On Tuesday, January 24 The Beer Authority hosts a brewers night celebration featuring the beers of Elliott Bay Brewery. The event is intended to welcome Elliott Bay Brewery to the Lake City neighborhood. In case you haven’t heard, Elliott Bay is in the process of building its third brewery and pub. The location, which is just a couple blocks up the street from The Beer Authority, is now in the final stages of construction. No word of a grand opening date yet. We will keep you posted.

In the meantime, join The Beer Authority on Tuesday evening as they pour Elliott Bay beers, hopefully including some special treats. Bill Jenkins will be there representing Elliott Bay. Formerly the head brewer at Big Time Brewery in the University district, Bill will be manning the brewhouse at the new Elliott Bay location.

Tuesday evening at The Beer Authority we expect Bill to talk about Elliott Bay Brewery’s beer, hopefully provide some valuable information about the status of the new brewery, and generally warm the room with his congenial personality and rapier wit.

Elliott Bay Brewers Night at The Beer Authority
12716 Lake City Way NE
Seattle, WA 98125
(206) 417-9629

Tuesday, January 24th
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

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

Todd Cardin, co-owner of Elliott Bay Brewing, was the first person I ever heard talk about it. A few years ago he told me that it’s really silly that the law forbids him from serving samples of his beer at the West Seattle Farmers Market, which takes place every Sunday right across the street from Elliott Bay Brewery Pub. His product is local and fresh. Heck, it’s even USDA Certified Organic. His beer, like all local craft beer, is a natural fit for any local farmers market.

I remember Cardin explaining his opinion to me. His pub is right across the street, and shoppers are fully within the law if they stop by the pub for a couple of pints and then stumble across the street to do their shopping, but heaven forbid Elliott Bay Brewing actually serves samples at the market. All Cardin wanted to do was introduce his locally produced, natural product to people who otherwise might not realize how much they do, or should, appreciate local craft beer. Seriously, it’s a no-brainer.

Starting on September 1^st, the state will begin a pilot program. In very small taster cups, the beer will start flowing at ten farmers markets scattered across the state. The sample size is limited to just two ounces and no one person can sample more than a total of four ounces.

The ten farmers markets included in the pilot program are West Seattle Farmers Market, Magnolia Farmers Market in Seattle, Vancouver Farmers Market, Everett Farmers Market, Vashon Farmers Market, Liberty Lake Farmers Market, Pasco Farmers Market, Pike Place Market in Seattle, Street Farmers Market in Seattle, Proctor Farmers Market in Tacoma and Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market.

The farmers markets got the ball rolling on this one (presumably the Washington State Farmers Market Association). The Washington Brewers Guild also had some input on how to structure the pilot program and what will eventually become the law. I’m not sure if any other brewers or brewery owners bent a legislator’s ear about the issue, but I’m guessing that Todd Cardin shared his opinion with at least one local lawmaker.

Sound Familiar?

The pilot program runs through November 2012. The Washington State Liquor Control Board (LCB), will keep an eye on how things go, reporting back to the legislature before the end of 2012, presumably in time for the legislature to address the matter during the 2013 legislative session.

If the schedule sounds familiar it is only because this is the exact same tact the legislature and the LCB took when addressing the issue of beer sampling in grocery stores: a pilot program began in late 2008, the LCB presented a report at the end of 2009, and the legislature passed a law in 2010 allowing grocery stores to serve samples of beer. If things progress on the same schedule, farmers markets would be eligible to serve beer samples starting in the spring or summer of 2013.

As I understand it, this law would enable a brewery to get a special endorsement for their liquor license allowing them to serve samples at farmers markets.  As it exists now, a farmers market may apply for a license to sell alcohol. Sell it, but not to allow sampling. Even after it passes there will be some very minor bureaucratic hoop jumping for both the markets and breweries wanting to take advantage of the new law.

Currently, at least one local brewery sells its beer at the local farmers market. On Fridays you can find Lantern Brewing, one of Seattle’s fine nanobreweries, at the Phinney Farmers Market in North Seattle.  As I understand it, this is the only place you can get the beer on a regular basis. Although they cannot sample the beer before they buy it, shoppers at the farmers market like the idea of drinking something produced locally on a small scale.

It’s a natural fit: local beer alongside local food and the other local products most of our farmers markets offer.

The inaugural Bremerton Summer Brewfest takes place this Saturday. Visit the official website for complete details, including ticket information. We have already published the list of breweries and beers (see it here). It is impressive. I want to provide some recommendations. This is not a list of the beers I think you should try, rather these are some more general recommendations.

It’s hard to believe, but the weather should be great. Wear sunscreen. Stay hydrated. Have fun. Below I have included some more specific recommendations.

Take the Boat

• If you live on the Seattle side of Puget Sound, walk on the ferry. The festival is just a few short blocks from the ferry terminal. If you’re just going to the festival and back, taking a car would be foolish and expensive. The round-trip ride to Bremerton is only $7.10. Understand that you buy a ticket in Seattle, but when you return no ticket is required. Do not bother looking for a ticket booth in Bremerton. Also understand that this is only true for walk-on passengers: cars pay both ways.
• Make damn sure you’re on that 9:00 p.m. boat coming home. The next boat leaves Bremerton at 11:40. Unless you want to spend a couple of extra hours drinking at one of Bremerton’s fine watering holes, make sure you are on the 9:00 boat.
• I have included the relevant ferry schedule at the end of this post.

Beer Town USA

While the rest of the country argues about which city in America deserves the title Beer Town USA, people around here know that Poulsbo, WA deserves that honor.  Right? The debate continues. Pouring at the Bremerton Summer Brewfest, representing Poulsbo, look for: Battenkill Brewing, Slippery Pig Brewery, Sound Brewery, and Valholl Brewing. Yep, all four of them are from the little town of Poulsbo.

Westside

In addition to the four breweries of Poulsbo, be sure to check out the other breweries of the west sound: Silver City Brewing, 7 Seas Brewing, Hood Canal Brewery, Port Townsend Brewing, and Der Blokken Brewing.

Actually, speaking of Der Blokken, if you want to stretch your legs a bit, consider taking a walk to the brewpub. Der Blokken is less than one mile from the festival grounds in Bremerton’s Manette neighborhood, which means you’ll cross the Manette Bridge to get there. Walking directions from the festival.

Say Thank You

Bremerton is the home of Naval Base Kitsap, the third-largest naval base in the country. It is very likely that you will see members of the military at this event. Do not be shy about thanking them for their service to our country.

Also, thank the Bremerton community for hosting this festival. Make sure they invite us back next year. Have lunch or dinner at one of the local restaurants. Buy a new ball cap at one of the local shops.

Ferry Schedule

This is not the complete ferry schedule, just the sailings that seem to be most relevant for festivalgoers. The crossing time is approximately 1 hour.

Leave Seattle, to Bremerton
10:00
11:10
12:35
1:30
3:00
4:20
5:30
6:45

Leave Bremerton, back to Seattle
3:00
4:15
5:30
6:40
7:55
9:00
11:40

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.

Seven fall, two survive

Harmon Brewing Company‘s Commencement Bay IPA and Boundary Bay Brewery‘s IPA are the only Washington beers still standing at this year’s National IPA Championship (NIPAC) – the annual IPA competition organized by the Brewing News. They now advance to the competition’s third round.

In the second round Harmon knocked off Stone Brewing’s IPA to remain in the competition. Harmon now faces off against Pensacola Bay Brewery’s Lil Napoleon IPA. Boundary Bay defeated Lakefront Brewery’s IPA to stay alive. The
“Bellingham Behemoth” now faces off against Crooked Tree IPA from Dark Horse Brewing.

Nine Washington IPAs advanced to the second round. Here are the results for the seven which were eliminated this past weekend.

• Naked City Brewery‘s Hoptrocity was defeated by Grand Canyon Brewing’s Black Iron IPA.
• Trade Route Brewing‘s Hoppy Bitch IPA was defeated by Left Coast Brewing’s Trestles IPA.
• Boundary Bay Brewing‘s BBay Cascadian Dark was defeated by Dark Horse Brewing’s Crooked Tree IPA.
• Lazy Boy Brewing‘s IPA was defeated by McNeil Brewery’s Sunshine IPA.
• Flyers Brewery‘s Afterburner IPA was defeated by Empire Brewing’s IPA.
• Flyers Brewery‘s Hop Duster IPA was defeated by Big Dog Brewing’s Dirty Dog IPA.
• Snipes Mountain Brewing‘s Zombie Killer IPA was defeated by Ballast Point Brewing’s Sculpin IPA.

Interestingly, because of the way the brackets were drawn, if Boundary Bay’s BBay Cascadian Dark had advanced it would have faced off against Boundary Bay IPA is the third round.

While I am not familiar with most of the non-Washington beers in this competition, last Friday I was fortunate enough to drink the Sculpin IPA at Ballast Point’s tap room in San Diego. The crew at Snipes Mountain can rest assured that they were defeated by a very seriously delicious, top quality product. I’m sure it was a tight battle: the Zombie Killer does not fall easily.

The first round of the National IPA Championship is in the books.  Nine of our Washington beers have advanced to the next round. You can find more complete coverage over at Seattle Beer News.

Click here to see the list of first round match-ups – to see who lost.

Here’s the list of Washington beers that made it out of the first round and have advanced:

Naked City Hoptrocity
Trade Route Hoppy Bitch
Flyers Brewery – Hop Duster
Flyers Brewery – Afterburner
Snipes Mountain – Zombie Killer
Boundary Bay – IPA
Boundary Bay – Cascadia Dark
Lazy Boy -  IPA
Harmon Brewing – Commencement Bay

We just received an update from the Washington Beer Commission regarding Belgianfest, which takes place on January 22nd. Tickets are now available online and are going quickly. A quarter of the tickets for the first session are already sold. The evening session is also selling well. Starting next week (January 10th) some tickets will be available at Big Time Brewery and Full Throttle Bottles. Our best advice is to buy your tickets early. This year the venue at Magnuson Park has a larger capacity (450 versus 300) but don’t forget that both sessions sold out quickly last year.

Last year Belgianfest packed the joint. Bigger venue this year, but expect the same.

Breweries expected to participate:
Anacortes Brewery
Baron Brewing
Big Al Brewing
Big Time Brewery
Black Raven Brewing
Boundary Bay Brewery
Der Blokken Brewery
Elliott Bay Brewing
Elysian Brewing
Fremont Brewing
Georgetown Brewing
Hale’s Ales Brewery
Issaquah Brewhouse
Lazy Boy Brewing
Naked City Brewery
Odin Brewing
Paradise Creek Brewery
Pike Brewing, Ram Brewery
Redhook Ale Brewery
Scuttlebutt Brewing
Snipes Mountain Brewery
Snoqualmie Falls Brewing
Silver City Brewery
Two Beers Brewing

Parking:
Plenty of free parking is available at the event site.

Admission:
$30 advance tickets or $35 at the door (if available)
Admission includes a commemorative tasting glass & ten 4oz tastes
Designated driver admission is $5 and available at the door only (includes free water/soda)
Must be 21 years old or older and have a valid ID

Other details:

Saturday, January 22nd, 2011
Session 1: 12:00-4:00 p.m.
Session 2: 5:30-9:30 p.m.

The Workshop at Magnuson Park
6310 NE 74th St., Seattle, WA

Looking for a place to ring in the New Year with good beer and good cheer? Most places are open New Year’s Eve, with many staying open for the full enchilada while others close early so they can party down with the rest of us.

Ringing in the New Year:

Anacortes Rockfish, Anacortes – with live music from Bobby Holland and the Breadline

Beveridge Place Pub, West Seattle – with goofy hats, noisemakers and bubblies

The Cask, West Seattle – with sparkling wines and party favors

Boundary Bay Brewery, Bellingham – with live music from Vaughn Kreestoe, Polecat and DJ Einstein

Green Frog Acoustic Tavern, Bellingham – with live music from SmokeWagon

Hale’s Ales, Frelard – Moisture Festival in the Palladium

Moisture Festival at Hale's Palladium

Harmon Pub and Brewery, Tacoma – with live music from Maria Santell and House Blend

Naked City, Greenwood – open normal hours (4 p.m. to 1 a.m.)

Old Schoolhouse Brewery, Winthrop – with live music from RT Jr. Band

Trade Route Brewing, Pacific – with live music from Band of Brothers

Not WA, but we love it:
Double Mountain Brewery, Hood River – with live music by Tony Smiley (we heard this dude at Double Mountain last year and he blew our minds)

Open but Closing Before Midnight

7 Seas Brewing Taproom, Gig Harbor – open 3 to 6 p.m.

Airways Brewing, Kent – open 4 to 8 p.m.

Black Raven Brewing, Redmond – open noon to 10 p.m.

Chuckanut Brewery and Kitchen, Bellingham – special New Year’s dinner for two, 5:30 to 9 p.m.

Diamond Knot B2 Taproom, Mukilteo – open 3 to 8 p.m.

Silver City, Silverdale – open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

As usual please add your updates in the comments below.

Happy New Year! Wishing you a safe, healthy and happy new year!

-  Kim and Kendall!

Rewind for a moment to the autumn of 2009 and you might recall that Chuckanut Brewery took the Great American Beer Festival by storm. In its first trip to the GABF the young Bellingham  brewery brought home four medals for beer and was also awarded Best Small Brewpub and Brewer of the year (read about it here). Will and Mari Kemper, the owners of Chuckanut Brewery and Kitchen, were rewarded with a free trip to Europe.

Fast forward to the present day and you will find Will and Mari cashing in their prize as they bar hop their way across Europe. Mari Kemper is blogging along the way. I promise this will make you jealous. Having spent the past 30 years in the craft beer biz, and having spent many years traveling the globe setting up craft breweries from Mexico to Turkey, they have plenty of beer contacts around the world. It sounds like they’re having an amazing time.

Follow their adventure on the Chuckanut Brewery blog.

Cheers to you, Will and Mari. Couldn’t happen to nicer people.