More Airways Brewing Company - The Proper Visit (Part the Second)

In Part I of the Airways Experience blog, I mentioned going back for a 'proper visit' after the Tap Room expansion party. As you can see from my attempts to use a ‘real’ camera (read: not my phone and not a digi-cam) we end up with a picture of me, my purse, a bunny, and some chickens. Plus the wooden drinking man. That my brother took. That's what happens when I don't have Real MGD with me, pretty picture maker of extraordinary proportions. Here's what happens when I do have him:

A view as we approach the Airways Tap Room. As you can see, that's a lie. I'm already inside cheesing it up just in case I'm included in the scenery picture.

Many a lovely customer enjoying a Thursday pint

The loverly Dione Dittmar spent lots of time talking beer with us (yay!) while everyone else works hard in the background. Winna!

Jet City Lavender (with an extra dose of lavender outside) ESB. Gorgeous.

Although I had never seen the old tap room in person, the new place is just lovely. Inside you will find a wide open space with lots of windows and seating, where one can feel like part of a larger group even while at a cozy corner table for two. The bar top is absolutely gorgeous, people seem to drop by to chat up the Airways peeps or watch a game. Or drink beer. Or all of the above.

Every Thursday is Cask Night at Airways. We came specifically for the Jet City Lavender ESB on cask and stayed for a few more, soaking up the atmosphere & chatting with Dione (Alex Dittmar's wife, therefore must be blessed with the tolerance and patience of a saint, just as long as no one give's Alex any more plane parts as gifts).

When hearing of our alleged dropping by at the tap room, Alex (being the superb salesman that he is) expressed his sadness at not being around that day and relayed that he hoped the Lavender ESB didn't taste like shit. Happy to report that it was damn delicious. AKA: I hoped it wouldn't fucking suck and it didn't. Not even one little bit. After an hour long conversation about laundry (don't ask, I don't know either), our whistles needed additional wetting and we tried the following brews.

Jet City Lavender ESB on cask (I know I already said this 2 seconds ago. But this is like the separate, bold list that people who just skim my blog will see. Deal with it.)
Dampfbier
Sky Hag IPA
Dirty Hag - 75% Sky Hag & 25% Starliner Stout (I'll give you 5 guesses who ordered that beauty, but you're only going to need one. Holy effing yum!)

   

It was a long overdue visit(s) to Airways and I'm sad we didn't make the trip sooner. I'm looking forward to the day when they either move their collective awesomeness to Tacoma (officially not holding my breath) or expand their tap room hours (Thurs & Fri: 4-8pm, Sat: 1-5pm) so that I have more opportunities to stop by. Until then I'll probably have to love on them and their beer at festivals and continue to harass them on Facebook. Please keep the restraining orders to a dull roar, thanks guys.

Can't think of a witty closing line,

the pissed liBEERian

Alex & I at the Winter Beer Festival

Photography by The Real MGD

An Airways Experience - Part the First

This guy is a two-parter so go ahead and get back up, head to the kitchen for a beer then get comfy. Airways Brewing Company, holla! They are doing so well (not exactly shocking) with the making of the beers, that they recently expanded their Tap Room in Kent and hosted a celebration (July 9^th, Part I). Sadly, MGD was unable to attend this event so during his recent visit home, we were 'forced' to make a 'proper' visit to Airways as a part of our beer related rounds (September 1^st, Part II). 

Will touch more on what ‘proper’ implies, later. 

Airways Tap Room Expansion Party (Part I)

As many of you know, I have multiple minions. Real MGD being #1 and other random peeps who attempt to fill the wingman gap when he’s not available. As my sibling was already locked into helping me move heavy boxes & build the ugliest dresser in existence that weekend, he was the natural (read: he had no say) choice to accompany me. Now taking your brother to a beer event is akin to taking your cousin to prom. It’s done out of necessity only and you pray that no one notices. But hey, you made it, right?! Hahaha, kidding. My brother's awesome.

The Tap Room was easy to find, tucked away in a Kent business park, just a short 30min drive from Tacoma. The weather was gorgeous that day and the celebration was in full swing by the time we arrived, inside and out. There was even a giant wooden man with an automated arm, drinking beer. Add that to the ‘something you don’t see every day’ list. After saying hello to some friends (and introducing my brother to the Washington Beer Blog peoples for the 3^rd time, my memory is awesome like that), we grabbed a couple o' pints and pulled up a patch of grass in the sun near the make shift chicken coup. 

This is the chicken trying to attack me

Wait.

What? 

Yeah.

Effing chickens. 

This is the chickens trying to escape

I knew they would be present via a blurb that Airways put out on the Book of the Face but still, I have a long running (read: lifetime) issue with fowl. They were there to exhibit Airways’ full circle-ness, how their spent grain becomes farm feed, blah blah blah. Only after Alex Dittmar (founder & brewer) assured me that the chickens would not be roaming free in the area, but caged within an inch of their life, did I agree to attend. So naturally, I get outside and sit right next to the little jerks. Although they eyed me in what can only be described as an evil manner, it was easier to keep an attentive eye on their escape attempts from a close position. It would appear that I survived the experience to tell my tale.

Moving on… (for a moment anyways) the beer served at this event was both interesting and phenomenal. Airways Brewing Company had me at ‘One Token Please’ (Sky Hag IPA on Cask at TCBF 2010) and they have continued to win me over, this particular experience in mouthhole pleasure being a high point. Collectively, Tyball and I tried the following from their celebratory offerings:

Uber Hag IPA (Bourbon barrel aged Sky Hag IPA) - Have immensely enjoyed Sky Hag in the past but the Uber Hag takes the damn cake. I love this beer immensely. Those magical barrels transform that which is an already solid IPA, by adding flavors and complexities that even the non IPA obsessed will find delight in. 

Chocolate Cherry Stout

Tickel Your Zwickel (ohhhh, yes please!)

a Sour (yeah that's what I wrote, no name or anything, just 'sour'. go go gadget note taker. yummy as sin though, thanks guys!)

Berliner Weisse

The lovely people of Airways were a very busy group that day but Alex took a few moments from being the host with the most, to give us a short tour behind the scenes. A decent amount of space (one wall is taken up with the nose of Boeing 747 that I said looked like a giant boob) but due to supply and demand, Alex contract brews elsewhere to make big fatty batches of the stuff. I harassed Alex to start making temporary tattoos for the 7^th time, discussed how the look of the Uber Hag (pretty sure she’s got a riding crop behind her back, just waiting for her perfect moment) is even scarier than the Sky Hag and tried to convince Alex to release his final barrel of Uber Hag at a time that MGD can try some. 

This is me trying to figure out how to use my camera before taking pictures of random people & looking like a creepster

In addition to having a loverly time, my bro-hole and I went home with the following…

• Very happy mouths    
• 1 Airways pint glass   
• 1 Airways work-shirt (thanks Alex!!!)   
• 1 ‘In case of emergency, beer will begin to flow’ shirt     
• 1 Uber Hag poster (as I type, she is staring me down from across the room)    
• 1 Airways bumper sticker (I actually just found it y’day, but I’m hoping it came from a festival at some point because it’s not on my receipt and I don’t like to steal stuff unintentionally)
• A strike (there's bowling in the women's bathroom, sorry boys but you already have stuff to play with in your bathroom)

Stay tuned for Part Dos of the Airways Brewing ULTIMATE Experience...

the pissed liBEERian

 

Pictures by Me
Movie by Me's Sibling
Editing a negatory so there are probably a million grammatical errors
Enjoy!

Birthday spankings... coming right up!

 Happy Birfday to me! Happy Birfday to meeeeeeeee! 

Happy birfffffffffffffffffffffffffffday dear mysEEeeelf... 

Happy. Birfday. To. Me.

Today, August 2nd, marks one year since the pissed liBEERian was brought into existence. Wow, has it been a wild ride. In honor of the occasion, I am republishing my very first post with edits and notes. I got a laff and a half reading this again, hope you do too. Enjoy!

pissed = drunk (not mad)

liBEERian = me

I have noticed a theme developing in my life over the last 2+ mths or so. The search for delicious ales, delivered to me either in full pint form or 4oz tasting glass, has officially BEGUN. I think Brewer's Fest 2010 officially started my slight obsession. Some people critique food, some people breakdown vino & it's many elements. For others... there is beer. [EDIT: Oh sweet, sweet delicious beer. Twas a combo of Brewers Fest & Seattle International Beer Fest that spawned the blog, for the record.]

I started drinking beer about 6yrs ago. Started LIKING beer around 3-4yrs ago. All of my male friends and brother have a pretty diverse palate when it comes to ale and I was starting to feel a little left out, possibly uncool. So I made myself try new things (new @ that time =ed anything that wasn't Corona w/ lime wedge) and failed miserably. Beer was purdy gross. I resigned myself to loving the oh so palatable Blue Moon & the occasional Mac & Jacks Serengeti Wheat. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy both but my mind and mouth crave more. Sigh... what's new? [EDIT: I've now pretty much blown all of said friends & sibling out of the water when it comes to having a diverse palate. They call me a beer snob and I'm okay with that. There's just too much interesting and new beer out there.]

Beer exploration took an abrupt halt when I stopped most of my drinking (vino and mixed drinks consumed rarely, beer never) to pursue fitness and weight loss for a stint of 6mths. Still keeping fit and active but have slowly added tasty ales back into my diet.[EDIT: Definitely slowed down on the consistent fitness portion of my life but I'm getting back into it. Unless I want to give up eating completely, I have to counteract all the beery goodness with something.]

Now that I have a few beer related festivals (along with the drunken bruises and fantastically fuzzy memories to prove it) under my belt, I have been fervently pursuing info from breweries around the nation, as well as local pubs for specific brews. The beer that got me started on such madness is Schooner Exact Brewing Company's Seamstress Union, a raspberry wheat ale.

 

I had it for the 1st time at Brewer's Fest 2010, handed over my little wooden chip not knowing the magnitude of what was about to hit my mouth. I then proceeded to spend many more chips (my own and my date's) at their corner tent location. 4oz a pop is not enough to get my fill! [EDIT: 4oz is still not enough, I have 2 mini growlers of Seamstress Union at home awaiting my private celebration. Yay seasonal beer! The 'date' in question who graciously let me spend his wooden money on SU was the one and only MGD. Neither of us knew that he would become so instrumental in my life's work but low and behold, he's still hanging in there.]

I spent the following weeks harassing the brewers @ Schooner Exact (who were kind enough to load me with info on the beer and where they had most recently delivered kegs in Tacoma) along with local pubs to find out where and when it was going on tap. Finally found it @ 1022 South in downtown Tacoma. Walking from work to my car @ 9p, I phoned Chris at 1022 to inquire on SU and I think he was as excited as I was over the ale "come on down!! we have it right here for ya". Met my partner in crime, MGD (used his real name in the original blog but he's become kind of a big deal so we try to retain his secret identity for privacy sake), for a pint. It was a mutual consensus that it was a) amazing and b) just as good, if not better than we remembered.

I felt fairly relieved that I hadn't built up it's amazingness in my head. Even though I will submit, I am fairly enamored with Seamstress Union. NOTE TO SCHOONER EXACT... take it off seasonal, make it year round!! Still planning on marching my charms down to the SE tasting room in Seattle to talk them into this. [EDIT: I've probably drank more Seamstress Union than most and I will still say, it is one of my favorites still. My tastes have changed drastically regarding beer, over the last 365 days but SU will always remain steadfast in my heart and hopefully in my mouthhole. They did me a total solid by winterizing the beer and creating Midnight Union, Seamstress Union's evil dark counterpart.]

Some of us require Seamstress Union year round. I was told specifically (by the Real MGD) "I don't want to be around you when SU isn't available any longer". Hahahaha, enuff said. ;)

Ale related goals and the Essential point of this BuhLog: 

[EDIT: Let's see juuuuust how far I've deviated from my aims in the beginning...]

-Not planning on writing such a novel every time, this is just a small peek for you into my plight. Straight to business from here on out. [EDIT: Hahahahaha, how's that been working out so far? As wordy as ever, thank you very much.]

-Review beers I've tried [EDIT: Or list beers I've tried, especially the ones I loved, and link things to MGD's reviews on Rate Beer. Same difference.]

-Review pubs & breweries where I have sought out these libations (current fave: Parkway Tavern) [EDIT: Yup, still Parkway. They have, and always will, rock my stripey socks.]

-Find cool suppliers of eclectic bottled brew (current best a tie between 99 Bottles and Whole Foods) [EDIT: Success! We've found Binny's, World Beers of Tacoma, Bottleworks & beyond]

-Report on the many random occurrences that tend to happen while consuming the good brew (free age related beer & leaving SIB w/ 2x as many glasses as we started with) [EDIT: Essentially what my postings have been about. Recorded works of my musings & randomness regarding beer, life and events.]

-Learn to love IPA's (it is a type of brew that seems to have the most variety available 'round these here parts and with the coolest names, I think I can make it happen. I am single minded to a fault when there is something I want.) [EDIT: Results are in. I spent the better part of this year drinking mostly IPAs. I've developed an appreciation and can tell you what I like & I don't when it comes to them. However, I don't love IPAs. They still have rad names & my IPA face isn't quite as scary or frequent these days. It still rears its crazy head at times when I drink things like Arctic Panzer Wolf by Three Floyds BC.]

Well, there ya haze it. This last year has not only changed my little world, but my life. And as such things go, the more things change the more they stay the same. Still having fun during every minute of it & excited for the promise of more good times to come.

I've spent some time thinking about what ambitions I have for my little bloggy blog. I always wish I could be a million times more on top of stuff and consistency (you know, like a little more firm. possibly less runny...) can always use improvement. Here are my hopes for myself in the upcoming year (uh, no promises):

• Post weekly on events all around Tacoma. Not just my fave places but everywhere in the 253 with fun Seattle happenings thrown in.
• Bust out the event recaps in a more timely fashion (ahem, photo editing needs to be muy rapido MGD! heehee) and catch up on past event postings that never made it to publication.
• Start interviewing some of the great brewers around here about their awesomeness (instead of just spouting my undying love for them and their creations) & maybe start poking them more often for info about what new things they have coming our way.
• Update blog page, possibly move to a new site.

Yeah... that'll do for now on the goal setting. It's not freakin' New Years. 

Now for my favorite part, speech time. SPEECH!!!!

A huge thank you needs to be dealt out to many. I am so blessed and thankful for so many who have contributed to making this blog (and the last year of my life) what it has become. Local brewers (for themselves & the awesome beer they make): who I've spent much time getting to know and make beer events funner than a fun thing, my merry minions (they are an assorted and random group): they've accompanied me on many beer related journeys and endeavors or just been enthusiastic about my plight, and anyone who reads & enjoys my blog: if there wasn't anyone to read it, there wouldn't be much of a point.

Have to add a special 'thank you' to MGD. He falls into the minion category (on FB, the RealMGD has hailed himself as '#1 minion to the Pissed Libeerian' so don't think this is only my doing) but in truth, my blog would not be what it is without him. During the course of this last year he has been my photographer (& always manages to capture perfect moments and kudos for always making me look my bestest), editor (luckily he understand the way I talk/write so he only edits actual mistakes & rarely my grammar), partner in crime (he's always primed and ready for the next big beer adventure with a camera in one hand, a taster glass in the other and a smile), and my man. Who I totally way super duper heart. Like... a lot.

Chilling by the fireside at the opening of the 7 Seas PNW Beer Garden.

He has been indisposable to the blog (& myself) when it comes to attending many an event, remembering facts and info as my notes fail me, creating amazing pictures to beef up all my verbal spewage and helping me with all kinds of ideas and brainstorming for new things to do for the blog. After I'm done typing this all out, I'm totally gonna go create & ghetto laminate him a "Beer Blog Minion of the Year" award. Those of you who know me, know I'm not kidding.

See ya on the other side...

the pissed liBEERian

aka Tracy

aka 5 thousand other aliases

Photography by The Real MGD & Basil & Myself & a random person in the 7 Seas Beer Garden
Editing by The Real MGD
Style & Inappropriateness by The pissed liBEERian

Happy Scrappy Hero Pups & why MGD is kind of a big deal.

Whilst lounging around the casa recently I had an epiphany-ish moment of sorts. Twas surfing the interwebs of bloggy informative goodness in bed with MGD while watching 'Clerks' and the following scene struck me fast & hard in the funny bone.

[Randal is on the phone when a woman and little girl come to the counter]

'Happy-Scrappy' Mom: Excuse me, do you sell videos?

Randal Graves: Yeah, what're you looking for?

'Happy-Scrappy' Mom: Happy Scrappy Hero Pup.

Randal Graves: Uh, one second. I'm on the phone with the distribution house now, lemme make sure they got it.

'Happy-Scrappy' Mom: 'Kay.

Randal Graves: What's it called again?

'Happy-Scrappy' Mom: Happy Scrappy Hero Pup.

'Happy-Scrappy' Kid: Happy Scrappy!

'Happy-Scrappy' Mom: She loves it.

Randal Graves: Obviously.

[into the phone]

Randal Graves: Uh, yeah, hi. This is RST Video calling. Customer number 4352, I'd like to place an order. Okay, I need one each of the following tapes: "Whispers in the Wind", "To Each His Own", "Put It Where It Doesn't Belong", "My Pipes Need Cleaning", "All Tit-Fucking Volume 8", "I Need Your Cock", "Ass-Worshipping Rim-Jobbers", "My Cunt and Eight Shafts", "Cum Clean", "Cum-Gargling Naked Sluts", "Cum Buns III", "Cumming in Socks", "Cum On Eileen", "Huge Black Cocks with Pearly White Cum", "Girls Who Crave Cock", "Girls Who Crave Cunt", "Men Alone II: The KY Connection", "Pink Pussy Lips", oh, yeah, and, uh, "All Holes Filled with Hard Cock". Yup. Oh, wait a minute.

[to the woman]

Randal Graves: Uh, what was that called again?

Aaaaaaaahahahahahahaha. Ha. Ha. Haaaaaaaaaa. Sigh. So. Effin. Funny. My apologies for the highly inappropriate language used in this scene (if it makes you feel any better, I didn't type it all out and only copy/pasted it from IMDB) but it served it's purpose when I discuss my next point. That point being 'blog search terms'. I find lots of entertainment in how people end up finding the pissed liBEERian blog via key word searches. Here are my favorite findings so far, I wonder why they are all so dirty...

• buzz effing woody
• hot snow bunnies in bed
• is the shocker enjoyable
• getting a happy ending Tacoma
• port-a-potty urinal (ok, that one might be legit due to the lovely picture I took above from TCBF)
• licking ice sculpture dick
• www libeerian sexy girl (hmmm, perhaps not such a 'random' search after all)
• clothing optional abbey house
• the Real MGD Tacoma (I know, right?! Now you get my Happy Scrappy Hero Pup reference from Clerks?)

It super tickles me when we go out to pubs or attend events and people exclaim "You're MGD!" when they see us together. Even better is when we're hanging out with people we've known for quite some time in the local beer community, MGD leaves the conversation and our friends ask me "What's MGD's real name anyways?" Now don't go getting all excited 'cause while I do tell them his name, I'm not revealing his true identity on the blog for public consumption.

After all, he has a reputation to protect. Mine's been a loss for quite some time now.

Here are a few more search terms that I thought were either weird & worth noting:

• I could not finish 2 rounds of beer (this scares me...)
• drinking arm
• apron
• Resco watches (from Downrange to Downtown bitches, love these watches! If you do a Google image search with these keywords, the picture below comes up. MGD possesses dos Resco timepieces and they are my favorite to 'borrow'. He took both watches on his current sojourn so I'm beginning to go through some hardcore withdrawals. Wonder if Resco does loaner watches... I know the owner/watch maker himself, which you'd think would give me an in to the whole loaner thang but probably not so much. He's also kind of a big deal but his taste in beer needs some working on...)

 kind of a big happy scrappy deal,

the pissed liBEERian

(and apparently MGD too)

 Pictoral works courtesy of The Real MGD & Myself