Another Beery Weekend in Washington

This Saturday -Sat. Oct. 3rd- there are some notable beer events happening. What are you gonna do?
Tacoma Craft Beer Festival – The Tacoma Craft Beer Festival will run from noon ’til 9:00 pm at the Foss Waterway Seaport — a very cool, century-old event space at the foot of Tacoma’s downtown district. This event is for the grown-ups only (21+). Along with great beer, there will be food and live music. The event will feature beer from 42 breweries, most of the them Washington breweries. We’ll be there in the afternoon (tweet us direct @beerblog, if you want to say hello). Proceeds from the event will benefit Boots -n- Breeches, an organization that helps children and adults with disabilities, transforming lives through the therapeutic bond between horse and rider. Very cool.
Yakima Fresh Hop Festival – The Seventh Annual Fresh Hop Ale Festival takes place at the Millennium Arts Plaza in downtown Yakima. The event runs from 6:00 – 11:00 PM. There will be 16 breweries on hand from across the northwest. There will also be a fresh hop ale competition. “Fresh hop” ale is defined as a beer made using hops that are less than 24 hours off the bine (vine). If you like hoppy beer, and I mean really hoppy beer, this is the event for you. For more information, visit the festival Web site at http://www.freshhopalefestival.com.

Octoberbreast in Georgetown – Smarty Pants of Georgetown is teaming up with Hale’s Brewery and Gilda’s Club for the First annual “Oktoberbreast” fundraiser. This 21+ event will feature live music, food, a door prize raffle, and of course, beer. Smarty Pants is a very cool and hip spot right in the heart of Georgetown – think tattoos and scooters. Along with Hale’s, a number of other local breweries are involved. All proceeds will benefit breast cancer research and Gilda’s Club. O’Brien’s Harvest Ale from Hale’s has been named the official Oktoberbreast beer.
Leavenworth Oktoberfest – Leavenworth Oktoberfest kicks off this weekend. The only domestic beer served at Leavenworth Oktoberfest is from Alpine Brewing in Oroville. And they serve a lot of it. Owner/Brewmaster Bart Traubeck tells me that he typically goes through 70 kegs of his Alpine Oktoberfest at this festival each year. Yes, I said 70 kegs! If you want to gather beneath big white tents with thousands of other people to drink German beer, hoist liter mugs while arm in arm with strangers, do the chicken dance and, you know, Oom-Pah-Pah… then this is the place for you. Leavenworth Oktoberfest servers up some serious German beers: Bitburger, Warsteiner, Kostritzer and Weihenstaphan. Oom-Pah-Pah indeed!
I know I missed a few, so use the comments section to tell us what you’re up to.