It’s a shot across the bow. An early distant warning. A sure sign that the end is near. This is the very first release notice we’ve seen about the pending availability of a winter beer. For crying out loud, it’s still August!

Over at Elysian Brewing they’ve got a lot, uh, brewing, so to speak. Elysian is rapidly bringing together the new production facility in Georgetown that will vastly increase the brewery’s output. They recently announced that this year’s Great Pumpkin Beer Festival will be the largest ever, which is a bit hard to imagine considering the girth of last year’s event. (This year the event will take place at the new facility in Georgetown, by the way.) On top of that, Elysian just announced the pending availability of Bifrost, the brewery’s winter seasonal beer.

Maybe Dick Cantwell and his crew at Elysian are just too busy to notice that it is still summer. Looking out the window at a sunny August day, it is hard to imagine that winter is just around the corner. I’m not really willing to entertain the notion just yet. I’m not ready to start wearing long pants again. Anyway, here is the release notice from Elysian.

A FUNNY LITTLE BEER STORY
from Dick Cantwell

Bifrost replaced our original winter ale, Valkyrie, in the seasonal rotation shortly after our dishwasher drank four pints of it, was cut off and threw a glass at the bartender. Billy was the first person we fired. In an age when winter beers were invariably dark, and often spiced, Bifrost was like a ray of strong sunshine (it was also an age when winter beers were released in the wintertime, not August).

With lots of pale malt augmented only by a little 77° crystal and some Munich malt, Bifrost is a strong pale ale with a good amount of hop character (55 IBU, bittered with Magnum and finished with a combination of Amarillo and Styrian Goldings). Its name, however wintry it might sound, comes from the rainbow bridge linking Asgard, the Norse realm of the gods, with Earth.

ELYSIAN BIFROST Slides onto shelves Sept. 15

ABV 7.5% | AVAILABLE in 1/2 Bbl and 22oz bottles

When you step into the Elysian Brewing Company’s new facility on Airport Way South in Seattle’s Georgetown district, you’ll immediately notice one thing: it’s big. It’s vast. Actually, it’s 33,500 square feet.

Perhaps the space will feel a bit cozier when all ten of the 240-barrel stainless fermentation tanks arrive. Yep, you heard me right. Ten 240-barrel fermenters.

The brewdeck is huge. It’s enormous, actually. For those who do not know, the brewdeck is where the brewers stand above the open kettles to keep an eye on the boil. It is also the place from which they add specialty ingredients. In this case, the brewdeck needed to be large enough to accommodate full pallets of pumpkins—a design requirement written by Dick Cantwell, Elysian’s Brewmaster, co-owner and pumpkin geek.

Dick Cantwell, Dave Buhler, and Joe Bisacca: Elysian Co-Owners.

Most of the new brewery and production facility still lays in bits and pieces. It is coming together and starting to take shape. The packaging room (which is immense, as you should have presumed) is full of freestanding equipment awaiting proper deployment. Eagerly, a centrifuge awaits its first assignment.

“We won’t need to use filters,” Dick tells us, as we gaze lovingly at the pig-shaped centrifuge, a device which essentially replaces a filter. “Yeah, it does kind of look like a pig. Someone said we should paint it pink. No way.”

Turning our attention to the soon-to-be bottling line, which will eventually be able to pump out  12 ounce bottles at a rate of 400 per minute, Dick says, “Most of the equipment is not new. We’re reconditioning it. That’s what we’ve been doing: taking everything apart, cleaning, replacing parts and putting it back together.”

Casting our eyes upon what will eventually be the bottling line, Dick tells us that the brewery will venture into the world of 12 ounce bottles, packaged in six packs and half-cases, as soon as they’ve mastered the art of 22 ounce bottles.

There are a lot of other details. The floors in the building—formerly, a paint warehouse—are strong enough to handle things like pallets of beer, stacks of kegs, and 240-barrel fermentation tanks. Paint is heavier than beer. The massive cold room was requisitioned from Columbia Distributing. There are all sorts of details like that. They really don’t matter much to the beer drinking public. We just want the finished product. And we eagerly look forward to Elysian’s beers becoming more widely available in retail outlets both near and far.

The cold room. One big fridge. That is a person in the far corner.

Here’s something that does matter to Seattle-area beer lovers: the Great Pumpkin Beer Fest will now be in Georgetown. According to Dave Buhler, Elysian co-owner, the permits have already been approved by the city. We even heard rumors that they are contemplating a shuttle bus from the Capitol Hill brewpub so that the old neighborhood, which has always so strongly supported pumpkin fest, doesn’t feel totally abandoned. Will Pumpkin Fest be even bigger now that it will take place at the new digs? Well, perhaps, but most certainly there will be more elbow room.

We’ll have more details about the new production brewery in Georgetown when the beer actually starts flowing. We’ll also have more information about the Great Pumpkin Beer Fest as the date nears.

The Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) put together a video about the history of the big, red R, including a bit of history about Rainier Brewing. Although today’s craft beer aficionados may not feel much affiliation with the brand, Rainier was once the largest brewery west of the Mississippi, claimed to be the 6th largest brewery in the world, and is indelibly linked to Seattle’s brewing history.

Check out the video.

Shon MacDughlas grew up right down the street from the business he’s about to open. A West Seattle native, MacDughlas (pronounced “MacDouglas”) knows the lay of the land. I talked to MacDughlas the other day and he told me a bit about The Cask – the bar/store that he and his wife are preparing to open in the Admiral District of West Seattle. The Cask is located on California Avenue, across the street from the historic Admiral Theater. They are hoping to open sometime around the first of May.

“It’s going to be an old world ale and wine house,” he told me. “When you come through the door there will be coolers with 150 world beers for you to choose from. We’ll be licensed to serve it and to sell it to go. Towards the back, we have a lounge where you can drink any of the beers. We’ll also have six beers on draft with one beer engine pouring cask-conditioned beer. Our taps will rotate.”

MacDughlas says that they will have local beer on tap, but will not necessarily feature local beer exclusively. There will be some focus on seasonal offerings, as well.

Beyond beer, The Cask will offer a selection of wine and some food. “80 percent of our wine will be from local, independent, smaller producers,” says MacDughlas. “We’ll start out by offering some snack-type food and see how it goes – fresh-made pretzels from a local bakery, cured meats, stuff like that.”

“The atmosphere will be relaxed, with lots of wood, a home-built bar made out of an old-growth fir tree (a fallen tree), lots of lamp light and candles.” MacDughlas also says that they’ll have live music .

As I write this post, I just received an email from my friends at the West Seattle Blog, who are also reporting the story this morning, with a little bit more detail for West Seattle locals. Read their post here.

This is a call to arms. As craft beer enthusiasts, we need to make our voices heard. A new bill has been introduced in the other Washington that promises to help the craft brewing industry nationwide. We all need to contact our representatives and tell them to support H.R. 4278. It is easy and quick to send a note to your congress person. All you need to know is your zip code.

What is Small?

The small brewer tax rate was established in 1976 and has never been updated. The world was a different place back then and the tax code defined a “small brewery” as one producing less than 2 million barrels per year. In short, a brewery making 190 barrels per year pays the same federal excise tax rate as a brewery producing 1.9 million barrels per year.

Most brewers in Washington produce less than 10,000 barrels per year. Even the most ubiquitous of local craft breweries (not counting Redhook) produces less than 50,000 barrels per year. Setting the “small brewery” ceiling at 2 million barrels hearkens back to a time when there was no craft beer industry in America and a brewery like Rainier was considered small.

H.R. 4278, introduced in December 2009 by Democrat Representative Richie Neal (MA) and Republican Representative Kevin Brady (TX), would redefine the ceiling defining a small brewery and reduce the beer excise tax for small brewers from $7 to $3.50 on the first 60,000 barrels of beer production.

Action is Easy

The Brewers Association has an official Call to Action posted on their Web site. You can read it here.

It is very easy to contact your representative and make your opinion known. Just click here, enter your zip code, and fill out the simple form. You don”t need to be fancy, long winded, or eloquent. Just tell them that you want them to support H.R. 4278.

Here is the simple message I sent my representative this morning:

I urge you to support H.R. 4278 – a bill that provides much-needed updates to the small brewer tax regulations. Please take a moment to consider the robust and growing craft beer industry here in Washington state and support H.R. 4278.

If you’re like me, the mere mention of St. Patrick’s Day fills your head with thoughts of Irish pubs packed beyond capacity with unruly hordes of over-served amateurs swilling down pitchers of green Bud Light: staggering beer zombies performing unsanitary acts of public drunkenness in Post Alley.

This St. Patrick’s Day, Tom Douglas Events will host a civilized event for us grownups, featuring fine foods paired with delicious beers. What a relief!  The Beer Blast will feature Irish-style ales from local craft brewers paired with delicious food.

Last October I attended the Beer and Brats event at the Palace Ballroom – the Oktoberfest equivalent of the St. Pat’s Beer Blast. (Read our post.) It was a great event with amazing food and fantastic beer. I would expect nothing less at this event. You’ll find details about the event below.

TIP: Full Throttle Bottles in Georgetown is selling discounted tickets for this event. Your other ticket options are explained below.

St. Patrick’s Day Beer Blast
Fresh and delicious Irish style ales from local breweries like:
Snoqualamie
Big Al
Maritime Pacific
Elysian
Elliott Bay
Hales
Pike
Georgetown Brewery

Each brewery will be paired with their own hearty bites from Tom Douglas Restaurants like stout beef stew and traditional bangers!

Beecher’s Cheese, Theo’s Chocolate and Market House Meats will also provide tasty vittles

Where: Palace Ballroom at the corner of 5th and Lenora, downtown Seattle
Time: 5-8pm
Cost: $35 tax included (Or $25 at Full Throttle)

For tickets:
Contact Christy at 206.448.2001 or via email at christinal@tomdouglas.com

Or just head down to Full Throttle Bottles.

Scuttlebutt Brewing is having a Name That Beer contest. They are renaming their Sequioa Red Ale and want to hear your ideas. The winner gets a keg. Legally, Scuttlebutt will own the name but you will own the bragging rights and the keg. Stylistically, the beer is somewhere between an ESB and a Pale Ale. It does not need to have “red” in the name.

Matt Stromberg, Head Brewer at Scuttlebutt, says: “As many of you know, this is the beer that I brew just for myself. It’s developed quite a following amongst our regulars at the pub, especially the nitro version. It has a robust hop presence but remains very balanced and is very session oriented at 5% abv.”

For more info, and to enter, visit the Scuttlebutt Web site.

A good friend of the Washington Beer Blog is currently in Belgium, which gave us an idea for a new poll. Our friend is doing a very good job of keeping us posted as he ambles about the bucolic Belgian beer landscape. Bastard.  Not really, it’s just that he is making us very jealous, to say the least.

So we have decided that it is time to start a new poll. We want to know where in the world you would choose to drink beer. Imagine that money is not an issue. You get to go wherever you want. Belgium, England, Ireland, Germany, and so on. The poll is over there in the right sidebar.

We’ve included California and Oregon as options because your responses to previous posts and polls suggest that many of you think that those two states are worthy of making the short list. We are also allowing you to write in anyplace you like.

So where in the world would you go to drink beer?

I am posting this because I’m curious to see if anyone cares. I am particularity curious to hear what people in the industry think. Yesterday the Liquor Control Board adopted revised rules restricting outdoor alcohol advertising at all establishments serving and selling alcohol. Among other things, this rule impacts the size and number of signs a bar can have in the window. In short, there will be a lot of neon signs coming down next month. The new restrictions are effective April 3.

According to the Liquor Control Board, the revised rules are based on public input requesting that the board place restrictions on the size, amount and location of alcohol advertising at liquor-licensed locations.

Here are some of the highlights.

• Limiting to four the number of signs advertising alcohol, brand names and manufacturers that are visible from the outside of a retail licensed premises such as stores, bars and restaurants.
• Restricting the size of alcohol signs visible from the outside of a retail licensed premises to 1,600 square inches.
• Applying the rules to signs at civic events where alcohol is served, such as beer gardens.

The complete Notice of Rule Change can be found here.

Here is the explanatory statement issued by the Liquor Control Board:

Amendatory Section WAC 314-52-070 – Outdoor advertising.
Amended language to restrict the number of signs advertising alcohol, brand names, and/or manufacturers that are visible from the public right of way on the outside of a retail premises to a total of four. The size of the signs is limited to 1600 square inches. Amended language to restrict outdoor advertising within 500 feet of places of worship, schools, public playgrounds, or athletic fields used primarily by children. Added back language “where the administrative body of said church, school, public playground or athletic field object to such placement”. The 500 feet is measured from the property line of the place of worship, school, public playground or athletic field to the outdoor sign. Added language that gives a local jurisdiction the option to exempt liquor licenses in their jurisdiction from the outdoor advertising restrictions in this section through a local ordinance. “Tourist Oriented Designation Signs” per RCW 47.36.320 are exempt from this requirement.

Redhook Ale Brewery is staged to release Big Ballard Imperial IPA next month. The beer will be available in 22 oz. bottles and on draft. To pay homage to Redhook’s noble past, the beer sports a familiar face on the label. Ya sure, ya betcha! He’s back!

Not long ago I shared a pint with Kim Brusco, Brewing Operations Manager at Redhook. He told me about the impending release of Big Ballard and the reintroduction of the Ballard Bitter branding that is so familiar to us old school craft beer lovers. Kim also told me about some other interesting stuff happening out in Woodinville. I will be posting a story about that stuff in the near future. Cool, creative things brewing out at Redhook? That makes me happy!

We’ll have more information about the official release day and the official release party soon.

The specs: 8.6% ABV, 73 IBU, 19.5 Deg. Plato.

Kim assures me that those numbers are “laboratory numbers” and not just an approximation. He says the 73 IBUs will surprise you. As we understand it, this is a seasonal, limited release. Will Big Ballard become part of the regular lineup? Stranger things have happened.

Update – since posting this story we have learned that Redhook does indeed plan to have the official release party somewhere in Ballard. We will let you know as soon as more details are available.