old Bawdy Barleywine.

Draft Beer at the Bottleworks (including growlers/kegs to go)

We just got a message from Chris Devlin at the Bottleworks (who is also responsible for the Beer Retard blog).  The Bottleworks is now serving draft beer. In fact, they’ll even special order a keg for you. Read on and visit their blog for more information.

Not sure if you’ve been by BW in the last month or so, but we have 5 rotating selections on tap. People can drink a pint or snifter while shopping or they can open any bottle in the store and drink it there (with a small corkage fee). We’re also filling growlers of the draft beers. We have current information on what beers are pouring on our blog (http://bottleworks.com).

Getting the word out about the taps has been really slow. A lot of people are still coming in and have no idea we’d made changes. If you have a chance to come by, I hope you’ll have a beer and check out the new setup. And if you think it merits a mention on WA Beer Blog, that’d be cool. We need help getting the word out and you do a great job covering all the local beer stuff.

Thanks a lot. Hope to pour you a beer at BW soon,
Chris

Hot Nights, Cool Brews

Maybe it was stupid of me, but I did a bunch of yard work late yesterday afternoon in the 90 degree sun. I kept hydrated, but it still sucked the life out of me. I found myself longing for a cold beer. Fear not, I did not reach for a lawn mower beer (PBR, Rainier, Coors Light, etc). I showered up, made myself smell presentable, and then headed to the Elliott Bay Brewery Pub where I enjoyed a Wit von Boorian — Elliott Bay’s latest seasonal offering. It is light, yet flavorful. It is aromatically effervescent. With a delightful wisp of citrus, the Wit von Boorian is a deliciously quenching and refreshing beer for a sultry summer’s eve.

Wit von Boorian recently went on tap at Elliott Bay’s West Seattle pub, and is also available at the brewhouse in Burien.

On the Elliott Bay Brewing blog, Doug Hindman describes Wit von Boorian this way:

Wit von Boorian is our first collaboration with Trappist monks!

We brewed this light, flavorful, and cloudy wheat beer with some very special ingredients: chamomile flowers, coriander seeds, and orange marmalade from St. Joseph’s Abbey, a monastery in Spencer, MA. Brother Brian was kind enough to expedite a shipment to us and we are most pleased with the results.

Cooks Illustrated selected the Trappist Orange Marmalade as its favorite, saying: “Trappist Seville Orange Marmalade earned strong points for its natural orange flavor and was also the favorite of our testers who liked a solid level of sweetness as well as a moderate amount of tartness.” These same qualities also came through in the finished beer along with an enticing chamomile aroma.

Washington Brewers Fest – PARKING, TRANSPORTATION NEWS

Seriously, if you’re going to the Washington Brewers Festival this Fathers Day weekend (and you should), you really need to read this and heed the advice.

The 2009 Washington Brewer’s Festival will be held June 19-21 at St. Edward State Park in Kenmore. Sometimes referred to as “the mother of all Fathers Day beer festivals,” this event is definitely the big daddy. What we’re talking about is approximately 50-something breweries pouring a couple hundred different beers. Most of the breweries are right here in Washington, though there are some out-of-state participants. If you love good beer, your attendance at this event is mandatory.

Parking! Transportation!

Parking is the big news this year. Currently there is construction going on at the park. As a result, parking is limited. On Saturday and Sunday, on-site parking is by permit only. Permits must be purchased in advance for $15. The parking fee will be donated to St. Edward State Park. The Washington Beer Commission has arrange shuttle buses from local park-and-rides. You can park at one of the P&Rs for free and catch a shuttle to the event. We strongly encourage you to take advantage of the free shuttle. On-site parking is free on Friday (no permit required).

The Washington Beer Commission has spelled out the entire parking and transportation plan very well on their Web site. We strongly suggest that you visit the site and make your transportation plans according to their advice. http://www.washingtonbeer.com/directionswabf.htm

Festival Web Site – http://www.washingtonbeer.com/wabf.htm

About St Edward State Park

Update from Fremont Brewing Co.

We just got a quick update from the folks at Fremont Brewing. They tell us that they currently have beer in both fermenters and expect to tap their first kegs at the Latona in the next 2-3 weeks. We’ll keep you informed as more details and more updates come in.

If you don’t know about Fremont Brewing, read our original post about Seattle’s newest craft brewer.

Events at the Green Frog Cafe Acoustic Tavern

We just got a message from Justin at the Green Frog Cafe Acoustic Tavern – a truly fine place to drink craft beer in Bellingham. We’re going to start adding Green Frog events to our soon-to-be-revamped Events Calendar. In the meantime, here’s what Justin told us.

We have a series of biweekly Brewers’ Nights that have been going on for about 8 months now, primarily featuring Washington beers. We are proud to host Big Al Brewing tonight, and we have several more Seattle area breweries lined up for the summer. Here are the dates we have scheduled so far:

June 10: Lazy Boy
June 24: Pike
July 8: Schooner Exact
July 22: Two Beers

We pride ourselves on getting beer that you can’t get anywhere else around here, and we’d love to be a part of the WA Beer Blog. We’re now following you on Twitter as well (@acoustictavern).