Well would you look at that!

First off I’d like to say there has been a lot of talk about the upcoming beer tax and there are many interpretations of it.  The way we see it, taxes are going to happen, but this one seems to be putting a huge burden on the little guy.  It seems to us that it has the potential to stagnate our industry and the bottom line is as the cost of doing business increase so does the cost of a bottle/pint of beer.  The current tax seems fair, my understanding is its about $4.85 per barrel right now for Breweries producing under 60,000 barrels. If this passes that price will raise to about $21 per barrel, a giant increase.  Since the details are a little murky, we suggest you email your representative and express your concern with the upcoming tax and the effects it will have on the craft beer industry.  Again the details are a little murky, Washington Beer Blog has a couple of good posts about the tax.  We are sure if this passes it will effect our industry and urge you to voice your concerns. 

We have a few events on the horizon:
First off every Tuesday in April we are tapping beers from the cellar, and I promise that this week we will be ahead of the curve and announce the beers before 5 pm, we are shooting for by noon.  We still have Dogfish 120 on draft as I write this and it was tapped on Tuesday this week.  We have a few sours that will make an appearance, and some stouts and other gems.  Stayed tuned here and on the book of faces for information.

We have an upcoming Bison Brewing Event, Wednesday, April 17th. Daniel the owner and brewer will be in town and we thought it would be fun to put an event together.  We plan on having some food specials that will pair well with his beers.  We will be pouring 5 of his beers: Chocolate Stout, Honey Basil, Hop Cuvee(a new hoppy pale), Belgian Tramp (a quad with figs and dates) and Cocoa Bretta (a collaboration with Logsdon).  We plan having 3 food specials that will use and be paired with his beers. 

Pike brewed a beer called the Morning After Pale, of which a portion of the proceeds will go to Planned Parenthood.  On Thursday, April 18th Pike Brewing will be on hand for a party here.  Please join us for this beer release.

On Thursday, April 25th @6pm we are please to be hosting the release of a new Washington Cidery, Schilling Company.  They will be bringing us 5 unique offerings, there will be glassware, and the owner’s will be on hand to talk and drink with you.  We have tried some of their first batches and really like what we have tasted. 

As I am sure you are all aware, Seattle Beer Week, now in it’s fifth year, is just around the corner in May.  It kicks off Thursday, May 9th and runs through May 19th.  You may have already tried the Seattle Beer Week Beer brewed by Fremont Brewing.  Its a session Ipa, and pretty darn delicious.  We have a few events during the brewer’s week that is Seattle Beer Week.

Friday, May 10th UNDERBURG BACK IN BLACK STOUT FEST, we will have a minimum of 40 stouts on draft for your imbibing pleasure. 

Tuesday, May 14th BEER AND BURGER BATTLE, this year there are 6 breweries invited to the party and we will be making burgers all day long not just after 6pm.  The formula is simple, we invite the winner from last year back to defend their title.  The idea is each brewery pulls some beers from their cooler and designs a burger recipe around a 1/3 to 1/2 pound beef burger.  Winner is decided by sales.  This year 21st Amendment is back to defend their title against contenders: Big Time, Maui, Double Mountain, Snipes and Green Flash.  We have most of the recipes already and they are looking really good. 

Thursday, May 16th SOUR FEST, we tap about 30 sours from around the world for your imbibing pleasure. 

From the Cellar Event!

Sorry for the late update:

Tonight we are tapping for our From the Cellar Event:
Dogfish Head 120 Min
Double Mountain Oaked Triple( this one has been in the cooler for a while)
Lost Abbey 10 Commandments

We also have a few events this week that we would like you to know about:

Tomorrow night we are celebrating our 8th Anniversary.  We are tapping a Strong Scotch Ale brewed by Flyers Brewing out of Oak Harbor.  They did Bottleworks VIII Anniversary and we thought it would be a great idea to recreate the same recipe for our VIII Anniversary.  I think we will be aging some of it for a later date. 

04/04/13–Thursday–We will be tapping Stone Vertical Epic 04/04/04. 

04/17/13–Wednesday–Bison Brewing Night.  Look for some food pairings.

04/25/13–Thursday–Schilling Cider Launch.  A new cidery here in Washington is launching their ciders here at our fine bar.

We are turning 8!!!

On Wednesday, April, 3rd at 6pm we will start the festivities by tapping  a  Strong Scotch Ale brewed by Flyers for our 8th Anniversary.  Tony from Flyer’s will be in the house to celebrate with us.  We hope that you join us.

Here ye here ye!  We mentioned it a ways back and then Hardliver happened and now we are on track for an event that will run every Tuesday through the month of April.  From the Cellar, the concept is quite simple, we will provide a list of 18 or so beers, every Tuesday we will draw from a hat 3-4 beers that will be tapped that day.  We will announce the kegs being tapped that day around noon every Tuesday, and tap have them on tap by 5pm that day.  Here is the list of possible beers:
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Avery/Russian River Collaboration Not Litigation 2012
Big Sky Centaur
Boulevard Saison Brett 2012
Deschutes Black Butte XXI
Deschutes Abyss’12
Dogfish 120 Minute IPA
Double Mountain Oaked Triple
Fort George Roses on Roses
Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti
Green Flash Double Stout 2011
Lost Abbey 10 Commandments
New Belgium La Folie ‘11
New Belgium Mo Betta Bretta
Russian River Sanctification
Sierra Nevada Life and Limb #2
Stone Double Bastard 2009
Stone Bourbon Imperial Russian ‘08
De Dochter Peated Oak Embrasse

We hope this is an event that you find fun.  We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday nights in April.

And the Winners are!!!

Thank you to all that joined us in making this weekend a success!  We hope you enjoyed yourselves and are fully recovered.  We should have done this a couple of days ago…well the barleywine got the best of us. For those of you not in attendance the winners, determined by our esteemed judges are as follows:

1. Big Al Ol #1
2. Firestone Walker Abacus ’11
3. Anchorage Deal with the Devil ’13

Next up on the Agenda:
We are putting the finishing touches on our From the Cellar event that will be every Tuesday in the month of April.  Details to come really soon.

Thursday, April 3rd at 6pm.  Come and celebrate our 8th Anniversary with a Strong Scotch Ale brewed by Flyers Brewing in Oak Harbor.  We will be pouring some other options from Flyers as well.  Please come join us in celebrating our 8 years!

Thursday, April 4th:  We will tap Stone Vertical 04/04/04, we saved a small amount of Stone’s Vertical Epic series to tap throughout the year.

Wednesday, April 17th @ 6pm: Bison Brewer’s Night. Daniel, the owner and brewer will be in town for a couple of days and wanted to put together an event, we will have 5 beers on draft and food pairing suggestions to go with them.  This should be a fun evening.

Thursday, April 25th @6pm: Schilling Cider Launch Party:  We are excited about this event.  Schilling is a new Cidery based in Auburn, that has yet to pour any cider in this state.  They have been coming in frequently for adult refreshments, and keeping us up to date with their progress.  We got to talking and thought it would be great to host the launch party here.  Colin is putting together 5 special ciders for us and we will start pouring them at 6pm on Thursday, April 25th.

Tentative Hardliver list!

In an effort to keep you informed we are posting a tentative Hardliver Draft list.  Please keep in mind that this is a tentative list and subject to change.  In the past we have hesitated in posting a list ahead of time because there are always late arrivals, and late game decisions need to be made to accommodate those arrivals.  With that warning here you go:

–>

21st Amendment  Lower da Boom 2012
Alaskan Rough Trade Barleywine 2009
Anacortes Old Sebastes 2012
Anchor Old Foghorn 2012
AnchorageDeal with the Devil
Avery Hog Heaven 2012
BeachwoodAnnihilator 2012
Beer Valley Highway to Ale 2012
Big Al Ol #1 2012
Big Sky Old Bluehair 2012
Black Diamond Dried up Old Geezer 2012
Black Raven Old Birdbrain 2012
Boulder Kiler Penquin 2011
Boulder Mortimer Barrel 2012
Boulavard Harvest Dance Wheatwine 2012
Boundary Bay Old Bounder 2012
Dick’s Barleywine 2012
Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine 2012
Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller 2012
Elysian Death Star 2013
Emilliese Jack Daniels Aged Barleywine 2012
Epic Brewing Barleywine 2012
Firestone Walker Abacus 2011
Firestone Walker Sucaba 2013
Fish Tale Leviathon Barleywine 2012
Fremont Old Bridge Rider 2012
Full Sail Old Boardhead 2012
GlacierOld Woody
Great Divide Old Ruffian 2010
Great Divide Old Ruffian 2012
Green Flash/Cigar City Candela Rye 2012
HOD Doggie Claws 2012
Lagunitas Gnarleywine 2007
Lagunitas Gnarleywine 2009
Lagunitas Gnarleywine 2010
Lagunitas Gnarleywine 2011(x2)
Laurelwood Barrel Aged Old Reliable 2012
Lompoc Old Tavern Rat 2012
Lost Abbey Angel’s Share 2012(Bourbon?)
Mad River John Barleycorn 2011
Moylan’s Old Blarney Barleywine 2013
Naked City Old Proper
Ninkasi Critical Hit Barleywine 2012
Ninkasi Wheatwine 2012
Pelican Stormwatcher
Pike Old Bawdy 2011
Port Townsend Old Man Barleywine 2011
Rogue Old Crustation 2012
Sam Adam’s Griffen’s Bow Blonde 2012
Scuttlbutt Ol’ #1 2011
Seven Seas Old Wheelchair 2012
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot 2011
Snipes Fifth World Apocalypse 2012
Stone Old Gaurdian 2009
 Uinta Cockeyed Cooper 2012

We are also very excited about tonight’s Washington Release of pFriem Brewing from Hood River.  Please join us in welcoming them to the Washington Market.  Known for their Belgian inspired beers we will be pouring 7 offerings from them:  Belgian IPA, Belgian Stout, Belgian Strong Blonde, Belgian Strong Dark, Blonde IPA, Mosaic Pale, and Super Saison.  We hope you plan on attending.

Hear ye Hear Ye!!!

If you have been following us at all you know that Tuesday, March 12th at 6pm we will be hosting the Washington launch of pFriem Brewing.  We are very excited about this event, and hope that you are planning on joining us.  Haven’t heard of this brewery?  Here’s a simple answer:  Josh Pfriem is the Brewmaster and Owner, and is brewing  up some amazing Belgian inspired beers, he’s also a Washington native and very excited about launching his own beer here in Washington.   We will be showcasing 7 of their offerings: Belgian Strong Dark, Belgian Strong Blonde, Blonde IPA, Belgian IPA, Super Saison, Belgian Stout and Mosaic Pale Ale. 

All of you know, or should know that Hardliver Barleywine Fest is coming.  All the fun starts on March 23rd at 11am when we open the doors.  We are putting the finishing touches on the draftlist as I write this.  We had hoped to have this done a week or so ago, and you know what they say about good intentions….We hope to have a preliminary list sooner than later, and apologize for not getting it out sooner.

We are also in the process of putting together a month long From the Cellar event for April.  We recently went through the cooler and found some gems that we feel we should pour.  We hope to have that list finalized by early next week as well.  The idea we had goes a little something like this:  We will post a list of all 15 to 20 beers, in the next week or so,that we are planning on tapping for the month of April, then on each Tuesday in the month of April we will announce what 3-5 beers are being tapped that day.  We hope you plan to join us.  Kinda like beer gambling, each and every Tuesday!  We will be announcing the beers on our app, the facebook and here on the blog.

Another event coming up on April 17th, right around Earth Day, is an evening with Bison Brewing.  Daniel ( the brewer and owner) will be in town and we thought it would a great opportunity to have an event that focused on organic beer.  We have some special beers to pour that we think you will like.

On Thursday, April 25th we are excited to announce we will be hosting the launch of a new local Cidery, Schilling Cider.  We are planning on tapping 4 or 5 different offerings from this new start up.  As we get more details we will post them.

Soon after those events it is time for Seattle Beer Week.  We have planned 3 events so far they are:

Underburg Back in Black Stout Fest:  Friday, May 10th at 11am.

Beer and Burger Battle: Tuesday, May 14th ( this year this will be an all day event)  We have confirmed most of the breweries.  So far the contestants will be :
21st Amendment ( the defending champ)  lets hope Shaun doesn’t use his birthday again to garner votes…
Double Mountain
Big Time
Green Flash
Maui Brewing

Sour Fest:   Thursday, May 16th at 11am.

Start making your plans now!

WE GOT AN APP!

 We currently have an app in the itunes store, at this time it is only available for iphone 4 and 5, sorry no windows phones or android phones just yet.  We started working on this a while back and while it is not perfect right now, we feel it is better to release it in to the world and get it in the end users hands, than to get it perfect.  So the information is 95%, if a draftlist or bottlelist is not complete or  has changed in the last day or so, the information may be imperfect.  We apologize for any trouble this may cause you.  Please send your  comments/concerns/compliments to info@brouwerscafe.com. 

With that said, we hope that you are prepping your liver for Hardliver Barleywine fest which is Saturday and Sunday March 23 and 24.  We hope to have a tentative list up by mid next week.  We are making a concentrated effort to get more information about all that we do in front of you here and on the book of faces.

We have an Upright brewers night on Wednesday, February 27th @ 6pm.  We will be pouring:

Six
Seven
Spollen Angel (tripel)
Blend Edmunds (blend of barrel aged fruit beers)
Chocolate Stout (newest one-off, just a straight up version w/American ale yeast).  

We are please to announce that we will be hosting the Washington launch of pFriem Brewing from Hood River, on Tuesday March 12th @ 6pm.  Josh Pfriem and his partners will be in the house.  Josh has been making some amazing Belgian inspired beers, we are excited and honored to be chosen as the first bar in Washington to pour pFriem beers.  We are working on having some food pairings as well for the evening, as we all know food and beer just go together.  We will be pouring the following beers:  Belgian Golden Strong, Belgian Dark Strong, Super Saison, Blonde IPA, Belgian Stout, and Mosaic Pale.   Please join us on this special evening. 


We have a few annoncements…

First off I would like you all to know that we have seen that folks eat a little later on Thursdays.  In an attempt to make those of you that desire eating a little later we have extended the kitchen hours on Thursday nights from 10 to 11.  Now you can all get your frites fix on for one more hour.

We have lots of events planned for the upcoming month, just about one a week, if not two, till Hardliver Barleywine fest on March 23rd and 24th.

First off we will be hosting New Belgium Brewing for a Lips of Faith evening.  We will be pouring La Folie(sour), Tart Lychee(sour), Shift Belgian Pale Lager, Trip XV ( dark Saison with date sugar, dandelions and an Orval yeast), Imperial Chocolate Coffee Stout, and two new offerings, one a collaboration with Du Decil called Heavenly Feijoa Tripel, and the second Cascara Quad an ale brewed with date with coffee and cherries added.  We hope you plan to join us.

As some of you are aware a few years ago with partnered with Four Roses and bought an entire barrel and release a Brouwer’s Bourbon.  The time has come again, and we have again partnered with Four Roses and bought a second barrel, this time we partnered with Burgundian(same owner) and are releasing a Brouwer’s/Burgundian Bourbon.  The second is not quite as hot as or as high in alcohol as the first, and delicious.  On Tuesday, February 19th at 6pm we will be releasing the bourbon to the public, we plan to have a least one special cocktail.  We hope you plan to join us for this fun event.

We have a Goodlife from Bend, OR event on Thursday, February 21st @ 6pm.  We will be pouring
Descender IPA, Sweet As, Pass Stout, 29er Brown Ale and the hopefully Comatose IIPA

We have an Upright brewers night on Wednesday, February 27th @ 6pm.  We will be pouring,

Six
Seven
Spollen Angel (tripel)
Blend Edmunds (blend of barrel aged fruit beers)
Chocolate Stout (newest one-off, just a straight up version w/American ale yeast).  

We will have more information as it becomes available. 

Events on the Horizon…

 On Wednesday, February 13th @6pm New Belgium we will be hosting a New Belgium Lips of Faith evening.  We will be pouring Trip XV(a beer that our Matt Bonney and Jesse from the Apex in Portland designed.) A buckwheat, dandilion, date sugar, black saison,  using an Orval yeast, Heavenly Freijoa Tripel, a Feijoa/Hibiscus Tripel made in collaboration with Dieu De Ciel, Cascara Quad, an ale brewed with date and has coffee cherries added, La Folie, Shift, and the Imperial Choc Coffee Stout.
On Thursday, February 21st at 6pm we will have Goodlife Brewing from Bend in the house.  They will be pouring Descender IPA, Sweet As, Pass Stout, 29er Brown, and hopefully their IIPA.
On Wednesday, February 27th at 6pm we will be hosting an evening with Upright Brewing from Portland.  They will be sending some of their usual suspects like Six and Seven.  They will be bringing some of their lesser seen beers in this market like Spollen Angel( tripel), Blend Edmunds ( a blend of barrel aged fruit beers) and Chocolate Stout.  We are also working on getting some other options, but have not had any confirmation on the possibility of that..we will keep you posted.

Everybody’s favorite weekend, Hardliver Barleywine Festival is March 23rd@ 11am and 24th.  We hope that you are prepping your liver as we speak.  We plan on getting the list in front of you sooner than later.

We have some events…Hardliver starts March 23rd this year!

 We will be hosting an event with Ninkasi, on Tuesday, January 22nd @ 6pm,  that they have dubbed “Wait, I thought you guys just made IPA’s?” Here is all the information on the beers we will be pouring.

Ancient Aleiens-Deep mahogany hued and fermented with an Alt yeast strain, it has a clean toasted malt profile that finishes with a bright citrus and floral hop presence. This beer was conditioned on 80 pounds of Chocolate Nibs (from Theo Chocolates in Seattle) with the addition of Guatemalan Coffee (from Water Avenue Coffee in Portland). Ancient Aleiens has a deep dark cocoa taste up front that warms into a sweet coffee expression, finishing with a fruity hop aroma. Smooth toasted malt flavor balances the rich cocoa bitterness. It has the brown hue of iced coffee with a tan head. The coffee sweetens the beer in the middle, lending to nutty, caramel, and chocolate coffee flavors.
IBU’s: 60
ABV: 7.1
Hops: Nugget, Summit, Amarillo and Crystal.

2013 ReNEWale: E.S.B. – ReNEWale Extra Special Bitter has smooth caramel malt notes upfront and fruity esters contributed by the yeast. Kent Goldings and Northern Brewer Hops add a deep earthy and grassy hop flavor and aroma.
IBUs: 44
ABV: 5.8
Hops: Nugget, Northern Brewer and East Kent Goldings

Sasquatch Legacy WheatwineA Wheat Wine is a Barley Wine strength beer that is made with a large amount of wheat in its grist. Wheat Wines are typically smoother than their Barley Wine cousins with the wheat exhibiting toasted, bready, and Bock-like malty richness. The Falconer’s Flight hops used for bittering are balanced with the earthy and grassy Willamette and Brewer’s Gold Hops. Elegant, full-bodied maltiness with a balanced finish, this is a big beer with a little bite!
IBUs: 80
ABV: 9.0
Hops: Falconers Flight, Brewers Gold and Willamette

We will also be pouring Allies win the War, and ImperiAle Stout.

On Wednesday, January 23rd at 6pm we welcome Coronado Brewing to the market.  There will be a brewery representative on hand to answer all of your questions.  They make some really good ipa’s.  We hope you choose to join us and welcome this brewery to the market.

On another note Hardliver Barleywine fest starts on Saturday, March 23rd this year.  Mark your calenders and plan accordingly.

Houston we have a problem…

We hope everyone had a great New Year, and is primed and ready for a great 2013.  In the middle of all the holiday craziness we had a computer go down, and it had to be rebuilt.  In that process we lost our ability to update the draftlist, menus etc in the side bar.  We are currently working on reestablishing this ability but for the time being most of the information in the side bar will not be up to date.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may be causing you. 

As I am sure some of you are aware Russian River is no longer going to be available here in our great state, for a couple reasons.  We will give you a quick run down of the major reasons:  1. they can’t keep up with current demand in their home state, why ship it 800 miles when you can sell it right at your pub  2. they don’t have as much control over their brand when it is in our state due to the way some of the liquor laws are written.  While this is unfortunate news, and Pliny the Elder, Damnation and their Sour beers will be missed, it is not the end of the world.   Geoff Kaiser over at Seattle Beer News, who is much better versed in the prose than I am wrote a couple of nice articles speaking exactly to this point, in one of them you can even read the letter that we are paraphrasing. We have one last keg that we will be tapping soon, it will be announce here, on Facebook, and Twitter.  Keep your eyes peeled for that!  There will be no shortness of Ipa’s have no fear.

New Year’s Firkin Eve and a couple other upcoming events.

First off we need to say thank you to all of you for your support over the past year(s), for without you we would not be able to do what we do.  Here’s to more continued visits in the upcoming year!

We invite you to join us this evening for New Year’s Firkin Eve!  We contacted Fremont, Reuben’s, Big Al’s, and American to fill our firkins which we are tapping at 6pm tonight, there will a complementary toast at midnight as well.  Here are the beers that are in the firkins:

Fremont:  Sister IIPA with Thai Basil, Buddha’s hand and dry hopped with Simcoe
Reuben’s:  Roasted Rye PA
Big Al:  Nutwarmer Winter Ale
American:  Impaler Pale Ale

We have already started planning events for January.  We will be hosting a Ninkasi  night on Tuesday, January, 22nd @ 6pm.  We will be pouring, Ancient Aliens, Wheat Wine, Imperiale Stout, Allies Win the War, and ESB.  We may even design a beer cocktail or two just for the evening.

On Wednesday, January 23rd starting at 6pm we are pleased to announce the arrival of Coronado Brewing from San Diego to the Seattle market.  This will be your first opportunity to try their delicious brews on draft, there will be a brewery representative on hand to answer questions etc. 

New Years Firkin Eve!!!

The Holidaze are in full effect!  Thank you each and every one of you for your support over the past years, we would not be able to do what we do if it wasn’t for all your support.  I am sure most of you have very full social calenders, I know we do.  Sometimes I just want to escape it all, sit on the couch and relax, but that’s what January is for….We just put on 4 events in 7 days and the next one on the agenda is New Year’s Eve.  We bought a few firkins awhile back, and were trying to decide what to do on New Year’s Eve ( we need to plan ahead in case the world doesn’t end on 12/21/12), and had a great idea.  We contacted Four local breweries, Big Al’s, Reuben’s, American, and Fremont, provided them with a Firkin, ( to pour starting at 6pm) and a 3L bottle(to be used as the toast at Midnight), and that the event. We invite you to join us to ring in the New Year in style.  We wish you all a safe and happy New Year.

We would also like take this time to announce our holiday closures, we will be closed the following days, we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you:

Monday, December 24th Christmas Eve
Tuesday, December 25th Christmas

Monday, January 1st New Year’s Day

Monday, January 14th Employee Appreciation
Tuesday, January 15th Employee Appreciation

Stone Vertical Epic Event

Are you worthy of such an evening!  We welcome you to join us for an amazing event tomorrow night, Wednesday, December 12, starting at 6pm.  We will be pouring Stone’s Vertical Epic series years 2003 thru 2012, if that’s not enough for you we will also be pouring Vertical Epic years 2007 and 2009 that have been aged in wine barrels.  We will be pouring them in individual 6oz serving sizes.   For those of you collectors out there we know that Bottleworks has 4 cases that are the entire vintages years 2002- 2012 for sale starting tomorrow. 

We are also pleased to invite you to join us Thursday, December 13th 2 6pm for a Cascade Brewer’s night.  We will be pouring Autumnal Belgian Ale, Darkest Day Black IPA, Counter Culture Spiced IPA, Defroster, Blueberry, Cranberry, Kriek and Noyaux.  We have been looking forward to having a Brewer’s night with these guys for awhile now. 
Do you have New Year’s Eve plans?  We are putting together an event that we have dubbed “New Year’s Firkin Eve!”  We have partnered up with the other 2 locations, Bottleworks, and Burgundian, to fill all your New Year’s Eve and New Years Day desires.  Bottleworks will be open until 8 pm on New Year’s Eve, Burgundian will be open for dinner until 9pm on New Year’s Eve, and then open again on New Year’s Day from 10-3 to take care of all your hangover needs.  For our event here we contacted 4 local breweries, Rueben’s, American, Fremont and Big Al and asked them all to fill a firkin for us to pour starting at 6pm.  They will also all be filling a 3L to be poured as the toast.   We invite you to plan on joining us for a fun evening.

Bigwood is just around the corner….

We have posted an up to date draftlist on the side bar.  We open tomorrow at 11am and hope you have made plans to join us.  We are pretty excited about this years list.  Note, a couple of weeks ago we posted a tentative list that had some beers that are not currently on the list.  There is always hesitation in posting a list early,  as game time decisions get made and beers we choose to tap change, or we decide to hold on to beers originally slated to be tapped  for other reasons.  We posted a list earlier than ever this year because the biggest complaint we have heard is that we held out on posting the list.   We hope that you  understand that we weren’t attempting to be misleading, we listened to your wishes and published a list with the warning that not all of these might make the festival list.  Thank you for your understanding, and if you got your heart set on a beer that is no longer on the list we hope you realize that there are other delicious offerings there for you.  We look forward to serving you tomorrow and through the weekend.

 Don’t forget that on Saturday we are hosting a Shmaltz Brewing Sweet 16 party with at least 8 barrel aged options from them.  It all kicks off at 2pm so come before or after you attend the Winter Beer Fest at Hales.

Check, Check…We got some events to talk about!

First and foremost, we are only a week away from one of our favorite festivals.  Bigwood, our annual celebration of beers that have spent time in wood barrels from stouts to sours,  starts next Thursday, December 6th  at 11am when we open the doors, and runs through the weekend.  We are putting the final touches on the draftlists and waiting for some of the last kegs to arrive.  We posted a tentative draftlist a few weeks back and will get an updated one up in the next day or so.  Start planning now and make appropriate arrangements to get home, a lot of these beers have a way of creeping up on you.

That leads us to our next event which happens Saturday, December 8th @ 2pm.  We are one of the 16 Chosen Bars.  What does that mean you ask?  Shmaltz/Hebrew brewing is turning 16 and we will be pouring 16 beers.  You can expect to walk in to a Sweet 16 Party, take a look at the flyer if you are still confused. The beers we will have on draft are:

Vertical Jewbelation 
Barrel Aged Messiah 
Barrel Aged Jewbelation 14 

Jewbelation 8 

Jewbelation 9 
Barrel Aged Blockhead #2 
Jewbelation Quinceanera 
Barrel Aged Origin
Jewbelation Sweet 16
Hop Manna
Messiah
Origin
Coney Lager
Albino Python

Next on the list of great events in the hopper, Wednesday, December 12th @6pm, Stone Brewing releases 12/12/12 the last beer in their Epic Series, and with that release we will be pouring years 03 thru 12, on draft.  This is a not to be missed event.  What follows is a list of what each beer in the Series is:

 03.03.03:       Dubbel inspired, brewed with dark candi sugar, and spiced with alligator Pepper (Grains of Paradise) and Coriander.
04.04.04:       Strong golden ale with Kaffir Lime leaves added at the finish.
05.05.05:       Quad, brewed with dark crystal and candi sugar. No spices.
06.06.06:       Another Quad, this one all malt, with wheat and Carafa dark malt.
07.07.07:       Trippel/Saison inspired, brewed with several malts and spiced with Ginger, Cardamom, Lemon peel, orange peel and grapefruit peel.
08.08.08:       Our Belgian IPA–inspired by Duvel Triple Hop. Pale malt, flaked oats and candi sugar. Simcoe and Amarillo hops in the dry-hop.
09.09.09:       Belgian Imperial Porter with tangerine peel, vanilla bean and hints of French oak.
10.10.10:       Strong Golden fermented with 10% (by volume) added white wine juice-a blend of Muscat, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Gewurztraminer.
11.11.11:       Belgian amber with added Hatch chili and cinnamon.
12.12.12:       Belgian Holiday Ale, spiced with Cinnamon, Allspice, Nutmeg, clove, sweet orange peel and rosehips
We look forward to seeing you here.  Are you Worthy?

 You like sour beers?  Thursday, December 13th @6pm Cascade brewing joins us for a small tap takeover.  Look for eight draft offerings four sour and four not sour.
Regular offerings:
 
Darkest Day Black IPA
Counter Culture Spiced IPA
Defroster
Autumnal Belgian Ale

Sour Offerings:
Blueberry
Black Cap Raspberry/or Cranberry  

Kriek
Noyaux
We hope to see you at all of these wonderful events.

A little project of ours….

Awhile back we had an idea during an event we were doing with Dryfly out of Spokane.  The wheels were set in motion, a few barrels landed here in early April and we went ahead and sent them out to some local breweries to age a beer for Bigwood in.  Well Bigwood starts on Thursday, December 6th at 11am when we open, and this will be the first chance for all of us to try the five special beers . The breweries and beers aged in Dryfly Wheat Whiskey barrels are:
Big Time—–Old Sol Wheatwine
Elliot Bay Lake City—–No Doubt Stout
Fremont—–B-Bomb
Elysian—-Split Shot Espresso Milk Stout Stout
Black Raven “Mr Kitty” Blueberry Pale Ale on Nitro

We are glad to have these exclusive beers in addition to all of the other great beers!

November is in Full Swing, and December is close on its heels!

November is here, the Holidaze are just around the corner, we have some events here right around Thanksgiving that will help you stay in the spirit of things.  Lets go over the calender for the next few weeks:

First off:  Wednesday, November 21st.  Mini Pumpkin Road Show.  We saved pumpkin beers that came out way too early so that we could pour them at an appropriate time of the year, when it is actually fall perhaps.  We will have:
Southern Tier Pumking
Timmerman’s Pumpkin Lambic
Howe Sound Pumpkinator
Naked City Boo Radley
Fort George Drunkin Punkin
Ace Pumpkin Cider
Big Time Hobgoblin
Reuben’s Pumpkin Rye
Elysian Nightowl
Elysian Great Pumpkin
Elysian Dark O the Moon
Elysian Blight
Elysian Avant Gourde
Elysian L Rauch Hubbard
Elysian Mr Yuck Pumpkin Sour

All the beers will be available as a float with ice cream.

We are Closed for Thanksgiving, Enjoy your time with the Family!

Friday, November 23rd, Firestone Walker Ugly Sweater Party.  What better way to spend Black Friday?   There will be prizes for the top 3 ugly sweaters and gifts will be given out throughout the day. We will be pouring regular options Pale 31, Union Jack, Double Jack, Velvet Merlin and Wookey Jack.  We will have special tappings throughout the day:
2pm XVI and bottle pours of XIV
3pm Double DBA
4pm Velvet Merkin and Parabola 2012
Just after the awards presentation around 6pm we will tap a very special offering that we assure you will not want to miss.

Thursday, December 6th – 9th BIGWOOD, we replace every tab with beers that have spent time in wood from Stout to Sour. We will be posting a tentative draftlist in next week or so.  This is one of our favorite events.

 
 Saturday, December 8th starting @ 2pm Hebrew/Shmaltz Brewing’s Chosen Bar 16th Anniversary Party. This years anniversary beer uses 16 hops, 16 malts and is 16%ABV.  We are finalizing the draft list but this beer along with 15 other offerings from them will be on draft, expect to see some rare barrel aged beers.

Wednesday, December 12th at 6pm Stone Vertical Epic 12/12/12, along with other Vertical Epic beers.  We are putting the finishing touches on the draftlist and will have a full list by the end of the week.  Stone started this series many years ago, with the idea that they be saved and enjoyed together,  and has provided us with an opportunity to pour a few past years along with the current year.  We are excited by this opportunity.  Again we will have more information by late this week or early next week.

Taken from Stone’s Website: As with any good epic, herein lies the promise of larger-than-life experiences, heroics and twists & turns as the adventure unfolds. These bottle-conditioned ales are specifically designed to be aged until sometime after December 12th, 2012. Provided you can wait that long. At that time, enjoy them in a “vertical” tasting. Each one unique to it’s year of release. Each with its own “twist & turn” in the plotline. Each one released one year, one month and one day from the previous year’s edition. To remind you, the remaining dates are:


12.12.12

Its that time of year again, the Northwest Brewing News Readers Poll voting that is!  Here’s our shameless plug, We urge you to vote for us as the Best Pub/Ale House in the Washington, Bottleworks as best Bottleshop, and all your other favorite Breweries, Pubs and Beer Styles.

It’s already November? Where did our year go?

It’s a fact, pumpkin beer is here to stay.  What started as an idea and a small festival at Elysian Capital Hill has grown in to a gigantic 75 beer celebration of all things pumpkin at their Georgetown Production facility attended by over 4000 people.  Each year these beers come out earlier and earlier, this year I found myself having to order pumpkin beer in mid to late August.  Since August is not when we really want to wet my whistle with thought of fall, we planned a bit ahead and squirreled away some pumpkin beer so that we could serve it to you at a later date.  Well that later date is upon us, and we have an event that we have dubbed The Mini Pumpkin Road Show.  It has started to rain, it feels like fall, we are turning the clocks back, and since we thought ahead we still have some pumpkin beer to share with you for the holidays.  On Wednesday, November 21st (the night before Thanksgiving)  at 6pm we will have at least 10 pumpkin beers on draft and probably one cider. We will be pouring Timmerman’s Pumpkin Lambic, Naked City Boo Radley, Southern Tier Pumking, Howe Sound Pumpkineater, Fort George Druken Punkin, and a handful of beers from Elysian including, Blight, Night Owl, Great Pumpkin, and Dark o the Moon.  We welcome you to come on down and enjoy some pumpkin beer and food before you spend the day with your family over indulging.

It’s that time of year again. The Firestone Walker Ugly Sweater Party is Friday, November 23rd.  It starts at 2pm, we have put together some nice prizes for the Ugliest Sweater.  Prizes will be given away throughout the day, and the major prizes will be announce between 5 and 6 pm that day.  We will be pouring 10 different draft options from them including but not limited to: Union Jack, Pale 31, Double Jack, Wookey Jack, Double DBA, XVI, and some other yet to be determined options, that will not disappoint.   What better way to recover after the holiday spent with your family.  Guys send the woman shopping, put on your ugliest sweater and come join us. 

One of our favorite festivals happens to be in the first week of December, Bigwood, our celebration of all things wood aged from Sour to Stout.  Starting December 6th at 11am and running through the weekend.  We will have more about the exact draftlist in a week or so, please stay tuned.