Nordic Heritage Museum Brews Its Own Beer

Posted Nov. 19 at 9:52 am by Adriana Grant

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There's a beer-brewing team at the Nordic Heritage Museum, which seems reason enough to support this Pre-Yulefest Nordic Beer Tasting. Three Nordic-inspired beers will be poured: Pillager's Pilsner, Yuletide Amber, and Midnight Sun, brewed at Gallaghers' in Edmonds. Appetizers served too.

Fri., Nov. 20., 7-9 p.m.
Nordic Heritage Museum, 3014 N.W. 67th St.
Reservations suggested; call 789-5707 x10.
$15.

Topics: Beer and Events

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Don't Wait to Buy Winter Beer Festival Tickets

Posted Nov. 17 at 12:47 pm by Maggie Savarino

​The Washington Beer Commission will hold its annual Winter Beer Festival December 4th and 5th at Hale's Palladium (4301 Leary Way NW). You can download the beer list HERE. Half of the tickets for pre-sale are already gone; so get 'em while they're hot. Over 30 breweries will pour their winter seasonals and heavies, and this year the event is partnering with the Chocolate Box, who will pair chocolates to some of the beers. They'll also be reconfiguring the space a bit this year to make more room.

Tickets are $23 ($25 at the door) and available via Brown Paper Tickets. As with most of these events, you get a special one hour preview before the doors open if you are part of WABL (Washington Beer Lovers), as well as other offers like extra tokens and access to a few special beers; consider it for an early present for the beer geek in your life. (Membership is a mere $25 per year.) This event always sells out. You have been warned.

Topics: Beer and Events

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Beveridge Place's IPA Cask-O-Rama Begins Tonight

Posted Nov. 5 at 8:07 am by Adriana Grant

With Washington the hop center of the beer-making universe (or so it can seem), tonight through Saturday Beveridge Place Pub hosts a wholly democratic IPA (India pale ale) tasting. If it's made in Washington, it's been invited to be part of this year's Fourth Annual India Pale Ale Cask-O-Rama. No word on the final lineup, but last year there were 24 casks of locally brewed IPA to sample.

Date/Time: Thurs., Nov. 5, through Sat., Nov. 7.
Location: Beveridge Place, 6413 California Ave S.W. (West Seattle), 932-9906.

Topics: Beer and Events

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Winners of Our Inaugural Homebrew Competition Announced

Posted Oct. 19 at 12:06 pm by Maggie Savarino

​Thank you to everyone who came out to Brouwer's Cafe in Fremont on Saturday to celebrate the winners of the Seattle Weekly's Inaugural Homebrew Competition. We had 68 entries, all very diverse and indicative of not only the thriving homebrewing culture in this city but also its general beery bent. I was honored to be a judge this year, along with members of Seattle's professional and homebrewing communities and the boys behind Seattle Beer Week. And the winners are:

Best in The Stout Category - Jim Spence
Best in The Porter Category - Rick White
Best in The Lager/Pilsner Category - Mark Guth
Best in The Pale Ale Category - Ryan Fitzgerald
Best in The IPA Category - Ted Stone
Best in The Wheatbeer Category - Jim Tanguay

And the BEST IN SHOW...

Continue reading "Winners of Our Inaugural Homebrew Competition Announced"

Topics: Beer and News

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Tapped: Pike's 20th, Our Homebrew Winner Announced, Trade Route Opening Party

Posted Oct. 12 at 2:48 pm by Maggie Savarino

​This Saturday and Sunday, October 17-18, Trade Route Brewing celebrates the grand opening of its new brewery and tasting room just south of Auburn. Seems like a crazy move to go south, but Black Raven in Redmond knows the value of being one of the only fish in the pond. The festivities begin at 11 a.m. each day. (Trade Route Brewing, 1091 Valentine Ave. S.E., Pacific, Wash.)

Pike Brewing will hold its 20th anniversary party this Saturday, October 17, beginning at 5:00 p.m. in the museum room. Stop in, if only to try two-limited edition beers brewed especially for the occasion: the Pike Entire Wood-Aged Stout (XXXXX Stout and Imperial Stout aged together in bourbon barrels) and the Pike Triple Kriek (Monks Uncle Tripel, brewed with brett yeast and local Bing cherries, then aged in wine barrels). There will be music and pale ale birthday cake at 7:00 p.m. (Pike Brewing, 1415 First Ave.)

We will announce the Seattle Weekly Homebrew Contest winners this Saturday, October 17, at 2:00 p.m. at Brouwer's Cafe in Fremont. We received more than five dozen entries in our first of this sure-to-be yearly competition, and we will share the six category winners, along with a best in show. It all culminates in the tapping of the winning brew, made by Big Al Brewing. (Brouwer's Cafe, 400 N. 35th St.)

Topics: Beer

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Tapped: ESB Off at Hale's, Maritime Open Soon, The Great Pumpkin Festival

Posted Oct. 5 at 12:23 pm by Maggie Savarino

​Today Hale's (4301 Leary Way N.W.) rolls with a new taste off feature, starting with Elysian's Wise ESB, Grand Teton's Bitch Creek and the O'Brien's Harvest Ale from Hale's. For a two week stretch, the brewpub will feature these three beers in a side by side comparison. Each taste off will highlight a certain style and be available during all business hours.

The new Maritime Pacific Brewery and Jolly Roger Taproom is set to open mid to late October at 1111 N.W. Ballard Way.

The Great Pumpkin Beer Festival at Elysian on Capitol Hill is the one day of the year when all beer nerds set aside their uptight snobbery about fruit and spice beers and embrace the genre. Elysian pulls out NINE different pumpkin beers of their own, along with beer from local breweries such as Big Time and Elliot Bay (had the Mashing Pumpkin this weekend, CHOICE) and outlanders like Jolly Pumpkin, Dogfish Head and Nodding Head. They will tap The Great Pumpkin at 4:00 p.m. each day. Take that sentence literally. Admission is $15 and includes a souvenir glass and six beer tokens. (Elysian Brewing - Capitol Hill, 1221 E. Pike St., Saturday, Oct. 10th, 12:00noon to 10:00 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 11th 12:00noon to 6:00 p.m.)

And now...the best thing to ever come out on Bud.tv

Topics: Beer

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Washington State GABF Award Winners

Posted Sep. 26 at 2:27 pm by Maggie Savarino

This weekend is the Oscars of beer in Denver, CO—the Great American Beer Festival. GABF medal winners were just announced and here's how we did:

First, CONGRATULATIONS to Chuckanut Brewery in Bellingham for being Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year!!!!!! A special award is given to a brewery of small, mid-sized and large size based on how many medals each brewery won in the overall competition. This is one helluva coup for NKOTB Chuckanut and master brewer Will Kemper. Everybody road trip! (Here's my article on Chuckanut from earlier this year.)

2009 Washington GABF Medal Winners:

Chuckanut Brewery (Bellingham): Two gold medals for their Dunkel and Vienna Lager, Two silver medals for their Schwarzbier and Pilsner

Pyramid Breweries (Seattle): Two gold medals, one for the Haywire Hefeweizen and another for Mactarnahan's Amber

The Ram Restaurant and Brewery (will update with specific locale, Lakewood I think): One silver medal for the Clearwater Kolsch

Redhook Ales (Woodinville): Gold for its iconic ESB and a silver for the barley wine Treblehook

Silver City Brewery (Silverdale): Golds for the Old Scrooge 1998 and the Ridgetop Red Ale and a bronze for the Gold Mountain Pilsner

Snipes Mountain (Sunnyside): Bronze for the English style Coyote Moon

Washington won 13 medals, with our breweries entering over 160 beers.

Topics: Beer and News

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Oktoberfests on Now, Brew Cruise

Posted Sep. 23 at 11:36 am by Maggie Savarino

​It's Oktoberfest through the end of the month at Beveridge Place Pub in West Seattle. Just like in Munich, the pub will feature standbys by the likes of Spaten and Hofbrau but will also include a rotating cast of harvest ales and fall seasonals from around the Northwest. (Beveridge Place Pub, 6451 California Ave. S.W. Open Mon-Thu at 3:00 p.m., Fri at 2:00 p.m., Sat-Sun at noon; closes at 2:00 a.m. daily.)

Elliot Bay's Burien brewpub celebrates Oktoberfest this Saturday, Sept. 26, with the whole shebang — beer garden, live music and a special Oktoberfest menu to include German beer and cheese soup, a Bavarian melt (version of a patty melt), and No Doubt Stout braised bratwurst sammies. I've opined on this pub's grub before. (Elliot Bay Brewhouse & Pub, 255 S.W. 152nd St., Burien, Saturday, Sept. 26, 9:30 a.m. to midnight)

The Schooner Zodiac just announced an Oktoberfest cruise that might just be the only way to stay on a boat with strangers. Known for jaunts that usually involve wine, photography, and the San Juans, this cruise is a new concept. A four-day cruise around the Sound, the boat will stop in Bellingham (Boundary Bay Brewery), Anacortes (Water Street Brewing), Port Townsend (Port Townsend Brewing), and Friday Harbor (San Juan Brewing). You'll have more beer time on the boat and even get to make beer with Pike Brewing's Kelly Wies. Click the above link for more information and to reserve ($650 per person includes meals, tastings, and of course lodging).

Topics: Beer

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Bars Take Note: Be a Twit.

Posted Sep. 22 at 5:42 pm by Maggie Savarino

​In the land of social media, every outlet has its bennies, be it blog, Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace. (OK, unless you're a band, MySpace is white noise, let's be honest.) So many businesses abuse or misuse these avenues that I'm sure you, like me, are constantly unfriending and de-following those who don't get it.

Latona Pub does. The Greenlake bar takes snapshots of its beer on special, with a time and date stamp, and posts them on its Twitter feed (@latonapub). Twitter is perfect for these quick hits of billboard-like information. If only LP (which I mention in my column tomorrow) did this like clockwork. Why isn't your bar or restaurant doing the same thing? Some info isn't monumental enough for a blog post or status update. Thanks to LP, I'll be walking up for a pint of Hale's Harvest Ale, which is on cask right now, in 5, 4, 3, 2...

Topics: Beer and Food Media

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Happy Hour Times at the Zoo Tavern

Posted Sep. 22 at 3:16 pm by Maggie Savarino

​Seattle may use the cockamamie designation "tavern" to designate bars not serving alcohol, but those of us with Midwestern backgrounds are more used to our taverns (a.k.a. shot-n-a-beer bars) having plenty of beer and circuses. I'm not talking about the craptastic phenom that is Big Buck Hunter, but low-tech games like pool and shuffleboard. And can a sister get an iPhone app to locate the endangered dartboards in this town?

Enter the Zoo Tavern. It's an old-fashioned tavern — beer and wine only in the Seattle vernacular — with plenty to do for every patron. Happy hour? Not so much. But don't under-$10 pitchers of beer and hours of pool, snooker, shuffle, and darts sound happy enough? The only bad thing about the Zoo Tavern in fall and winter is the fact that there are no more delicious tacos to supplement your drinks with. Tako Truk is closed for the season, if you haven't heard.

Eastlake Zoo Tavern
2301 Eastlake Ave. E., open daily 2:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.

Topics: Beer

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Tom Robbins' Kids' Book ... About Beer

Posted Sep. 16 at 2:30 pm by Maggie Savarino

​First, try not to trip over my tongue and the following hyperbole, but Tom Robbins' latest book just knocked out 80% of my holiday shopping. As a writer, the premise and execution of B Is for Beer turns me the darkest shade of green, like no other tome in years. Do I need a dependent clause to describe the author of Jitterbug Perfume and Another Roadside Attraction? Without spoiling a damn thing, Robbins has woven a quick, light tale of a precocious kindergartner, BEER, and of course a world within the world. I'm loving the subtle trend I'm seeing in children's books where parents can be jerks — i.e., more real. If it's even possible to love this singularly talented local any more, I do.

Topics: Beer and Books

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All-Star Bar Quartet, Including Former P-I Scribe, Takes Over the Streamline

Posted Sep. 16 at 11:07 am by Mike Seely

​Mike Lewis is best known to Seattleites as the man who penned the "Under the Needle" column for the now-defunct print version of the Seattle P-I. Lesser known was the fact that Lewis, who'd long dreamed of one day owning his own bar, tended bar once a week at the Streamline, a small, spartan Lower Queen Anne uber-dive. "I intended to do it for two months and ended up doing it for five years," says Lewis with a laugh.

Since losing his job at the P-I, Lewis has remained active in the journalistic realm, serving as an intern for the Tacoma NPR affiliate KPLU, as well as picking up freelance assignments from Seattle Business and Us Weekly. "Hopefully they'll start paying me for freelance soon," Lewis says of the unpaid radio gig. "I'd rather be working at a paper; that's still my primary goal. But in the back of my head, I thought if I ever wanted to own a bar, I'd better work in one for awhile."

Continue reading "All-Star Bar Quartet, Including Former P-I Scribe, Takes Over the Streamline"

Topics: Beer, Boozamahol, Bottomfeeder, News, and Openings & Closings

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Hattie's Now Offering 25-Cent Rainier Schooners

Posted Sep. 14 at 10:51 am by Mike Seely

Of course, there's a catch: The quarter schooners can only be had after a Husky touchdown each Saturday the Dawgs are in action. Still, that's pretty good incentive to eschew more standard sports-bar trappings and take in UW games at the historic Ballard Avenue haunt, where Max Genereaux, new co-owner and brunch bartender, has imported the promotion from Al's.

Topics: Beer and Boozamahol

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Saturday Tastings: Buty, Wine Buys, and Beer

Posted Sep. 11 at 11:45 am by Maggie Savarino

If you like to glad hand with Washington winemakers and winery owners when they're on our side of themountains, get to McCarthy & Schiering tomorrow for wines from Buty Winery with Nina Buty Foster, who co-owns the winery with husband Caleb Foster. Caleb used to assist at Woodward Canyon a while back, and Buty wines have a wonderful combination of power and balance. The wines will be available for tasting at each shop from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Nina will be at the Ravenna shop until 2:00 p.m. and head to the Queen Anne shop from 2:30-5:00 p.m. (McCarthy & Schiering, 2401 B Queen Anne Ave. N., 6500 Ravenna Ave. N.E.)

Esquin is having one of their steals and deals tastings this Saturday, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Party wine central, these are always a really good opportunity to find your next house wine. The weather will be hot, but be sure to think cool... (Esquin Wine Merchants, 2700 4th Ave. S.)

Bottleworks has beer on tap. We've discussed this. Go tomorrow or right now because they have The Bruery's Autumn Maple on tap (still), from a tasting with the brewer earlier in the week. Stop in to try this barrel-aged beaute and make sure to sample Chuckanut's Dunkel while you're at it and while they're pouring it. (Bottleworks, 1710 N. 45th St.)

Topics: Beer and Wine

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Seattle Weekly Homebrew Contest Judging Notes

Posted Sep. 2 at 8:33 am by Maggie Savarino

​Comments from members of the Seattle Beer Collective from yesterday afternoon:

Beer #30: "Did you drink it yet?" "...Yeah. It made me nip out."
Beer #18: "What's it like?" "I dunno. Weird. Like a grandma." *

* Chamomile does not belong in a Belgian witbier.

Grrgrlglrglrl...It took a couple of Spaten Optimators to rinse out after the two-and-a-half-hour tasting session for Seattle Weekly's first — and hopefully annual — Home Brew Competition. Judging a pie-eating contest is easy. How bad can any pie be? Now, with beer, sometimes a funny thing happens on the way into the bottle — a million little microscopic things, actually. It can go either very right or very wrong.

We had entries come in from as far as Nevada, and they covered every style from lager to ale, with even a sour beer or two. Sitting with the rowdy Seattle Beer Week crew, we confronted things as disparate as a lager-porter and a schwarzbier submitted as an ale. (Beer geeks know these things are inconceivable!) We had a few six-packs of really well-made beers and a ton more that had a great recipe but just fell short on a component or two. That's a fantastic showing in a homebrew competition, because brewing beer, especially if you don't do it regularly, is freaking hard.

Continue reading "Seattle Weekly Homebrew Contest Judging Notes"

Topics: Beer

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