Yesterday the new issue of Beer West Magazine (Summer 2011) showed up in my mailbox. In this issue, the Best of the West Coast awards. As with any such list, you likely will not agree with many of the choices. Remember, these things are subjective. Which west coast city is the best beer city, or which west coast brewery is the best brewery, is entirely a matter of opinion. If you think that your opinion about such a topic represents some all-knowing or absolute truth, you have issues.

While it is easy to sit up here in Seattle and feel like the rest of the world pays no attention to us, we must remember that one of the reasons we love Seattle is because the rest of the world pays no attention to us. Still, sometimes it is discouraging when we don’t get the respect we are due. When it comes to giving Seattle its propers Beer West does a better job than most. For instance, the Beveridge Place Pub (blog sponsor) was just named the Best Beer Bar on the West Coast. Not too shabby!

Here are some highlights, including the local faves that made the list. For the complete list, you’ll have to pick up a copy of Beer West. Consider a subscription.

Best Beer Bar – The Beveridge Place Pub. Hurray! Our local “local” took home the cheese! The Beveridge Place got a lovely, full-page write up as well. Cheers to all our friends at the Bev! You deserve it!

Best Tap Selection – Brouwer’s Cafe. Hard to argue with that one. Whether you like to drink globally or locally, Brouwer’s Cafe has you covered.

Best Beer Adventure – Schooner Zodiac Brewery Sail. Disembark from Boundary Bay Brewery in Bellingham and sail through the San Juan Islands to Port Townsend and Anacortes, with great beer along the way and at every port.

Best Beer+Food Pairing Event – Tom Douglas’ St. Patrick’s Day Beer Blast. Yep. This event is so good that I atteneded it this year with a 101 degree fever. I should have been home in bed, but I’m so glad I wasn’t.

Most Unique Ingredients – Avatar Jasmine IPA from Elysian Brewing. At one point, Dick Cantwell told me that it was his favorite of all the beers he’d ever brewed. That was a couple years back. Maybe he’d just brewed it for the first time. Maybe it really is his favorite. Either way, this is an interesting and amazing beer, in my opinion.

Best Beer City – San Francisco, CA. I suppose it would have been too obvious to pick Portland, especially since that’s the city where Beer West is based.

Best Brewery – Prodigal Son Brewery, Pendleton, OR. Only drank their beer once and thought it was awefully good. This bountiful praise certainly gives me a reason to make a roadtrip. Can’t complain about that.

Best Brewer – Vinnie Cilurzo, Russian River Brewing. Is anyone really surprised? Listening to people pile the love on Russian River is getting a bit old (you guys are beginning to sound like Red Sox fans or something), but the quality of the beer cannot be denied. I must admit that when I walked through the front door of the Russian River pub last September, I was giddy like a little school girl. Vinnie is a serious rockstar and it is pretty much impossible to argue with this pick.

Best Beer Chef – Sean Paxton. Duh. Seriously. Duh.

Best IPA – Russian River’s Pliny the Elder. Double Duh. Regardless of my opinion, or any other opinion, Megan Flynn (editor at Beer West) probably would have needed a Secret Service security detail if she hadn’t picked Pliny the something to win this award.

Best Beer, period – Bridge Creek Pilsner, Silver Moon Brewing. Missed this one last year when we were in Bend. Perhaps that’s a tragedy. Don’t know.

Most Sustainable Brewery – Sierra Nevada, Chico, CA. While many breweries strive for sustainability, and they all deserve kudos, Sierra Nevada is nearly 100 percent powered by its own solar energy project. And that’s just the beginning of the list when it comes to Sierra Nevada’s commitment to sustainable brewing. We visited the brewery not too long ago and it’s amazing.

There are more awards. Find the latest copy of Beer West Magazine and check it out.

Today I am happy to introduce a new sponsor: the Red Hot in Tacoma

How Good Can a Hot Dog Be?

I don’t even like doughnuts, but I vividly remember when Krispy Kreme opened its first Washington location in Issaquah back in 2001. Radio and television media delighted at the opportunity to tell stories about people waiting up to three hours just to buy a box of these presumably life-changing doughnuts. I didn’t understand it.

I remember thinking, “How good can a doughnut be?” I concluded that the doughnut was meaningless. It was just silly sheep-like human behavior: frenzied consumerism herded by media hype. We all want to believe something so simple as a doughnut really can be that good.

About six years later, with the Krispy Kreme memory indelibly etched into the fiber of my sensibilities, I was skeptical when I heard about a new place opening in Tacoma called the Red Hot—a craft beer bar with a singular culinary focus on hot dogs. Not just hot dogs, but really good hot dogs. Why was I skeptical? “How good can a hot dog be?”

When I visited the Red Hot for the first time, I discovered that something so simple as a hot dog really can be that good.

Craft Beer, Hot Dogs, No Jerks

The Red Hot Tacoma quickly gained a reputation as one of Tacoma’s best beer destinations. You will find the Red Hot along Central Tacoma’s 6^th Avenue, a hip and revitalized part of the city. Shamelessly dedicated to craft beer, the Red Hot’s rotating tap selection impresses even the most finicky beer geeks. You may find pubs with a larger draft selection, but you are hard-pressed to find a pub with a tap selection as thoughtfully considered. What’s more, you simply will not find a better hot dog this side of Chicago.

The Grandpappy of all Chili Dogs - The Tideflats.

Hot dogs are a visceral thing for me—something I typically equate with a feeling conjured by the memory of a particular moment in time and/or a certain place. I remember eating a hot dog on the loading dock at Mac’s Smoke House on Occidental Avenue, across the street from the Kingdome, just before a certain baseball game: the Mariners’ historic victory over the Yankees in game five of the 1995 playoffs. I remember a trip to Chicago when I was a young man, capable of staying up until 3:00 a.m. to enjoy a hot dog at the corner of Rush and Division. That’s how hot dogs typically fit into my life−usually as part of something bigger than the hot dog itself.

I remember my first visit to the Red Hot Tacoma and washing down my Tideflats dog with an Elysian Dragonstooth Stout.

Chris Miller, owner of the Red Hot, is an ardent fan of craft beer. In fact, Chris is one of the people responsible for creating the Tacoma Craft Beer Festival. A native of the east coast, he also knows a thing or two about hot dogs. The tube steaks he serves up at his pub are the real deal—only the finest wieners, sourced from across the country. No Costco dogs or Ball Park Franks here. Deservedly, the Red Hot has gained considerable notoriety for its hot dog prowess. In fact, it was featured on the Food Network’s “Chef vs City.” We’ve included the video below.

The hot dog preparations are creative and delicious, ranging from basic dogs like the Red Hot (yellow mustard, chopped onions, relish) and the 6^th Avenue Strut (cream cheese, onions and tomatoes), to the absolutely absurd. The Tideflats dog that I mentioned earlier includes two all-beef dogs served open-faced, with yellow mustard, ketchup, onions, relish, tomatoes, sport peppers, jalapeno peppers, sauerkraut, all meat chili, coleslaw, nacho cheese, pickle spear and celery salt. That’s a big, complex flavor profile—a dog deserving a big, equally complex beer as an accompaniment.

Although hot dogs may be a major theme, at the Red Hot it’s really all about the beer. This is simply one of the best places in the City of Destiny to find a great selection of craft beer. The Red Hot always features a dozen carefully selected draft choices and usually a cask, as well.  At this moment, you will find Pike Brewing Double IPA, Victory Brewing Prima Pils, Anderson Valley Brewing Brother David’s Double, and Delirium Tremens among others.

Because of the Red Hot I now understand why the Krispy Kreme Doughnuts thing never made sense to me. Hot dogs go so much better with beer.

The Red Hot
2914 6^th Ave.
Tacoma, WA 98406
253-779-0229
redhottacoma.com
On Facebook

The Northwest Brewing News has released the winners of the annual People’s Choice Awards. Below we list the Washington winners. Only Washington winners are listed below. To see the complete list of all winners, click here.

Congratulations to all of the winners.

Best Alehouse/Pub, Washington
Brouwers’ Café, Seattle
Honorable Mention: Beveridge Place Pub, Seattle

Best Brewery, Washington
Black Raven Brewing Company, Redmond

Best Brewpub, Washington
Boundary Bay Brewing Company, Bellingham

Best Bartender, Washington
Tom Dineen, Brouwers’ Café, Seattle

Best Beer Store, Washington
By the Bottle, Vancouver

Best Homebrew Supply, Washington
Bader Beer & Wine Supply, Vancouver
Honorable Mention: Larry’s Homebrew Supply, Renton

Best beers, by style

Best ESB:
Redhook ESB, Washington

Best IPA:
Boundary Bay Inside Passage Ale, Washington

Best Strong Ale:
Big Time Nemesis, Washington

Best Scotch Ale:
Boundary Bay Scotch Ale, Washington

Best Pilsner:
Chuckanut Pils, Washington

Best Bock/Doppelbock:
Tie: Chuckanut Bock, Washington
Columbia River Rick-N-Bocker, Oregon

Best Herb or Spice Beer:
Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale, Washington

Best Cider:
Wildfire Pirates’ Plank Cider, Washington

Barleywine lovers, you need not despair. Sure, the 2010 versions of the Barleywine Bacchanal and the Hard Liver Festival are now history, but Tacoma’s Parkway Tavern has you covered. Coming up on April 24th and 25th, the Parkway Tavern celebrates the most bodacious of beers when they host the 5th Annual Parkway Barleywine Festival. This year the event will feature 34 barleywines.

What’s more, on Sunday, April 25^th they will present a Barleywine Brunch, with selected barleywines paired with brunchable treats. Just think about that for a moment. Damned impressive, if you ask me. Tickets to the Barleywine Brunch will be extremely limited. They are expecting to have tickets available starting next week. They won’t last long. You should contact the bar for details. (253) 838-8748.

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.

The current issue of Draft magazine includes a listing of the Top 150 Beer Bars in the country (Draft magazine, Jan-Feb 2010). Six of our local beer joints made the list.

If you were conducting this important research, what would be your criteria? Draft kept things rather ambiguous, stating only that they were looking for: “The bars where you’re guaranteed to sip unmatched suds. The 150 places where craft is king and fun comes in all fashions.”

I read it for the articles

Draft magazine is great, but by no stretch of the imagination is it the gospel of beer. Ben Stiller movies make me laugh, but that doesn’t mean he’s a comic genius. Draft is a slick rag, for sure: glossy pages, airbrushed pictures of perfect beer, and page after page of beautifully poured pints described in delicious detail. It never fails to make me thirsty. Sure, it’s  beer porn, but I read it for the articles. When Draft, or anyone like them, publishes a list of “the best” anything, I take it with a grain of salt.

Congrats to our locals

I suppose congratulations are in order for our local spots that made the list. To say Draft magazine missed a few would be an understatement. If you lived in Denver or Boston you’d probably say the same thing. It’s a tall order, scouring the entire U.S.A. searching out the best beer bars, spending enough time in each to really get a good feel for the place, and then moving on to the next. I’d like to offer my services next time Draft magazine conducts such important research.

Let’s face it, when listing the country’s 150 best beer bars, Washington is probably only going to get five or six on the list. Are these the ones that you would choose?

Beveridge Place. The description provided in the magazine is amazingly accurate. They’re right when they say, “This spot feels less like an international beer mecca and more like your place… the rec room you wish you had.” I was particularly impressed that they spelled the name correctly.

Brouwer’s Cafe. Um, duh. I’m not entirely sure I agree with the observation, “This is one of the best looking bars in Seattle.” Actually, what would I know? Whenever I walk into Brouwer’s I get tunnel vision and all I see is beer. Draft says, “Its Flemish cafe-inspired vittles and brew will quickly transport you to bucolic Belgian life.”

Naked City Taphouse. Way to go Don and Don. You’re still pretty darn new and your pub is getting national pub like this. Right on! About Naked City, Draft said, “Capturing Seattle’s attention with beer isn’t easy, but this new spot has turned heads.” I’m not sure the Dons knew what they were getting themselves into.

Stumbling Monk. They’re right when they say, “This subdued corner pub is easy to miss, but try not to.” I often miss it, and that’s a personal problem. The Stumbling Monk is classic. It’s a cozy little spot where they take beer very seriously. I admit that I’m a local beer freak, so sometimes I’m a bit overwhelmed by the worldliness of the menu at the Stumbling Monk. Again, my problem.

Über Tavern. Draft magazine rightly points out that Über is “closet small,” but they also mention that the beer selection is not. They also describe the staff as being “amicable” and “knowledgeable.” That’s like saying a girl is handsome and has a nice personality. I have a feeling they were at a loss for words when they described Über. Doesn’t really matter, locals know what Über is all about: good beer and a lot of it.

Zayda Buddy’s Pizza and Bar. Of all the Washington beer bars listed in the Draft 150, this one got the longest write-up. Mostly, Draft tells us about their pizza. Also, we learn that Zayda Buddy’s serves Old Milwaukee, Stroh’s, Hamms, and Blatz, as well as local beers like Manny’s Pale Ale. Maybe they just needed a place with a name that started with a Z.

Who do you think they missed? Or do you agree that the six bars listed above are Seattle’s best?

We’re live at the new Maritime Pacific Jolly Roger Taproom, at the preview event for WABL members. It’s standing room only, with a free cask of IPA blown in 18 minutes. No worries, pints will be two dollars all night (open until 10 p.m.). George Hancock just welcomed the crowd and is now offering brewery tours.

The public opening is at 4 p.m. so it will only be getting busier. Stop on by, we think you’ll be impressed and happy with the new Roger.

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.

Laurelwood Pub and Brewery opened last Friday in Battle Ground, Washington. With multiple locations around Portland, Laurelwood has finally made their way north of the Columbia River into Washington. We’ve always liked Laurelwood – the pubs and the beers. To be honest, we’ve always liked Oregon as well – the pubs and the beers. It’s just that we’ve chosen to focus this blog on Washington’s beer scene. Now that Laurelwood has officially opened in Washington, we can talk about them without guilt or shame. The new location in Battle Ground is a full service brew pub with an extensive food menu and beer made on site.

Why Battle Ground? They have a few reasons. It is a fast-growing community within easy commuting distance of Portland. In fact, Clark County, WA is one of the nation’s fasted growing counties. Battle Ground is just 30 minutes north of Laurelwood’s “Sandy Blvd” location. Many of that pub’s patron are actually from across the river in Clark, County. What’s more, Mike De Kalb — one of the owners of Laurelwood — is a native of Battle Ground.

For those of you who are unsure of the general location, Battle Ground is just east and a bit north of Vancouver, WA.

Laurelwood Pub and Brewery
1401 SE Rasmussen Blvd.
Battle Ground, WA 98604

Google Maps seems to be having some trouble locating it, but MapQuest is not.

Map it on MapQuest

For the past couple of weeks, we have been conducting a poll asking you to vote for your “Favorite Seattle-area beer bar (not brew pub).” We now move into the final round which means you can all vote again. It also means that we narrowed the field to include only the top seven vote-getters. Going into the final round, West Seattle’s Beveridge Place Pub and Fremont’s Brouwer’s Café shared the lead, followed by the Latona Pub. All of that has been thrown out and now we start anew.

So go ahead and cast your ballot. The poll has been reset, so even if you voted in the first round you can vote again now. You have seven fine beer drinking establishments from which to choose.

We think that our initial list was a fair representation of what local beer enthusiasts would consider the best beer bars in the area. If your favorite watering hole didn’t make the list, we apologize. We had to draw the line somewhere. In the first round, we didn’t ignore the write-in votes or people’s comments. We appreciated every opinion, no matter how bizarre it might have been. Because this is the final round, we turned off the “Other” option.

About the write-in votes — Many of the write-in votes were understandable. Others were not. We listed the most worthy write-in votes below. Some people voted for brew pubs. The Naked City Taphouse and Brewery, the Jolly Roger Taproom, and the Black Raven are all brew pubs. This poll is about beer bars: a previous poll was about brew pubs (Jolly Roger won). What some people consider the Seattle-area also confused us.

We offer no apologies to the people who voted for places like, “The new Hooter’s in Boulevard Park” or “Red Robin in Overlake.” Your suggestions didn’t make the list and we wonder how you ever stumbled across our blog in the first place. Thanks for stopping by and we hope you learned something while you were here. Sorry if that sounded snobbish, but really.

Here is the complete list of bars included in the initial poll:
Barking Dog Alehouse
Beveridge Place Pub
Brouwer’s Café
Collins Pub
Coopers Alehouse
Dog and Pony
The Dray
Fiddler’s Inn
Hopvine Pub
Hudson Public House
The Latona
Malt and Vine
Porterhouse West Seattle
Pub at Pipers Creek
Stumbling Monk
Taphouse (Seattle)
Uber

Here are the write-in votes that are worthy of mention (and are not in Montana or California):

Buckley’s (lower Queen Anne)
The George and Dragon
Hill Top Alehouse
Kells Irish Pub
Wedgewood Alehouse
The Summit Pub
The Sundown Saloon