Back in October, we announced that Pyramid was reopening its Seattle brewery and would actually produce beer in Washington again (read it). We also mentioned how the decision impacted Redhook. At that time, we told you Pyramid hired Kim Brusco, then brewery manager at Redhook, to spearhead the rebirth of the Seattle brewery. Brusco said that he left his position at Redhook with no hard feelings and nothing but respect for Redhook and the Craft Brewers Alliance. We also told you that to replace Brusco Redhook hired Jennifer Talley, the longtime brewmaster at Squatters Pub and Brewery in Salt Lake City, UT.

Today the Seattle Times reports that Redhook has introduced Jennifer Talley as its new brewery manager. She has more than 20 years of professional brewing experience and is a member of the Technical Committee of the Master Brewers Association of the Americas. She is well known and respected in the craft brewing industry. Talley, the longtime brewmaster at Squatters, won her first GABF Gold Medal in 1997 for a Vienna Lager.

According to the Seattle Times, “Talley will help develop new beer styles and brewing techniques as well as be responsible for brewing, cellaring and finishing at the brewery.”

Now that it’s official, the Washington Beer Blog would like to welcome Jennifer Talley to the local beer scene.

UPDATE, 5:45 p.m. – Contest closed. We have a winner! Congrats to Paul LeCroy!

This Saturday, September 17th, Redhook will officially celebrate its 30th anniversary. The big birthday bash at the brewery is a throw-back concert featuring three great bands from the decade of decadence: bands that were all the rage when Redhook was born. The lineup includes DEVO, Psychedelic Furs, and Tom Tom Club. Today, we are giving away a pair of tickets to Saturday’s concert.

To enter our little give-away, leave a comment telling us your all time favorite Redhook beer or your favorite DEVO song. Or tell us both. We will pick a winner at random today (Wednesday, September 14) at 4:00 p.m.

Don’t worry. Even if you don’t win, tickets are still available (info below).

Time Travel

Nothing marks time better than music. Transporting partygoers back to the days when the whole craft beer revolution began in (among other places) an old transmission shop in Ballard, where the very first batches of Redhook were born, Redhook will mark its birthday with a concert featuring some heavyweights from back in the day.

Are We Not Men?

Devo is headlining the show. Yes, that Devo. As if there’s another Devo. As if there is anything even vaguely like Devo. Nothing says 1981 better than “Whip it, whip it good!” Devo’s interpretation of (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction is both genius and disturbing. The Psychedelic Furs and Tom Tom Club open the show.

To jog your memory, the Psychedelic Furs’ big hits were Love My Way and Heartbreak Beat. Along with some success on the radio and MTV, you might remember Love My Way from the 1983 film Valley Girl – the slightly off-center cult classic staring an incredibly young Nicholas Cage.

Tom Tom Club is, basically, what the Talking Heads do when David Byrne is away. Formed as a side project  by Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, Tom Tom Club never really had any big hits, but they were very influential. For what it’s worth, music by Tom Tom Club has been sampled, remixed and reproduced by many artists ranging from Mariah Carey to Grandmaster Flash.

Enough with the history lesson. Here are the details about the party:

Redhook’s 30^th Birthday Party Tickets on sale July 8

DEVO to Headline this Celebration of the‘80s

Woodinville, Wash, July 6, 2011 - Join Redhook Brewery for his 30^th birthday and party like it’s 1981. The monumental birthday, held Sept. 17, will be headlined by ‘80s rock band Devo and opening acts: The Psychedelic Furs and Tom Tom Club, with special guest, Mitten. The event is expected to attract thousands of craft beer and music lovers from across the Pacific Northwest.

In addition to live music, the birthday celebration will offer food and Redhook beer including a special beer being released just for the occasion. Tickets for Redhook’s 30^th birthday go on sale Friday, July 8 and are $30 when purchased in advance, $40 at the door. The party will be open to adults 21 years of age and older. Tickets will be available for purchase at Forecasters Public House, located at Redhook Brewery, and online at www.redhook.com.

What:
Redhook Brewery’s 30^th Birthday Party

• 21 and over, general admission, celebration of the ‘80s.
• Featuring headlining musical guest Devo
• Redhook beer and food from Forecasters Public House will be available

When:
Saturday, Sept. 17
Gates open at 3 p.m.
Music begins at 4:30 p.m.

Where:
Redhook Brewery
14300 N.E. 145^th Street
Woodinville, WA 98072

Who:
Thousands of food, music and beer lovers from around Pacific Northwest

Tickets:
Available the Forecasters Public House at Redhook Brewery or online at www.redhook.com.

$30 advance / $40 day of show

Redhook has just announced a 3 year partnership with the University of Washington to be the Huskies’ exclusive craft brewery. What does that mean? It means that when you go to “The Zone” at a UW football game you’ll be drinking Redhook products.

The Zone is the UW’s answer to a big tailgate party. Although no actual tailgates are involved, The Zone features entertainment, food, adult and non-adult beverages, and generally provides a place for Husky fans to socialize before the game and during halftime.

Here’s the press release from Redhook:

WOODINVILLE, Wash. – (Business Wire) Redhook Ale Brewery (NASDAQ:HOOK) has partnered with the University of Washington Huskies to become the Dawg’s exclusive craft brewery. The three year partnership kicks off this month.

“As Seattle’s original craft brewer, we are thrilled to team up with the University of Washington to bring Husky fans a true taste of the Pacific Northwest,” said Greg Deuhs, brewmaster for Redhook Ale Brewery. “Redhook has been pouring craft beers in Western Washington since 1982 and we look forward to cheering the Dawgs on from The Zone.”

Through this partnership, Redhook will be the exclusive craft beer sponsor of The Zone. The Zone is a Washington Huskies’ game day experience that features entertainment, food, beverages and a place for Husky fans to socialize for three hours pre-game, during halftime and post-game. Additionally, The Zone offers custom suite rentals for first-class entertaining.

Redhook Ale Brewery was established in 1981 in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. The brewery has gone on to be recognized as a craft brewing innovator with distribution throughout the U.S. Maintaining its Pacific Northwest roots, Redhook’s main brewery is located in Woodinville, Wash.

This past weekend, in a galaxy far, far away, one of our local breweries took home some hardware at the 13th Great International Beer Competition (part of the Great International Beer Festival).

Held in Providence, Rhode Island, the Great International Beer Festival proclaims itself to be “America’s Largest International Beer Festival.” The event was attended by an estimated 7,000 people, so it certainly does not compare to the GABF or even our own Washington Brewers Festival, which usually draws twice that number. Still, a crowd of 7,000 is not insignificant.

Looking at the list of participating breweries, this event seems to focus on American craft beer more than international beer. Some of the breweries are familiar to us left-coasters — for instance, Dogfish Head Brewery, Sierra Nevada Brewing, and Victory Brewing. Others are less familiar — Harpoon Brewery, Narragansett Brewing, Opa Opa Brewing, Cottrell Brewing, and Newport Storm Brewing, for example.

In addition to being a brew festival, this was a professionally judged beer competition. We are still waiting for complete details about the total number of breweries involved and the total number of beers entered into the competition, but we do know that Redhook brought home three medals. The judges awarded Redhook a gold medal for Long Hammer IPA, a silver medal for the German Weiss, and a bronze for Slim Chance.

I know what many of you are thinking. Redhook has a production brewery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but I still think of them as a Washington brewery. Redhook’s ties to the Washington beer scene are unmistakable. The brewmaster in Portsmouth, Doug MacNair, is a Washington native (Interlake High School, Whitman College) who started brewing for Redhook back in the 80s. Paul Shipman’s place in the Washington beer pantheon is secure.

Yes, I know that many of you will scratch your heads and question whether Redhook should be thought of as a Washington craft brewery anymore, and I am quite familiar with the disdain that Redhook’s relationship with Anheuser Busch has fostered in the hearts of many craft beer purists, but this is a slow news Monday. After the past few weeks, and all the bad news I’ve had to report, I just thought it would be nice to share some happy news.

Cheers to Doug and his crew at Redhook’s eastern outpost. They might be 3,000 miles away from the spawning grounds, but they’re still pumping out award winning beers.

FOLLOW UP – We now have the complete list of winners. Read the entire article to see the list of winners.

Here are the complete results, with plenty of typos:

WHEAT BEER — BELGIAN
1) Southampton Double White, Southampton Brewing, Southampton, NY
2) Redhook Schmidty’s Vice, Redhook Ale Brewery, Portsmouth, NH
3) Blue Moon Belgian White Ale, Coors Brewing, Golden, CO

WHEAT BEER — GERMAN & AMERICAN
1) Samuel Adams Dunkleweizen, Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA
2) Rogue Somer Orange Honey Ale, Rogue Ales, Portland, OR
3) Sierra Nevada Kellerweis, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Chico, CA

LIGHT ALES
1) Offshore East Chop Lighthouse, Offshore Ale Co., Oak Bluffs, MA
2) Trinity Kölsch, Trinity Brewhouse, Providence, RI
3) Redhook Slim Chance, Redhook Ale Brewery, Portsmouth, NH

ENGLISH PALE ALE/BITTER
1) Martha’s Exchange McGann’s London Ale, Martha’s Exchange, Nashua, NH
2) Jasper Murdock’s Old Slipperyskin, Jasper Murdock’s Alehouse/Norwich Inn, Norwich, VT
3) Boston Beer Works (Fenway) King’s Chapel Imperial ESB, Slesar Brothers Brewing, Boston, MA

AMERICAN PALE ALE
1) Redhook Long Hammer IPA, Redhook Ale Brewery, Portsmouth, NH
2) Jasper Murdock’s First Pick, Jasper Murdock’s Alehouse/Norwich Inn, Norwich, VT
3) Gardner Chair City Pale Ale, Gardner Ale House, Gardner, MA

AMERICAN AMBER ALE
1) Ithaca CascaZilla Red Ale, Ithaca Beer Co., Ithaca, NY
2) Rogue American  CONTACT _Con-3AF84344370 \c \s \l Amber, Rogue Ales, Portland, OR
3) Cricket Hill American Ale, Cricket Hill Brewing, Fairfield, NJ

INDIA PALE ALE
1) Willimantic Junk Mail IPA, Willimantic Brewing, Willimantic, CT
2) Trinity IPA, Trinity Brewhouse, Providence, RI
3) Boston Beer Works (Fenway) Slash & Burn Double IPA, Slesar Brothers Brewing, Boston, MA

BROWN ALE
1) Jasper Murdock’s Famous Sidekick, Jasper Murdock’s Alehouse/Norwich Inn, Norwich, VT
2) John Harvard’s Nut Brown Ale, John Harvard’s Brew House, Manchester, CT
3) Milly’s Castlefield Northern English Brown, Milly’s Tavern, Manchester, NH

PORTER
1) Southampton Imperial Porter, Southampton Brewing, Southampton, NY
2) Rogue Mocha Porter, Rogue Ales, Portland, OR
3) Long Trail Imperial Porter, Long Trail Brewing, Bridgewater Corners, VT

STOUT
1) Pike 5X Stout, Pike Brewing, Seattle, WA
2) Rogue Chocolate Stout, Rogue Ales, Portland, OR
3) Rogue Shakespeare Stout Rogue Ales, Portland, OR

LAGER
1) Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA
2) Kingfisher Premium Lager, Saratoga Brewing, Saratoga Springs, NY
3) Rogue Kell’s Irish Lager, Rogue Ales, Portland, OR

AMBER LAGER
1) Cambridge House Ominous Forecast, Cambridge House, Granby, CT
2) Boston Beer Works (Canal Street) Black Rider, Slesar Brothers Brewing, Boston, MA
3) Harpoon Munich Dark, Harpoon Brewery, Boston, MA

OKTOBERFEST
1) Samuel Adams Octoberfest, Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA
2) Olde Saratoga Lager, Saratoga Brewing, Saratoga Springs, MY
3) Rogue Maierfest, Rogue Ales, Portland, OR

STRONG BEER — OTHER
1) Trinity Imperial Red, Trinity Brewhouse, Providence, RI
2) Lake Placid Ubu Ale, Lake Placid Brewing, Lake Placid, NY
3) Watch City Pazuzu Ale, Watch City Brewing, Waltham, MA

STRONG BEER — IMPERIAL IPA
1) Gardner Face-off Double IPA, Gardner Ale House, Gardner, MA
2) Rogue I2PA, Rogue Ales, Portland, OR
3) Ithaca Alphalpha, Ithaca Beer Co., Ithaca, NY

STRONG BEER — LAGER
1) Samuel Adams Double Bock, Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA
2) Rogue Morimoto Imperial Pilsner, Rogue Ales, Portland, OR
3) Boston Beer Works (Canal Street) Double Bock, Slesar Brothers Brewing, Boston, MA

STRONG BEER — MIXED STYLES
1) Samuel Adams Imperial Stout, Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA
2) Olde Burnside Ten Penny Ale Reserve, Olde Burnside Brewing, East Hartford, CT
3) Southampton Abbot 12, Southampton Brewing, Southampton, NY

FRUIT/SPICE — LAGERS & BELGIAN ALES
1) Southampton Cuvée des Fleurs, Southampton Brewing, Southampton, NY
2) Southampton Saison, Southampton Brewing, Southampton, NY
3) Trinity Belgian Pumpkin, Trinity Brewhouse, Providence, RI

FRUIT/SPICE: ALES
1) Watch City Beejeezus Hop Crisis BPA, Watch City Brewing, Waltham, MA
2) Trinity Baltic Porter, Trinity Brewhouse, Providence, RI
3) Boston Beer Works (Canal Street) Cherry Bomb, Slesar Brothers Brewing, Boston, MA