Engine House No.9 had a baby! Well... a Love Child anyways.

Tacoma's Engine House No. 9 restaurant and brewery has quite the history behind it. Built in 1907 to protect the North End of Tacoma from excessive burniness and then 85 years later (for those of you who no likey the numbers, that's 1992) it became the first non-smoking pub in Pierce County. It also has the distinction of being the first micro-brewery in Tacoma (Iknowright?!) I haven't been around as long as E9 and during my time as a Tacoma resident I haven't really come to love the place the way that many locals do. I won't go into the details as to why E9 hasn't won me over because I'm sure that those who have chosen to spend their beer money elsewhere have had the same issues.

What I will go into is how I excited I was to hear about the change in ownership of E9 and the resulting changes in store for the place. Like a nicely blended family, E9 now shares parents with Masa and Asado. Menu changes are being instituted, while they've already introduced a new digital jukebox, LCD TVs for sports watching, karaoke with Rev. Colin (of PSP karaoke fame), a more frequent Facebook presence and a revamped old-fashioned popcorn maker. I've heard they will also be replacing their beer towers & lines soon, which can only be a good thing.

In talking with E9 enthusiasts and from what I've experienced personally, there is a loyal fan base in Tacoma for the establishment. While drastic changes don't always go over so easy with long time fans, I think the new owners are headed in the right direction. From here, they can only tap into the hearts of those in Tacoma who see its potential and WANT to love E9 (like myself and many others I know in & beyond the 253 craft beer community) for the awesomeness it can achieve.

Walking into E9 at the Tap Night Tacoma 1 year Anniversary.

So... uh, yeah. That's how I feel about that. Now for my in depth report on E9's Lambic Release Party, starring the Love Child Kriek!!! (applause) The Love Child is the first beer in a series of barrel-aged sour/wild ales that are being released under the new ownership. Brewers Shane Johns and Sean Jackson (you may know him best from his slinging beer skills, infectious laugh and total Randall domination at the Parkway Tavern) did the sour beer scene a total solid with their Love Child Kriek.

Gotta say those guys have some super-sour-awesome-balls for adding four heavy hitters to the night's lineup along with their brew. Good on ya!

E9 Love Child Kriek (5.9% ABV) A lighter/milder sour with a cherry flavor and color. The Love Child went down nicely, a clean finish that doesn't wreck the palate like some. I found it to be extremely sessionable for a sour, which is hard to achieve without forcing a stomachache on oneself. I love sours so I speak from experience.

Leifmans Cuvee Brut (6% ABV) A favorite of the evening amongst our table of drinkers. Packs a tart punch right in the middle of the mouth, with a lot of balancing sweetness and complexity. MGD & I shared a bottle of the Leifmans Goudenband just the other night and found it highly delicious. The Cuvee Brut was a nice surprise this evening and blew the Goudenband outta the water.

Mort Subite Kriek (4.5% ABV) I loved the light maraschino cherry flavor to this one, not too sweet but just enough. Like Baby Bear in that blond chick's story.

Boneyard Brewery Femme Fatale (6.5% ABV) Have had the Femme Fatale on a few other occasions and loved it. I haven't found much of anything that Boneyard does wrong yet either so stay on the look out for them.

Zum Uerige Doppelsticke (8.5% ABV) I don't know where to start with this one. Neither my mouth nor my emotional well being have as yet fully recovered from my experience with this beer. Only offered in a 3oz pour; I'm sure the ABV has something to do with that. My initial thoughts on this beer was that it smelled like root beer. Not the kind you drink but like those little root beer barrel hard candies. The only reason I think I may have been a bit on the drunk side is that I spent the rest of the evening trying to convince everyone of this fact. Even though I had re-decided (that is TOTALLY a word) earlier that it smelled more of powdered surgical tubing. And not in a bad way. Every time I took a drink it felt as though there was a thick coating on the roof of my mouth. Again, not necessarily in a bad way. This beer was just weird and insanely intriguing. To everyone. I mean, I got over it after the first 3oz and said "Eff this, I'm ordering some tots." I guess the best way to describe it would be a mouth hole train wreck. While one glass was enough for me, my table mates (MGD included) kept going back for more, willingly torturing themselves in one of those 'it hurts so bad it feels good' kind of ways. MGD made something akin to my IPA face & the inability to decipher how he felt about the Zum Uerige Doppelstick (other than the fact that he had multiple glasses) can be clearly seen in his notes, which rates it as a 2 (our scale is from 0-3) with a 3 written on top of it with a 2 written on top of it and what I think is another 3 on top. Everyone should probably try this beer in their lifetime, perhaps my confusingness will make sense after you do.

All in all, the event was fabulously done and therefore fabulously enjoyed by myself, MGD and our collective gaggle of friends. As in all sour tastings, things get more fun and more interesting as the hours wear on. For example, here's what I recall from the night's randomness:

• Sometime in between leaving my massage to walk a block or so to meet MGD at Parkway so we could head to E9, I lost one of my knee-high argyle socks.
• It was determined that that beer and sex should never be compared but that pizza and sex always can be. To quote Mizz Jamie Stratton (day manager at Parkway): "Sex is just like pizza." Me: "Even when it's bad, it's still good?" Jamie: "Yup. Even when it's cold, stale and hard: still good."
• Strange Brewfest is coming, STRANGE BREWFEST is coming!!!
• Something about rotary phones and 911 in England being 999. Because choosing the number that has the longest 'rebound' time when dialing on a rotary phone for an emergency totally makes sense.
• Service animals and the notion that in a public place, you can't question the legitimacy of an animal being of servitude (fact). Guess that's why I've seen a snake, parrot and chihuahua at the library in my years. Best to just hook it up with a comfort monkey. Preferably a bonobo, so more accurately labeled as a comfort ape. To see where our conversation naturally lead (from service animals, to comfort monkeys, to pleasure monkeys), click here and scroll down to Sexual Social Behavior. 
• As always, I find myself at a beer judging disadvantage with my shnoz. Which is a trait that those with larger than average noses like to point out when deeming their skills better. It's like bringing a knife to a gun fight.  

Romantical tasting picture by MGD. That's why he's not in it. Myself, Jamie Stratton, Morgan Alexander, John O'Gara. Justin Johnson (manager of Red Hot) joined us a bit later, just imagine him in the hole next to Jamie..

Mr. Sean Jackson at Parkway Tavern on Russian River night. Now change out his T-shirt for a red button down & black tie then lose the Dead Guy Ale ball cap and comb his hair. Sean's a cutie patootie all the time but he sure cleaned up well for the Love Child Kriek release at E9.

Super duper way excited for good things to surely come

from Engine House No. 9 and their beer,

the pissed liBEERian

This is what happens right before I get super duper way excited.

Editing and photography by MGD