It is Hoptoberfest at the Beveridge Place Pub (blog sponsor). What exactly does that mean? Well, in short, it means that all month long the Beveridge Place is dedicating a whopping 12 taps to a rotating selection of mostly local IPAs. It also means that the Beveridge Place is in the process of choosing a new house IPA for 2012 — the house IPA is the always-on-tap IPA at the Bev. Not only is it an honor for the winning brewery, but it also represents a lot of guaranteed keg sales.

Hoptoberfest culminates with the 6th Annual IPA Cask-O-Rama. On November 3rd through November 5th, up to 24 casks of IPA will line the bar at the Beveridge Place. It is a beautiful thing. On the first day of IPA Cask-O-Rama the new house IPA is announced, though you shouldn’t expect the beer to show up as a regular pour at the Bev until the first of the year.

When casting your ballot, you are welcome to vote for beers not on tap at the time of your visit. The only real rules for determining what will be the house IPA are that the brewery be up to the task (able to provide enough beer on a consistent basis) and that it be a Washington-brewed IPA.

Here is how the Hoptoberfest balloting works:

• Go to the Beveridge Place Pub and order a liter of IPA (Okay, a pint is acceptable, too)
• Get a ballot (one vote per person per day)
• Repeat as necessary
• From Oct. 4 – 14, you can nominate any Washington-brewed IPA, even if it’s not currently on tap (no “Imperials”)
• From Oct 15 – 24, vote using “a primary ballot” with the top eight nominees
• From Oct 25 – Nov 1, the Bev holds its general election – a ballot with the top three from the primary
• Winner announced at IPA Cask-o-Rama on Thursday, November 3rd.

Last night I was talking to Jeff Lawrence, owner of the Whistle Stop Ale House in Renton. I first met Jeff back in 2002 when I interviewed him as part of a story I was writing for another publication−an article about cask-conditioned beer. More specifically, the story was about the unexpected increase in popularity of cask-conditioned beer. You see, back then the whole cask beer thing seemed unexpected and a bit remarkable. He was a good person to talk to because the Whistle Stop Ale House was one of the only bars in the Seattle area regularly serving cask-conditioned beer back in those days.

My, How Things have Changed

These days “Cask Night” seems to be a regular event at most of the better beer bars around town. The annual Washington Cask Beer Festival is one of the most popular beer events in the area. And then there’s Cask-O-Rama. Today it seems hard to believe that we ever survived without cask-conditioned beer.

Tomorrow evening at the Beveridge Place Pub (Thursday 6:00 p.m.) the 5th Annual Cask-O-Rama will officially begin. There will be a line, you will need be patient, but it is worth it. The event features 24 casks of Washington-brewed IPAs lined up on the bar. It’s a damned impressive sight to see, if nothing else. Cask-O-Rama continues on into the weekend (Friday and Saturday 6:00-12:00).

If you have never attended Cask-O-Rama, you’re really missing something. You build your own sampler trays, picking which six beers you want to try. You can order pints if you like, but with so many delicious and uncommon beers tempting you, we recommend starting off with at least one sampler tray before moving on to larger vessels (if needed).

The first night of Cask-O-Rama also features the crowning of the Hoptoberfest champion. Throughout the month of October, pub patrons voted for their favorite IPA in an ongoing elimination-style tournament. The competition was recently narrowed to the final three (Boundary Bay IPA, Black Raven Trickster IPA, and Two Beers Evolutionary IPA). The winning beer will be the house IPA at the Beveridge Place for the upcoming year. For the winning brewery, this is a big deal, not just because it is an honor to be deemed the champion but also because it represents a significant standing order for beer.

In case you have not seen it yet, here is our video from last year when Black Raven Trickster IPA ousted four-time champion Boundary Bay IPA.

It has begun. Seattle Beer Week is now officially here!

We are blogging live from the Beveridge Place Pub’s Cask-o-Rama. There are 12 casks on the bartop including a few rarities like Georgetown Donkey Deux and Fremont IPA with blood orange. We’ve been here for over an hour and the beer-order line has never been less than 10 or 12 people deep. We don’t know how crowded the northend events are, but this is a sizable crowd and it’s not all Bev regulars here.

So happy kickoff night, we hope you are enjoying good beers, good bars and good friends.

It was a dark and stormy night, one that would make even a gothic freak like Edgar Allen Poe shudder against the wind and rain, when suddenly out of the unsettled darkness Black Raven Brewing came tap, tap, tapping at the door. Enough with the highbrow literary crap.

Last night the Beveridge Place Pub announced the winner of its annual Hoptoberfest competition – a month-long elimination tournament of Washington IPAs. The competition determines the house IPA at the Beveridge Place for the coming year. This is an illustrious honor in itself, but also represents a significant number of guaranteed keg sales. The three finalists were Boundary Bay IPA, Harmon Pt. Defiance IPA, and Black Raven Trickster IPA. Last night, Black Raven took home the title.

The Beveridge Place announces the Hoptoberfest winner at its annual Cask-o-Rama festival. For the past four years, Boundary Bay IPA has been the champion. Every year Boundary Bay won in a landslide and it was beginning to seem like it would never change. Last night, Black Raven Brewing had a trick up its sleeve. The upstarts from Redmond upset the champions when their Trickster IPA was announced the winner of the 2009 Hoptoberfest competition. Our sources behind the bar at the Bev tell us that Trickster IPA won by a landslide.

The video below shows Beveridge Place publican Gary Sink announcing the winner. It also shows Beaux Bowman and the crew from Black Raven enthusiastically accepting the award.

Boundary Bay IPA is a seriously fine beer and holding the title for as long as they did is truly impressive. Thus quoth the raven, “Nevermore.”

Time once again for the Beveridge Place Pub’s IPA Cask-o-Rama — a wonderful celebration of  good firkin beer! The event starts this Thursday, Nov. 5th at 6:00 p.m. and runs until the end of business on Saturday. Where else can you find 24 different cask-conditioned IPAs on tap at once? Even if you cannot make it Thursday, check it out on Friday or Saturday. There will still be a lot of tasty cask-conditioned IPA.

While some lesser pubs might consider it an impressive feat of strength to have a dozen different cask-conditioned firkins of IPA on the bar, the Beveridge Place scoffs at such puny attempts. In all, the Bev will serve 24 different beers in the manner that God intended beer to be served — gas-free and gravity-fed.

Thursday night at 8:00 is when the Beveridge Place Pub will announce the winner of their Hoptoberfest competition — the official anointing of the beer that will be the  house IPA for the next year. Will it be Boundary Bay IPA again? Will Black Raven Trickster IPA or Harmon Pt. Defiance IPA finally be able to unseat the perennial champion?

Here’s the official word from the folks at the Bev:

The event hop-heads put on their calendars a year in advance has arrived! Twenty four cask-conditioned IPAs in Firkins and Golden Gate kegs served from the bartop the way nature intended. Cask beer is a time-honored brewer’s art, and Washington brewers are The Masters! Leonardo McClung, Raphael Cluley, Michealangelo Ringe, Donatello Beauxman, and many others have put the last brush strokes in place, now it’s time to appreciate the results. What’s on tap? Glad you asked. How about…

Anacortes, Black Raven Trickster, Big Al, Big Time Bhagwans, Boundary Bay, Diamond Knot, Dicks, Elysian Immortal, Fish Organic, Fremont Interurban, Hale’s Supergoose, Harmon Pt. Defiance, Iron Horse, Leavenworth Hodgsons,

Northern Lights, Pike, Rock Bottom Hop Bottom, Schooner Exact 3-Grid, Scuttlebutt, Snipes Mt., Snoqualmie Wildcat, Two Beers Echo, and ?

We guarantee you won’t find more hops in one place outside of Yakima!

Oh, and we’ll announce the winner of our annual HOPTOBERFEST vote. The official announcement will happen at 8:00pm.