Monthly Archives: May 2018

Get Your Tickets Now For The Washington Brewer’s Festival

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Here in the Northwest, we take a lot of pride in our craft beers.  While we recognize that there are excellent craft beers available from around the nation, most of us have a special place in our hearts (or is it livers?) for beers made in Washington State.

That’s why I’m always glad when Spring arrives and the Washington Beer Commission brings back their annual Washington Brewer’s Festival.  Set this year for Friday, June 15th through Sunday June 17th at Marymoor Park in Redmond, there are a few changes you’ll want to be aware of regarding how drink tokens will work at this year’s fest.

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Alesong Prepares To Release Four New Beers In Eugene, Portland & Seattle

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In the craft beer World, some breweries create more buzz than others.  It usually has mostly to do with the quality of their beers.  The greater the perceived quality of the offerings from said brewery, the greater the level of buzz and, of course FOMO.

One such brewery that often creates a buzz around their releases is Alesong Brewing & Blending out of Eugene, Oregon.  Their creations, which are often Belgian inspired and/or barrel-aged, are quite popular – and quite tasty.  I’m a particular fan of their Sour Ales and particularly enjoyed their Peche Sour, which was poured recently during Seattle Beer Week 10 at Brouwer’s Cafe for Sour Fest.  Now, Alesong is preparing to release four new beers, in bottles and cans, on May 27th.

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The Goat The Elk And The Narwhal Are Coming Your Way In This Year’s 3-Way IPA

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They’ve been doing it for years.  They keep changing partners too.  Each year you wonder what could possibly make it so… hard… to find.  They give you quick flashes of it at preview events, building up your anticipation, but hold back that final version until they’re ready for full release.

I’m referring of course to Fort George Brewery‘s annual release of 3-Way IPA.  Each year this extremely popular collaboration brew is sought after by IPA fans everywhere, and it can go fast, making it somewhat difficult to find at times.  For this year’s version of 3-Way, Fort George Brewery out of Astoria, Oregon has teamed up with Holy Mountain Brewing Company out of Seattle and Modern Times Beer out of San Diego.  All three breweries are well known for making some excellent IPAs, so this sounds to me like the perfect recipe for a collaborative IPA made in hophead Heaven.

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Introducing Sound Craft Seltzer Co. The Newest Sister Company To Two Beers Brewing

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Two Beers Brewing Company (CBM Sponsor) has had quite the journey.  They started off back in 2007, brewing just 100 barrels per year and, since then, they’ve never stopped growing.  Year after year, Two Beers has just kept on expanding.  They’ve updated and upgraded their taproom, The Woods, several times since 2007 and, back in 2013, they announced the launch of their wildly successful sister company: Seattle Cider Company.

Then just two years ago in 2016, Two Beer announced that they had been acquired by Agrial Group, a leading French agri-business cooperative.  Since that acquisition, however, not much has changed.  Now comes the first big announcement since that acquisition.  Two Beers Brewing Company is pleased to announce the launch of their newest sister company: Sound Craft Seltzer Co.

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The Lagunitas Beer Circus Comes To Seattle This August

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What could be better than a visit to the circus?  Well, how about a visit to a craft beer circus?  If you enjoy fresh craft beer, live music, and freaktacular entertainment, then Lagunitas has an event for you.  Tickets are set to go on sale Tomorrow, 5/21, for the Lagunitas Brewing Company Beer Circus, which will be coming to the Lagunitas Seattle Taproom & Beer Sanctuary on Saturday, August 25th.

This will be the 10th year that Lagunitas is hosting their Beer Circus, but the first year it’s come to Seattle.  This year’s Seattle stop will benefit Urban Artworks, a Seattle-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides opportunities for contemporary artists and local youth to work together to create public works of art.

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Join Washington Wild For Their 2018 Beers Made By Walking Series Of Hikes

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Since you’re here, I’m assuming you enjoy craft beer.  How about hiking?  Do you enjoy hiking as well?  Great.  Do you also enjoy doing what you can to help protect our Northwest forests, waters and wildlife?  If the answer is still yes, then strap on your hiking shoes and get registered with Washington Wild for one (or more) of three hikes coming up later this month, in July and in August.

Each hike will follow a different trail where local craft breweries haven taken inspiration from the native plants along the trail for their next beers.  Then, this October, there’ll be a special tapping event at Naked City Brewery & Taphouse to enjoy the fruits of those trail-inspired brewing labors.

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Join Lagunitas For Their Seattle Beer Week 10 Kickoff Event Featuring Tri-County IPA

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It’s almost here. Seattle Beer Week 10 kicks off tomorrow with well over 200+ events at more than 100+ locations around the Sound. If you’re still having trouble deciding which events to attend, you can check out Craft Beer Monger’s Picks For Seattle Beer Week 10 (SBW10). It should give you some idea of the types of events that will be happening during the week you may want to attend but is, by no means, meant to be a comprehensive list of all SBW10 events (for that you can check out the official events list on the SBW website).

Early last year, Lagunitas Brewing Company arrived in Seattle, taking over the space formerly occupied by Hilliard’s Brewing.  Being so new in town in 2017 though, they didn’t have much going for SBW last year.  This year, however, they’re all set to jump right in with their SBW10 Kickoff event, which features their first Seattle brewed and Seattle-area sourced beer: Tri-County IPA.  You might recall that, last year, Lagunitas brewed their first Seattle-exclusive release, Beard And Bine IPA.  That beer, however, was more crowd-sourced with ingredients from Lagunitas’ barley and hop farming partners.  Lagunitas is also pleased to welcome aboard Dan Schmelzer as the new head brewer at their Seattle Taproom & Beer Sanctuary.

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Firestone Walker’s Barrelworks Unveils UnderCurrants

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Wild and Sour Ales have really grown in popularity in the last few years. For the uninitiated they can seem intimidating to approach at first but, once you get past that initial uncertainly and try a few different Wild and Sour styles, most people find something they really enjoy.

Firestone Walker Brewing Company‘s Barrelworks is no stranger to Wild and Sour Ales. They’ve put out several extremely popular selections like Agrestic (American Wild Red Ale), Krieky Bones (Wild Ale Fermented With Sour Cherries), SLOambic (Wild Ale Fermented With Blackberries) and more.  Now Barrelworks is ready to release the latest in their Wild Ales Series: UnderCurrants (Wild Ale Fermented With Black Currants).

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Hop House Hosts The 2nd Annual Eastside Brewer’s Showcase

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Last year, I told you about a new palace in Redmond called Growler USA. They were the newest location for the company, which has locations in over 19 states including Hawaii and Washington State (Vancouver).  Less than a year after opening however, Greg and Ann Humes – who ran the Redmond location for Growler USA – decided they’d rather be independent. So they broke ties with Growler USA and re-branded themselves as Hop House.

Freed from their corporate shackles, so to speak, Greg and Ann were free to curate their local tap selections as they saw fit, bring in more imports and actually reduce their total number of taps from 105 down to 75, in order to make more room for local liquors as well. Now, with Seattle Beer Week 10 (SBW10) about to kick off, Hop House has a few events they’d like to share, to bring a bit of SBW10 to the East side.

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Craft Beer Monger’s Picks For Seattle Beer Week 10

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Ten years ago.  That’s when it all began.  That’s when Seattle area craft beer lovers got to experience the first ever Seattle Beer Week and the first ever official Seattle Beer Week beer (a double IPA from Pike Brewing Company).  Back then, many of our favorite local craft breweries and craft beer bars didn’t even exist yet.  Whereas today, it seems, we have a craft brewery or craft beer bar around almost every corner.

More craft breweries and more craft beer bars means even more Seattle Beer Week events.  Are you ready?  Surviving the week (actually 11 days) will take careful planning. I’m here to give you some suggestions on which events you might want to check out.  So sit back, if you’ve managed to pick up any yet, grab yourself a can of this year’s official Seattle Beer Week beer – Citrus Galaxy IPA from Georgetown Brewing Company – and take a look a Craft Beer Monger’s Picks for Seattle Beer Week 10.

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