Today we offer another installment from our friend and contributor North Seattle Sarah: an adventurous lass trekking her way towards beer geekdom.

We can always count on Naked City Brewery and Taphouse, located on Greenwood Avenue North, to bring us beers with quirky names (like the recent “Citra Ass Down”), to participate in just about every brewing event in Washington, and to provide us with a good time, every time.

Now, Naked City brings us something new: The 1st Annual Daylight Savings Chaos Cook-Off (say that three times fast). The event takes place on Sunday, March 13th from 2pm to 5pm, and tickets go on sale March 1st at 4pm at Naked City for $20 each.

Here’s the deal: 9 Breweries are participating from around the area, and each brings one beer and one paired chili dish to Naked City. The people who attend get to vote and awards will be given out for best beer, best chili, and best pair. Your ticket includes tastes of all nine beers and all nine chilis!

Breweries Participating:

• Naked City
• 7 Seas Brewing
• Fremont Brewing
• Big Al’s Brewing
• Black Raven Brewing
• Big Time Brewing
• Pike Brewing
• Red Hook
• Two Beers Brewing

Judging by how crowded Naked City can get on a regular day, I’m guessing this event will sell out quickly. So stop in right away and pick up your tickets, and look for me at the event!

Trade Route Brewing has moved south to Pacific, Washington. The official grand opening of the tasting room is this weekend. Here is the message we received from Trade Route:

Please join us at our new brewery and taphouse this weekend for our Grand Opening!

Here is our new address:

Trade Route Brewing Co.
1091 Valentine Ave SE
Pacific, WA 98047
253-987-5680
[Click for map]

From Seattle: Take I-5 South, to I-405 South. Exit to Hwy 167 South. Take the Milton/Pacific exit (8th St/Stewart Rd). Turn left at Exit to Stewart Rd. Turn Left on Valentine Rd. First driveway on Right.

Live Music & Beer Specials

Saturday, Oct. 17th: 11am – 10 pm
12-4pm: PHIL SLATER: Motown, R&B, Classic Rock, Country, & Big Band
6-10pm:  VZ VALLEY BOYS: Blue Grass

Sunday, Oct. 17th: 11am – 6pm
1pm: Watch the Seahawks battle the Cardinals
3pm: Chainsaw Carving Demonstration by national champion and Pacific resident, Bob King.

Last May, Seattle celebrated its first official Seattle Beer Week. For 10 days our calendars were slam-packed with all sorts of cool beer events. Our livers barely survived and, as great as it was, by the last day most of us were breathing a sigh of relief. However, it only took about 5 days for us to start thinking fondly of what 2010 might bring. As other cities now organize their first Beer Week celebrations it is clear that once again we are leading the way for the nation when it comes to beer.

I recently proposed to the Washington Beer Commission that they organize an official Washington Beer Month, which would be similar to a city beer week but on a grander scale and with a different purpose. Sanctioned by a proclamation from Governor Gregoire, Washington Beer Month would feature a series of events all across the state celebrating our craft beer culture and promoting the vitality of our local beer industry. Finer beer drinking establishments could step up and organize their own Washington Beer Month events. Television, radio and print media would all be talking about Washington Beer Month and Washington Beer in general. A brilliant promotions idea, if I do say so myself.

But I digress, back to Beer Week celebrations.

Seattle Beer Week was organized by a group of beer enthusiasts (craft beer industry insiders) who, as I understand it, were inspired by San Francisco Beer Week and Philadelphia Beer Week. I’m not sure if anyone noticed the first New York Craft Beer Week, which happened in 2008. (This year’s New York Craft Beer Week just concluded on September 20th).  St. Louis also celebrated a Beer Week in the spring of 2009, but we can’t find any information about the 2010 version.

Whatever the case, Seattle was one of the first cities to officially celebrate its proud beer culture with an organized Beer Week.  Now it seems everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. So far we’ve learned of Beer Week celebrations starting up in Los Angeles, Cleveland, Baltimore, San Diego and Washington DC.

Denver Beer Week doubles as the Great American Beer Festival. We all know about that one. No news there.

Los Angeles will celebrate it’s first LA Beer Week October 17th – 24th. “Featuring a mind and palate pleasing array of local beer establishments, breweries, beer, cuisine, tasting, events and demonstrations.Come out and celebrate the diversity of our local beer culture at one of the many events being held at the great beer establishments all across the Southland. LA Beer Week will provide a framework and calendar for individual establishments and breweries to promote their own events.” http://www.labeerweek.com

Cleveland Beer Week will take place from October 16-24, 2009. “With a mission of promoting the craft and imported beer industry, Cleveland Beer Week features plenty of tastings, events, activities, and entertainment staged at bars, taverns, restaurants, grocers, and specialty beverage stores throughout Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.” http://www.clevelandbeerweek.org

Baltimore Beer Week starts today (October 8th) and run until October 18th. “10 full days celebrating All things beer in the Land of Pleasant Living and will include over 300 separate events with something for everyone – who loves beer! Boog Powell, former Baltimore Oriole who is a longtime friend of beer, will start Baltimore Beer Week with a mighty blow. Powell will crack open a cask of beer aboard the USS Constellation in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.” http://www.baltimorebeerweek.com

San Diego Beer Week will run from November 6th – 15th. According to the Web site, this event “Promotes San Diego’s thriving craft beer culture by sponsoring a ten-day countywide festival that attracts beer tourism, fosters knowledge of our regional brewing heritage, and serves as a showcase for San Diego’s breweries, restaurants, pubs, and other businesses with ties to the craft beer community. San Diego Beer Week is sponsored by the San Diego Brewers Guild.” http://sdbw.org

Washington, DC Beer Week concluded on August 29, 2009. “The inaugural 2009 Washington, DC Beer Week featured more than a dozen domestic and international breweries and involved restaurants and bars from all sectors of the district. The 5-day extravaganza of beer tasting events gave consumers an opportunity to meet and greet with brewers, experience food and beer pairings, and learn about beer styles and the history of brewing.”

Tomorrow is the final of three release parties for the South Sound’s newest brewery, 7 Seas Brewing of Gig Harbor. The Red Hot in Tacoma is hosting the first ever release of the Ballz Deep Double IPA. When we met with the guys from 7 Seas a couple weeks ago, they said there was an outside chance that at this event they might have all three of their new beers on tap for the first time. If that’s not the case, we can only hope for a couple brewers nights at our local establishments sometime soon, we enjoyed sampling their Cutt’s Ale and 7 Seas British Pale Ale and we’re definitely looking forward to trying their finished product.

(Summer being overloaded as usual, we regret that we haven’t made it to these release parties. If anyone has made it down to the first two parties at Tides Tavern and Ly lu Hee Hee, please post a review in comments!)

Day One — The Great Pumpkin Beer Festival

You couldn’t ask for better weather for the Great Pumpkin Beer Festival (as originally reported here). If you like pumpkin beer, you couldn’t ask for better beer. Saturday October 18th at Elysian’s Capital Hill brewery and pub, a large crowd gathered to celebrate the gourd. When I arrived at 2:00, the pub was packed. Outside, beneath the big tent in the parking lot, the crowd was assembling. By 4:00 (Tapping of the Great Pumpkin), the crowd was massive both inside and out.

$10 got you one of three sampler trays. Each tray included seven different beer samples. The first tray featured a selection of Elysian’s own creations. The second offered samples from other local brewers (Schooner Exact, Pike, Big Time, etc). The third included beers from distant breweries like Midnight Sun Brewing (Anchorage, AK), Cambridge Brewing (Cambridge, Mass.), and Allagash Brewing (Portland, Maine). 

At 4:00, it was time for the tapping of the great pumpkin. Elysian took the biggest pumpkin they could find (and carry), hollowed it out, scorched the interior, and then filled it with a specially-chosen pumpkin beer. The beer went through its final conditioning in the pumpkin. They used a drill to tap into the giant pumpkin’s base. Samples of the concoction poured until the pumpkin was empty. I’m not sure if there was enough to go around. By the time they tapped the gourd, the crowd was quite massive. I was lucky enough to get a sample. I was a bit worried at first; however, I was pleasantly surprised by the beer that was produced. When all you get is a 4 oz. sample, it’s hard to make a real firm judgment. I’ll just say that it tasted like you might expect a beer conditioned inside a pumpkin to taste. Not everyone can say they’ve sampled such an exotic libation, that’s for sure.

I cannot honestly say that I sampled all of the beers. I did sample enough to come up with some favorites: Elysian Hansel and Gretel Pumpkin Lager, Midnight Sun Imperial Chocolate Pumpkin Porter, and Pike Brewing Pumpkin Tandem (which I assumed to be a pumpkin-infused version of Pike Tandem).

Next Sunday (Oct. 26th) they do it all again at Elysian Fields. There will be no beer-filled pumpkin at next week’s event, but there will be a whole host of delicious pumpkin beers to delight your palate.

Above, that’s Dave Buhler and Dick Cantwell of Elysian Brewing – the masterminds behind all this pumpkin madness.