Tacoma Drinks Washington Beer! Wed. 2/22 through Wed. 2/29

Get your drinking arm ready, it's time for one of my most favorite events of ever: 

 The Parkway Tavern & The Red Hot present...

Tacoma Drinks Washington Beer Week 2012!

See why it's my favorite? Look how happy I was for the first rendition of this event, with my growler and Eye Luv WA Beer shirt and beer sheet!

I do. I really, really do.

What's not to love about a giant bingo-y punch card-y thing, spending oodles of time at both the Red Hot and Parkway Tavern, special beer related events and the opportunity to win a special made growler for completing the arduous task that has been set forth?

Here's the dealio: 

 (Hopefully you already knew this event was happening and in preparation let your liver rest for a few days or maybe pumped some iron to prep your drinking arm.)

1. Pick up your super special beer sheet (pictured above) at either the Parkway Tavern or The Red Hot.

2. Drink WA beer at the Parkway Tavern or The Red Hot.

3. Get beer sheet stamped for specific breweries or random WA beer.

4. Try your bestest to attend the listed events from the Red Hot blog. I have an inkling that most likely, not every brewery will be available on tap the entire week. Drink the hard to find stuff ASAP.

5. Complete beer sheet by Wednesday, February 229th.

6. Get a 32oz commemorative growler (pictured below) for completing.

7. Pat self on back.

8. Give speech to adoring fans.

9. DO NOT add up how much $$ you spent drinking beer just to get a nifty growler.

10. Possibly finish early and work on completing a 2nd beer sheet like MGD and I did last year. This year we have decided that we will feel fulfilled enough by just finishing uno sheeto. I of course say this now, as it is only the first day of the challenge. I'll let ya know how that's working out later this week. Basically, at what point do we by default finish enough beer and look at the 2nd sheet and state "Damn, we got this! Let's keep drinkin'!"

For all the official info (as if I'm not official) you can check out the Red Hot's blog post: Tacoma Drinks Washington Beer Week 2012. There are links to tap lists etc. that you may want to hang on to, as well as a list of beer related events you don't want to miss. 

As of my being chauffeured into work at 8:30a this morning and going over our MGP (Master Game Plan), MGD & I are planning on hitting every event that's listed. The fun starts tonight with the Tacoma debut of the Wingman/Airways collaboration Chocolate Rye beer (had it in Kent at the Airways Beer & Bistro awhile ago, twas delicious!) at the Red Hot and the Parkway Tavern will be hosting a brewers night with American Brewing Company (6-9p) for the release of their Scotch Ale and much more.

drink local

during this week if no other

Effing Parkway Tavern IPA Fest... you give me a dang big happy!

 

It's that time of year again, the Parkway Tavern IPA Fest (!!!!!!!!) begins this weekend. It starts (officially) at 2p on Saturday and goes until closing time Sunday, which is 2a. So technically it's Monday but WHATEVER.

BBQ & meaty goodness will be present (this nerdy vegetarian will plan on BMyOVeggieMeatz like I did for Barleywine Fest) as will the out back beer gardenness be open.

Here’s all the IPAs that will be poured at one point or another during the 2 day fest. The only scheduled brew is the Dogfish Head 120 Minute, which will be tapped at 2pm on Saturday. Sucks to be me, stuck at work til 6p. I will be making a GRAND appearance on Sunday for sure!

(IPAs that are starred are on my 'if you don't have any of these left by the time I join the fun, there may be a sad face involved' list)

Caldera
Double Mountain Hop Lava
Bear Republic Racer 5
Bear Republic Racer 5 Mach 10
Boulder Mojo
Boulder Hoopla
Oskar Blues Gubna Imperial
Southern Tier 2XIPA
Midnight Sun Sockeye Red*
Dogfish Head 120 Minute*
21st Amendment Hop Crisis
Left Coast Trestles
Left Coast Hop Juice
Oakshire Watershed
Boneyard RPM
Laurelwood Workhorse
Fearless Mjolnir Double
Southern Oregon Nice Rack* (hahaha)
Northern Lights
Snoqualmie Powerhouse No. 1 Double*
Everybody’s Country Boy
Port Mongo
Port Wipeout
7 Seas Rude Parrot*
Laughing Dog
Fremont Interurban
Green Flash West Coast
Lagunitas Hop Stoopid
Lost Coast Indica*
Widmer Nelson Imperial
Airways Sky Hag*
Mac ‘n’ Jack’s Two Tun
Mad River Double
Fish Cask*
Silver City Whoop Pass
Ninkasi Tricerahops
Full Sail Elevation Imperial*
Harmon Floridian
Big Time Icculus*
Big Time Meerkat*
Black Raven Trickster
Naked City Podunk
Avery
Anderson Valley Hop Ottin’
Great Divide Titan
Pike Double
He’Brew Lenny’s
Flyer’s Afterburner
Hopworks Organic*
Chuckanut British
Georgetown Lucille
Maritime Pacific Double Dry Hop Imperial
Hale’s Supergoose
Stone Ruination
Mt. Shasta Mountain High
Beer Valley Delta 9
Schooner Exact 3 Grid
Two Beers Evolutionary
Elysian Dry Hop Immortal*
Firestone Walker Union Jack
American Breakaway
Skagit Gospel
Port Townsend Grimacing Grimace w/lavender*

Get your mouthhole ready to be rocked!

the pissed liBEERian

This is me at the 2010 IPA Fest. And yes, that IS my happy face.

 

April brings a shower of Beer Festivals

So screw the umbrella-ella-ella, just look to the sky and open your mouth!

Lot's of greatness is happening in zee month of April! These are a few of the things I have on my agenda and beyond for the tail end of March and into April:

Tues. 3/29 - Ninkasi Brewers Night @ Parkway Tavern (6p, Tacoma)
Wed. 3/30 - Ninkasi Brewers Night @ The Swiss (7p, Tacoma)

Fri. 4/1 - Give Blood, Get Beer. Cascade Regional Blood Services will be in two locations taking pints of your yummy red stuff in exchange for coupons to be redeemed for pints of the yummy beer stuff. Head on down to The Rock (11a, Puyallup) or The Spar (1p, Tacoma) to participate in this great program!
&
Fri. 4/1 - Hop Scotch Spring Beer & Scotch Festival (5p-12a, Fremont Studios, Seattle) $30 at the door, $25 for advance tickets. For more information on what is being offered at the festival, click here.

Sat. 4/2 - More Hop Scotch Spring Beer & Scotch Festival (1p-12a, Seattle) This is the day I am hoping to attend. It sounds like a really fun event benefiting the Seattle International Film Festival.

Wed. 4/6 - Anderson Valley Brewers Night @ Parkway Tavern (6p, Tacoma) & Chuckanut Brewing Brewers Night @ Red Hot (6p, Tacoma)
&
Wed. 4/6 - KCLS (King County Library System) will be hosting a free 'Basics of Homebrewing' course at their Federal Way 320th location. Registration in necessary, good thing my merry minion Basil took care of all that for us. (7-8:45p, Federal Way)

Thurs. 4/7 - NATIONAL BEER DAY in the U.S.! Holler. There are many beer related days to be celebrated throughout the year. Well, in all fairness, I am of the opinion that beer should be celebrated every day. However, National Beer Day is the only one with a historically significant date. In 1933, FDR signed the Cullen-Harrison Act. This law was enacted on April 7th which then allowed the brewing and sale of beer in the United States after 13 very long (& dry!) years. Bye bye Prohibition!! In celebration of the right to drink (& be merry!), the Harmon Tap Room will be tapping their T-Town Blonde for the first time. (4-7p, Tacoma)

Sat. 4/9 - WABL's Cask Beer Festival. Yeah... I'll be taking the day off for this one. (12-4p & 6-10p, Seattle) $35 Advance/$40 at Door. This event sells out every year so be sure to pick up tickets early! Mmmmm, cask beer. A whole freakin' festival full!

Sun. 4/10 -  Deadline for entering Parkway Tavern's 2nd Annual Am-Pro Homebrew Competition. See their Facebook page for details, judging takes place on April 17th.

Mon. 4/11 - Tap Night Tacoma (6p, Tacoma) Cask conditioned ale will be tapped at multiple locations around the Tacoma area. Look up & 'like' Tap Night Tacoma on Facebook for all the latest info on what's being served and where on the 2nd Monday of every month.

Thurs. 4/14 - Upright Brewing @ Parkway (6p, Tacoma) Impromptu Brewers Night so no schwag, just yummy beer.

Wed. 4/20 - Airways Brewery night @ Parkway Tavern. (6p, Tacoma) Genius creators of the Sky Hag IPA & T-Tail Blonde Ale, can't wait for this occasion! The Airways Tap Room in Kent will also be featuring something yummy on cask every Thursday so go hit 'em up, they are open til 8p. Also at The Red Hot, stop by for Victory Brewing Glassware Night. (most likely 6p, but stay tuned through RHot for more info) They'll be giving way a buncha pilsner style glasses like these!

Thurs. 4/21 - WINGMAN BREWERS RELEASE PARTY!!!!! Yay, finally. The Red Hot will be hosting said event and pouring Wingman's P-51 Porter & Ace IPA. (6p, Tacoma) I'm. Effing. Stoked.

Fri. 4/22 - Beer Share/Potluck (one of my fave events!) for invited guests at Amocat Cafe (7p, Tacoma) Expect all kinds of interesting ales to share & people to imbibe with. 

Sat. 4/30 - One we've ALL been waiting for... The Annual Parkway Tavern Barleywine Fest. (2p til close, the two five freakin' three) More details on this little shindig to come.

Get ready to have your mouth hole rocked!
the pissed liBEERian 

I'm gonna need my energy for all this fun junk...

Photography credited to MGD, you know, the 'real' one. 

Effing sourpuss is present & accounted for at the Parkway sour beer share.

The sourpuss being me, in case you were wondering. Although it might be hard to imagine a grumpy girl when looking at my pictures (a happy smile is always present), but it's utterly impossible for me to be in a cheery social mood if I'm upset. Bad news delivered earlier that day on the home front. Hopefully any surliness on my end came off to my loverly beer tasting companions as just a sourpuss reaction to the beers. I did in fact have a very nice time and am excited for the next installment of the Brew Tribune drinking league.

Everyone attending brought a sour beer to share and Parkway treated us to some special stuff straight outta da keg. Here's what went down, literally, and my 'special' notes on them.

1. Cascade Kriek - Bourbon barrel variety from the tap, a subtle tartness that went down smoothly.

2. Cascade Kriek - Higher carbonation than the previous Cascade, very tart with a light amber color. I had some of this again last evening and found it to be much more drinkable as it warms.

3. Oud Beersel Oude Kriek - Heavy bodied with a loverly raspberry colored pour and a nice oak taste with added cherryishness.

4. La Folie '09 Oak Aged - Drastically mellower in the luscious tart department than it's current year counterpart (which I am a ginormous fan of) and for some reason smelled like bacon. Yeah I don't know what's up with that either but I still drank the eff out of it.

5. Ommegang Zuur - Tasted a bit smoked and only slightly tart, not very impressive from the bottle. I had it on tap at Bottleworks back in November and found it to be phenomenal. Don't plan on buying another bottle but I'll surely grab a pint when I see it on tap.

6. Russian River Sanctification - Enjoyed the Sanctification better out of the bottle than on tap during Parkway's Russian River night. Light in body with a tart lemon taste and golden pour.

7. Cascade Vlad the Imp Aler - A perfectly balanced sour with all the tartness right up front & none of the face/cheek puckering at the end. Another fabulous Cascade Brewing selection!

After finishing the beers in our lineup we turned our dump bucket into a grog and everyone had a taste, whether they wanted to or not. I'm always a willing participant to put something new in my mouth hole and I'd rate the grog as my personal 3rd place for the evening. Cascade Kriek Bourbon Barrel (1), Vlad the Impaler (2), GROG (3).

There was some random talk of Parkway having a permanent tap devoted to sours but I'm not holding my breath. Mostly because there is too much good beer to drink for me to keep my mouth closed that long but it didn't sound overly likely. Unless you guys want to ditch the PBR perma tap... :) All beer serves a purpose, I suppose.

Will tap into my inner pep squad next time and bring my happeh face for Round 2 and further editions of the Brews Tribune,

the pissed liBEERian

 Photo & Editing credits to MGD

Parkway delivered!! And it's a...

...another amazing brewers night! Of the New Belgium varietal this time. What were you hoping for... a boy? A girl?

The following New Belgium options were on the lineup for our enjoyment, the ones I tasted are in bold:

• Dunkelweiss (cue the tutoring session on dunkels... can't remember how many minutes passed before I started tuning out but I think I learned something)
• Le Fleur Misseur (which got us all speaking with a froggy accent for a half minute after reading the title)
• Vrienden (a collaborative brew with Allagash, means 'friends' in Flemish. DELICIOUS!)
• Trippel
• Abbey
• Ranger IPA
• Trip VII Winter Here, Summer There
• Fat Tire Firkin 

Missing in action were the Fall Wild & Trip VI Fresh Hop. I only did a tiny pout for Parkway Sean since those were my 3rd & 4th choices of the night. Being the nice guy that he is, he gave me a new list with both options crossed off so I would stop asking for them repeatedly.

A tasty little spread!

My top picks for the night were the firkin'd Fat Tire and Vrienden Ale. The Vrienden Ale is very balanced with the perfect amount of dry, sour finish. Very sessionable, I could enjoy a few without having my mouth go into a perma-pucker. Brewed with endive and hibiscus, a lovely ruby color & floral bouquet. I really loved it. Plus I can officially add 'Tasting a Fat Tire on Firkin' to my Bucket List (& cross it right off) because I know my life (& soul) are more complete for having tried it. You have not had Fat Tire until you've had it from a firkin. It's ridiculous.

The Trip VII Winter Here, Summer There was delicious as well. One of my minions in training (also an avid home brewer and Black IPA lova) enjoyed it immensely and enjoyed a nice slap in the head from me when he got a hop leaf in his mouth and spit it out onto the floor. He has obviously not been schooled in the art of ghetto laminating dried hop leaves. I guess certain allowances must be made for those who haven't gone through their full training... sigh.

As usual, the schwag saga continues with a winning ticket for all three rounds. I won 2 Ranger IPA pint glasses, a super sweet New Belgium T-shirt (which I let TPG3 pick out for herself since she was awesome and arrived at Parkway early to get us the good spot I instructed her to), and the grand prize of a Patagonia embroidered New Belgium messenger bag. I didn't realize how nice the bag was until everyone back in my little corner of the tavern got super upset at my ignorance (& 3rd win) and excitement over winning it with my '253' ticket. Hahahaha, suck it bitches! Not to mention my unbridled, genuine, enthusiastic, sound-barrier-breaking yell of 'RIGHT HERE, WINNER!!!!!' every time my number was called. Like I can contain that? Guess I now know why Basil (Minion Edition 1.5) lovingly told me I really don't need a megaphone when I told her I wanted one.

Seat belt strap, cha!

As I left Parkway for the night, I had so much stuff to carry out that I 'accidentally' bumped into a few people. Since I'm a super polite gurl, I felt the need to throw out a 'sorry, pardon my winnings!' and 'oops, did my new bag bump you?' It was a grand evening with a ton of laughs, awesome ales, chats about Teen fiction and beer. Basically a Pissed LiBEERian night made in heaven. Also planned out my next road trip to a few 'must visit' breweries in Bend & PDX.

Stay tuned for more awesome stuff coming to Parkway! They have a host of brewers nights coming up in the next few months and Odin's Freya's Kolsch ale will be on tap soon. Plus... an amazing lineup of Russian River beers will be showing up at an undisclosed date/time. Think all kinds of lovely sours, the Elder & the Younger.

Hardly considered dry and a sour finish you couldn't dream of handling,

the pissed liBEERian

Hot Hoppenings This Week

Here's the line up of this weeks goodness, hope to see a bunch of you kids out there livin' it up!

Mon. Dec. 6th - Parkway Tavern is Randalling Lagunitas Brown Shugga w/ cascade hops, rum soaked oak chips & cinnamon sticks. Yay! 6p

Wed. Dec. 8th - Parkway Brewers Night featuring Full Sail ales. 6-9p SWAG!

Thurs. Dec. 9th - Holiday Beer Tasting @ Harmon Brewery

Fri. Dec. 10th - Winter Beer Fest @ Hale's Palladium 5:30-9:30p

Sat. Dec. 11th - Mooooore Winter Beer Fest @ Hale's Palladium (12-4p) & even moooooore Winter Beer Fest @ Hale's Palladium (5:30-9:3p) Chocolate & Nut tastings and a FREAKING gift shop. Just sayin'!

Top 'O da Week to Ya

the pissed liBEERian

My hand crafted "I <3 Schooner Exact" cupcakes.

Excuse me... can I get some mustard to go with my ketchup?

Yup, it's been awhile and time to finally ketchup. Totally sorry 'n stuff. I have tons of brewery visits, new beers, and aleventures to blog about but I'm kind of hitting a crossroads where my social life (blog material) is getting in the way of any actual writing. What da heck... Plus, it appears there are still books that need to be read in the world so I've been feverishly tackling those as well. (Fist bump of awesome proportions to Jen Lancaster!)

As I'm sick of hearing about all the blogging that I haven't been doing (you were there MGD; what do you need a written recap for?! j/k... kinda) here is something to tide y'all over until I can fully compile my notes and photos into some ordered chaos and sensicalness.

Rad DecemBEER Events - Week 1

1st thru 12th - 12 Beers of Christmas 12 Days to drink 12 beers @ 3 pubs in the Seattle area. Win prizes. I don't know when or how I will have time to do this one but as we all know, if there is a punch card involved... I shall find a way.

1st - 6p. H.U.B. Brewer's Night @ Parkway Tavern in Tacoma, WA. Featuring: Rise Up Red, Crosstown Pale, H.U.B. IPA, H.U.B. Lager, Deluxe Organic, Abominable Winter & Pig War.

2nd - Brouwer's Cafe BigWood event. Not sure why they call it 'big wood' but the line up gives me a total boner.

Cheers!

the pissed liBEERian

Clear your schedules and get your drinking arm ready to go!

Take a peek at some of the fun events coming up for November, what the what?! I believe I'm going to have to clone myself another pissed liBEERian or get my minions to attend events on my behalf. There is just no way I can do it all!

I don't appreciate being teased with  pics of DFHead 90m IPA laciness that is on tap all the way in San Antonio. But even I can't argue that it's gorgeous.

Ta Da... Novembeer!

11/2 - Style Night featuring Fresh Hop Ales @ 99 Bottles, Federal Way 5-7:30p
11/4 - Tacoma Science Cafe @ Harmon Brewery, Tacoma 7p
11/4 thru 11/6 - Cask-O-Rama @ Beveridge Place Pub, Seattle 6p-12a
11/8 - Tap Night Tacoma #6, Tacoma 6-9p
11/11 - Walking Man Brewers dinner @ The Eastburn, Portland 6-9:30p
11/12 thru 11/4 - Hoping to fit in a pre-birfday jaunt down to PDX during this weekend for a Big Daddy Kane brewery crawl, Portland (Stay tuned! I will be blogging about the detailed, mapped out, Google created itinerary of this plan sometime next week...)
11/13 - Beer Trek 2010 @ Phinney Center, Seattle 7-10p
11/15 - Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Party @ Brouwer's Cafe, Fremont 5p
11/17 - The pissed liBEERian celebrates her 29th birthday! (I accept spankings in lieu of gifts)
11/17 thru 11/21 - Walking Man 10th Anniversary celebratory goodness @ Walking Man Brewing, Stevenson
11/18 thru 11/23 - Jetting off to New York for 5 fun (& ale) filled days with MGD. I am super stoked to hit up some east coast craft brew. Ithaca Flower Power and Iona (hailed as Brooklyn's Irish pub for those who aren't a fan of Irish pubs), you are 1st on my list.
11/24 - Honey, the Parkway Ruined Thanksgiving @ Parkway Tavern, Tacoma 5p (Hahahaha, I love the name! I don't care how jet lagged I am from flying in from NY the night before. I also don't care how energy deprived the mandatory All Staff conference leaves me the next morning, I am going to this event and dragging everyone I can with me.)

Hope you can make it out for a few of these events and support local craft beer, I know I'm going to do my darnedest. 

The pissed liBEERian