WABL Brewers Festival 2011

It's timeline time!!! Yay. Clap.

21 days since I've been in a bar (Jubelpalooza @ Parkway Tavern).
Approx. 90 days since my last 'real' blog post (& by real I mean not some random event FYI that I posted to make myself feel better about not writing a real blog).
Approx. 4 months since I attended Brewers Festival in Kenmore, just now sitting down to write about it.

Hmmm, well that last part is fairly typical while the two facts before it are not. Been an interesting/rough/random couple of months in the life of zee pissed liBEERian so I'm attempting to get back to business and jump back on my horsey horse. I looked at this blank page forever, thinking I actually forgot how to do this. Let's find out, shall we?

WABL's Brewers Festival was something I was so very excited about. Happy dance excited. I think for 2 reasons: It is the event that got me started in beer blogging (SIB of 2010 also played its part) and I'm fairly certain that summer was invented just to make outdoor festivals of beery goodness even more amazing than they already are.

This is my unamused fake smile which clearly says 'Let me the hell in already, I'm dying of thirst!'

In preparation for the event, I gathered all of the information on which breweries would be pouring which beer on which days. Then I used that information to create a color-coded, date-prioritized spreadsheet that was our plan of attack. This thing was effing sick. I was approached many a time during the festival with questions as to where I got my oh so amazing beer guide. I was in love with this thing. Festival goers were in love with this thing. MGD and I wrote all of our beer notes (by 'our' I mean his notes, I make the medium for our ease of festival going but I have higher social obligations that are a priority over taking notes plus I end up writing all over myself) and other info onto these lovingly created sheets of paper.

So guess what the one thing was that we went home without, late Saturday night? Good thing we have photographic evidence as to the reason why...

I guess MGD's fancy camera finally caught me at a not so cute time. Had to happen eventually. Camera awareness skills: -3

Certain things happen when I've been drinking all day and those things include putting on my stupid clothes (fuzzy ball ski cap), going to the house of  a complete stranger we met at the festival in order to try his home brew, playing Mario Kart for hours while sitting next to a cat the size of a small bear cub (MGD's editing notes would like it stated for the record that it was actually the size of a BIG bear cub) and losing possessions that are of the utmost importance to me and my blog. Oh and making random weird faces (READ: lack of any camera awareness resulting in my usual pretty poses) while going off on some drunken tangent. You know, the usual.

But that was at the very tail end of our night, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start where it all started, at the Schooner Exact booth!!!

Schooner Exact Seamstress Union Epiphany Beer Reunion, two fisting with Heather McClung. In a platonic way of course.

Schooner Exact was one of our highly prioritized stops as they created the Seamstress Union beer that I first had at the 2010 Brewers Fest. And they are Schooner Exact of course. Lovely picture of Hutch (SE Brewer) and myself sporting his new aprons from Germany. After a quick costume change, we got Kim Sharpe Jones (of Washington Beer Blog) in on the action. I totally love/hate that pic of us but it's too damn funny not to post. Kendall and Kim of the Washington Beer Blog had a whole tent at this festival complete with WBB swag and a prize drawing, which was way awesome. If they & their blog have reached 'Tent Masters' level then I just MIGHT be able to get away with running around wearing a sandwich board that says 'the pissed liBEERian' on it. Might.

Snipes Mountain Brewery was pouring a Bourbon Barrel Aged Sour Pumpkin Stout (I know, right?!), so we made sure that was one of our first stops on Saturday morning. The beer drips (blasphemy!) all over the sign are courtesy of me. You're welcome Snipes. I tried to convince them that it gave their sign an authentic, rustic feel and I offered to lick it off the sign as well. I have a 'gesturing' problem more than a drinking problem. I had only had 3 or 4 beers by that point. I have to set stuff down when I need to talk because I need my hands free to tell a story. I'm sure a lot of you have heard me say "OMG, hold this 'cause I have to tell you something!!".  The Sour Pumpkin Stout was quite delicious, hence the licking offer.

One of the best parts of Brewers Festival is the keg toss. MGD weaseled his way up on to the stage (EDITING NOTE BY MGD: He said he didn't 'weasel' and never has. He simply walked up to the stage.) to snap some great shots of the event on Saturday. We are quite a magical team with my big breasticles and his big camera, people rarely stop us from doing anything or ask questions. It's probably why we found ourselves chillin' at the post festival Brewers after party, drinkin' some super secret beer. Where I 'accidentally' stole a Trivial Pursuit card. I call it an accident because I have no idea why I took the card, I'm not the type of person who steals stuff. I'm pretty sure it made complete sense to me at the time in my world of having drunk all day.

So the keg toss... pictures are worth a thousand words. Here's a bunch so you can stop reading for awhile. Plus, the facial expressions of these guys kills me. It looks like most of them have to poop.

As I mentioned before, I sadly lost my uber collection of notes on the beers we drank. I still have the beer lineup from the event and in looking through it I can pretty much guess what we drank and what we liked. See below.

7 Seas - Cascadian Dark Ale & Rude Parrot IPA (both MGD & I found the Rude Parrot to be phenomenal!)
Baron Brewing/Three Skulls Ale - Imperial Red
Big Al - Sourlicious & Five Star Chile IPA
Big Time - Cherry Trombipulator (Cherry Style Belgian Triple)
Black Raven - Possum Claus Bourbon Pecan Ale
Boundary Bay - Ginger Peach
Elysian - Rhubarbarella
Fish Brewing - Swordfish Double CDA
Foggy Noggin - Bit O Beaver (English Bitter)
Harmon - Vanilla Porter & Rajah's Royal IPA
Howe Sound - Pothole Filler (Imperial Stout)
Kona - Longboard Lager & Wailua Wheat (Nothing I haven't had multiple times but I had to keep going back to get swag. One lei, 3 gecko keychains & and bomb ass Kona beach towel that required some serious eyelash fluttering and annoying persistence that I have trademarked.)
Mac & Jack's - C U Lator Barleywine Ale
Northern Lights - Blueberry Creme Ale
Odin - Thor's Equinox & Odin's Gift (I distinctly recall sloshing my Equinox all over my hand due to some heavy gesturing while talking about the sour stout called Thor's Intrigue to the pourer. Real smooth on my part.)
Port Townsend - Green Tea Gold
Ram - CoConut Porter & Berry White (Raspberry Belgian White Ale)
Schooner Exact - Seamstress Union (yay!) & Bravehorse Pale Ale
Scuttlebutt - The Dirty Blonde (that's what he said)
Skookum - Cabernet Barrel Molasses Stout
Snipes - Sour Pumpkin Stout
Three Skulls - Cutthroat Imperial Red
Two Beers - Ginger/Lime Panorama Wheat & Infused Evo IPA (plus we got free koozies for stopping by!)
Wingman - Pomegranate P-51 Porter, Bourbon Barrel Porter, Blackberry Sour Ale (EFFING BOMB DIGGITY)

Dang, that's a lot of beer. I'm sure there are more that our collective group tasted and loved but this is what I can list with much certainty due to our usual preferences and I know how we be rollin' at festivals, yo. 

In between beer tasting I divided my time evenly between the following delights:

Ignoring Micah's muscles...












...but reaping the benefits of his tattoo placement prowess along with one of my very best gal pals.












Grabbing a quick Kenny (Port Townsend) hug before I talked him out of his Parkway Tavern sweatshirt. Add that to the swag list.












Harassing the mini golf guy during my 300th attempt to sink a putt. Maybe my time wasn't so evenly divided... He felt sorry for me and finally gave me a WABL Golf Ball. Swag list, add it.



















Somehow Brian and Mike (7 Seas) manage to mutually serve me and ignore me at the same time, great skills guys! Only to be matched later when I almost talked Mike out of that great shirt by telling him I'd switch with him at the end of the day. It was a plan until one of us didn't show, pretty sure it wasn't me...

Entertaining the locals with what I'm sure was scintillating conversational skills on my part.












Lending a hand at the last minute Friday rush in the Big Al tent. Where I quickly realized that I am designed to drink beer and socialize, not pour beer for others. These people all ran up and scared the crap outta me!
 











 Chased bubbles.












And wrestled fellow beer blogger Mike Besser (Brewdad) over a beer/token trade. I forget who won but that probably means it was him.












I'm sure many of you know, I heart Tacoma. It is with so much pride that I got the chance to see how awesome the Wingman Brewing guys did at the festival. They had a giant line of people wanting a taste and then who kept coming back for more, each day until they sold out. They were the darlings of Brewers Fest, great job guys!!

Kenny Thoburn of Wingman Brewers & their ridiculously long line

As you can tell from below I actually DO love hanging out with my brother (on the left),

just not in combination with my good friend who is like a brother to me (on the right)...

they bust out the 'time to harass our little sister' act a little too effectively as a team.

the pissed liBEERian

Real brother, me, fake brother

Love is in the air... or at least something smells in Tacoma.

I really need to start learning how to write things down in pencil. My poor day planner has about a 1/2 inch thick of white-out because of my ever changing, ale related plans. Thought it best to inform you of the crazy amount of fun stuff coming up for the days, weekend and beyond...

Tuesday 8th - Goldfish races at the Harmon Tap Room (8:30p, Tacoma) I hope for your sake that the Vanilla Porter is still on tap because it was darn loverly in my mouth hole last week.

Wednesday 9th - Brewers Night @ the Red Hot featuring Firestone Walker (6p, Tacoma) Sure to be bountiful schwag and copious amounts of swallowing. At least for me, I'm not a spitter.

Thursday 10th - The Nosh League of Tacoma will be hosting a wine/beer/chocolate pairing (Chocolate Lovers Unite!) at Beyond the Bridge Cafe this evening (6:30-9:30p, Tacoma) or if you feel like making the trek to Seattle, Pike Brewing is having their 3rd Annual Chocofest. Dubbed as a 'romantic evening of chocolate, beer, mead, wine and spirits'. Admission is $25, click here for more details. (5:30-9p, Seattle) I'll be attending the Chocofest but if I could be in 2 places at once this evening, I would. 

Friday 11th - IDK what y'all have planned for this Friday but after I get my tires replaced (stupidrunningoversomethingbigandmetalandstupidattwointhemorningonSundayonthefreeway) I'm hoping to FINALLY get my booty out to the 7 Seas Brewing tasting room in Gig Harbor for a tour and a proper pint or two. (3-9p on Fridays, Gig Harbor)

Saturday 12th - If you are a member of the Tacoma Beer Appreciation Society then you already know about the private Beer Drinkers/Makers Meeting (beer potluck) that's going down. Gonna do my best to stop by Amocat Cafe for some tasting. (7:30p-11p, Tacoma)

Sunday 13th - Anti/Valentine's Day Artist Craft Fair is being put on by Tacoma Is For Lovers at King's Books and has my name written all over it. With a Sharpie. A fat one. In fuchsia. (11a-4p, Tacoma) After I've shopped my little anti-Valentine heart out, I'll be hitting up Metronome Coffee for another rousing meeting of the Literature and Libations book group. (3-6p, Tacoma) We drink (coffee & beer), we read, we repeat every few weeks.

Monday 14th - Happy Valentine's Day! Now go participate in Tap Night Tacoma, I'll give you 5 reasons why you should. Engine House 9, The Swiss, Doyle's Public House, The Red Hot & Parkway Tavern. Oh and Big Al's newest brew, the Hop Villain Black IPA will be at Parkway Tavern. There... I gave you 6 reasons, so just do what I say. Kthnxbai. (6p, Tacoma) I stopped by Big Al Brewery last weekend to get a special tour, ala Micah Sims, and he let us try the Hop Villain Black IPA. Unless of course that was one of the 'Don't tell Big Al I let you have some of this and drink it quick because he'll be back any minute' beers... then I, uh, have no idea what I'm talking about. P.S. It was delicious, can't wait to have more!!!

Wednesday 16th- Brewers night at Parkway Tavern featuring New Belgium. (6-9p, Tacoma) I don't need to be told twice ('cause you're not the boss of me) so don't make me tell you twice either.

Hope you find yourself at one or many of these events, there is just too much fun to be had...

the pissed liBEERian

Hitting 7th Heaven with 7 Seas Brewing

Check out the new promo video for 7 Seas Brewing. Click right here bitches, it'll take you to You Tube!

Ah... how they tickle me timbers and shiver me proper pints.

I heart you, Travis and Mike! Keep up the great work.

the pissed liBEERian

I don't like no Week sauce on my wings!

Sho shorry guys, starting the weekly events on a Tuesday... epic failure on my part. However, if you didn't already know that the awesomest thing going on for Monday was Tap Night Tacoma; you may have other issues...

Here's what's coming up for 12/14 thru 12/19...

Tuesday 12/14: 7 Seas Brewing 'Santa's Smokin' Holiday Winter Warmer' Release Party @ CROWNBAR in Tacoma. There will be other 7 Seas beers available, holiday giveaways (SWAG!!!) and jolly Santa himself. 6p-9p (although Mike Runion from 7 Seas said he'd be there all night!)

Wednesday 12/15: Give a Pint, Get a Pint hosted by Cascade Regional Blood Services @ The Hub in Tacoma. 12:30-2:30p Give some blood and get a coupon for a free brew (I'll even throw in some good karma for ya...)

Thursday 12/16: Dogfish Head Beer Night @ the Parkway Tavern in Tacoma. 6-9p and cross your fingers that they'll have the Bitches Brew on tap... I'll be there (hopefully with an entourage of ale minions) giving away some of my personally made DFHead swag, in the small profound way in which I do things. :)  
AND Help fill the glass boot ALL WEEK at The Red Hot for United Way of Pierce County's Season of Caring. They're donating $1 from every pint.

Saturday 12/18: Christmas Beer & Cookie tasting @ 99 Bottles in Federal Way. 10a-12p. $2.50 for some beer and cookies... it's either going to be fabulous or disgusting. Either way, I'm glad they are doing it!

Sunday 12/19: Not sure what everyone ELSE is doing this day but here are my ale related plans:

12-3p... I'll be doing a Sensory Beer tasting at an up and coming (hopefully soon to be open!) Tacoma brewery; Wingman Brewers Brewery. This entails: Spiking beer with various flavors in order to learn how to identify off flavors in beer. (I'm takin' my knowledge n' shit to a whole new level!) After this sensory tasting we will have a more informal tasting using BJCP scoring for fun and practice.

4p and on... Another fabulous Literature & Libations meet up. This time we'll be chillin' at the Powerhouse Brewery in Puyallup. A quick note on what L&L even is: "We are the lazy man's book club. We don't read the same book at a time; we probably won't discuss the books we are reading; however, there is a good chance we will chat and drink and read and be very happy doing all of it at the same time."
Feel free to come out if you are interested in joining the fun, everyone is welcome if they don't suck! Ie. No Jerks. Stolen from The Red Hot.

If you are not invited to or attending any of these Sunday events, you could always hit up a 253 local for some football and beer. The Harmon Tap Room has football, pinball, good food, pool and WTF Sundays! where your entire bill (including beer!) is half off.

Have a good one!

the pissed liBEERian

Full Sail Night @ Parkway Tavern. Now in possession of a joint custody Session Beanie!

The Tide came in...

Big Al Irish Red

It's been a long time since I've seen a bar so packed on a Wednesday night that didn't revolve around a sporting event. As we arrived @ the Tides Tavern in Gig Harbor last night for the 2nd Annual beer pairing dinner with 7 Seas Brewing, there was hardly an open seat. We pulled up to the bar for some pre-dinner drinks, enjoyed a good 'ole Mac N Jacks African Amber and Big Al's Irish Red. Very tasty selections to start our night out.

The dinner bell was rung and we were summoned to find our little place cards among the beautifully laid out place settings. I had been under the impression that our $50 dollar per person dinner would include 3 courses paired with 3 beers, period. Well the ale was flowing all night long. As soon as our glasses hinted at being consumed, they were refilled with a swift subtlety that can only be found in Cirque du Soleil performances. Check out what we nomed on:

Appetizer paired with Saison du Sept Mers
Hickory Smoked Pork Belly and Alaskan Spot prawn Salad- with roasted peanuts and fried garlic

Entrée paired with Ballz Deep Double IPA
Roasted Hen with Ciabatta, Chorizo, Sweet Potato and Mushroom stuffing, Yukon Gold mashed potato, fresh turkey gravy and roasted butternut squash, cranberries and pears.

Dessert paired with Port Royal Export-style Stout
Apple Clafoutis-  New Crop Braeburns in an egg cream flan tart- with apple wood smoked salt pumpkin caramels and Myers Rum Anglaise

I felt like I was at a pre-Thanksgiving dinner, the food was ridiculously phenomenal and they did a great job with the vegetarian substitutions. Handmade salted pumpkin caramels... you are my new best friend.

Table mates Jeff & Mary Robinson

 We were tucked back in the corner and enjoying everything they put in front of us when in walked our table mates, Jeff & Mary. Apparently they like to keep all the trouble makers (vegetarians) in one spot, John had a few food restrictions too. What a cool couple! We made quick friends and had fun chatting about New York, beer blogging and the sheer amount of food we had been challenged to consume. Apparently, neither the Tides nor 7 Seas want any leftovers. 

Hearing Travis & Mike (the owners of 7 Seas) talk about their beer and how gracious they are to be doing what they do, really made the night special for this girl. It was a fun evening that I will surely attend when they do it up again in 2011. Nicely done 7 Seas and good work Chef Ernie from Tides. Kudos and many cheers to you!

Next on the agenda is to hit up 7 Seas itself for some beer sampling. Hopefully I can make this happen before I get around to hanging my new 7 Seas Christmas ornament on my tree...

Thanks for the fun times!

TCBF... the reason I do what I do.

2nd Annual Tacoma Craft Beer Festival!

How better to express my gratitude and awe of the previous weekend than to simply say "Thank you, from the bottom of my yiddle pissed liBEERian heart." I may have had more fun than one person (or even a whole group of me and my peeps) could possible handle. After spending some time compiling notes, memories and general randomness that occurred over both days; I felt it would be better to review the event in lists and pictures (in this case, they truly do say a thousand words) so that you don't need eye bleach, a nap and a hug by the time you are done reading this.

                       Top Brewers 

Me chillin' @ the Schooner Exact booth

Schooner Exact. Well... duh, it's my blog and to me they are PERFECTION. Really enjoyed talking with Heather and Matt McClung (owners of SE) about all the greatness that is them. Was treated to a specialty pour of Seamstress Union on Friday night (cue random ass dance of happiness which lead me to spill a drop of my beloved 4oz. Time to simmer the hell down and get serious!)  & found out about a few places SU is pouring locally @ this moment in the 253. Thanks for being so great guys!

Big Al Brewing Company Who doesn't love a company who's logo is: Live your dreams, drink ours. Epic. Got my right chesticle branded with their logo & about a million pics taken. Sorry Mom, but we all have our talents. Booth runner Micah was a laugh and we sampled some of their Chili IPA which was crazy good. Can't wait to try some more and will definitely be looking for Big Al first @ the next event I attend.

7 Seas Brewing Company A bidding war over the growler shown which resulted in us being $150 poorer, my winning smile becoming sore, amazing promo pics being taken & a promise of some blog worthiness and a visit to the brewery. Sounds like a winning combo to me. Can't wait to go see Mike & 7 Seas up north soon, y'all made this event very special for me and you have my thanks. Keep doing what you are doing.

Odin Brewing Company  They were serving up Thor's Fury and were probably some of the most hilarious people I met all night. Mad props to Dan for not giving me his glitter Odin T off his back (even though I could totally SEE the other shirt underneath) and promising that if I visit Odin, I can have one for free. A promise of free swag and legit reason to visit a new brewery... yeah I'm a hard sell; see ya Friday.

Amazing Ales on Cask

Showin' off the guns!

Airways Sky Hag
Oskar Blues Gubna
Everybody's Brewing Country Boy IPA

Most Memorable 4oz Pours
Walking Man Black Cherry Stout
Airways Sky Hag (cask)
Schooner Exact Seamstress Union (Friday night special, freshest of the fresh)
Big Al Chili IPA
Odin Thor's Intrigue (this was mistakenly labeled as Thor's Fury)
Two Beers Infused 20:20 Blonde

Top 5 Things I Went Home With 

1. 7 Seas limited edition growler. Thanks Mike, you fought a good fight but our charms are a force to be reckoned with.

2. Breasticle (temporary) tattoos featuring Parkway Tavern & Big Al, that still won't come off

3. An unexpected win in the bean bag toss game. Take THAT and like it Basil!

4. 8 plastic 4oz TCBF taster glasses.

5. Memories to last a lifetime, until the next Tacoma Craft Beer Festival that is.

Best places in the 253 to start and end your TCBF experience

Parkway Tavern - Friday, stopped in for some pints before and after. Hitched a cab from here both days. Next time we go with a limo or a town car so we can rock our celebrity status. Amazing after party on Saturday, it has to be said.

Puget Sound Pizza - grabbed some bomb sammies for lunch on Friday before heading down. Then ended up there again Saturday to enjoy some wonderfully awful karaoke.

Utter Randomness that really made my weekend!                 

1. Getting a shout out (plus some free beer tokens to try and win me over to the dark side...) from the Red Hot dude @ the cask pour. It's nice to be recognized for my work as a liBEERian. Total happiness sprung from loathing.

2. In an effort not to throw anyone under the bus I will attempt to be discreet, which is not my strong suit. As the event concluded, we picked up our (empty) 7 Seas growler. Before we actually left the venue, it was no longer empty. Thanks for the free fill up, I was wondering what y'all do with that left over beer. *Please note, the growler was produced and given to me by 7 Seas but they DID NOT fill it*

3. Found an abandoned wooden beer token in a port-a-potty urinal. Events unfolded from there in the following order: Took a picture. Thought about how desperate one would have to be to grab it. Wondered how high the comedic value would be if I personally snagged it. Laughed my ass off that I even considered touching it. Got a bit sad that I didn't think of such an awesome social experiment first. Went inside to my peeps and showed them the picture, then said "See this token in the urinal? It's now in my purse." I love me, I'll do anything for a cheap laugh.

4. As I was standing outside the bathrooms Saturday night, perched on the back of a truck; got a new compliment that I have never heard before. Some dude walked by me, did a double take and walked back and said "You look amazing. I'm not hitting on you but I wanted to tell you that you look so classy, everything that you have going on right now. Total class." Pretty sure there are very few people who have been around me when I'm actually talking who would call me classy. At least I got the look part down that night, thank you blue dress.

5. FOOD! Tasted pickle/bacon/absinthe flavored toothpicks and will remember to bring some eye bleach next time for all of the hairy ass Parkway tattoos I saw. Plus devoured a burrito bigger than my head. Noshed on different varieties of malts and actually LEARNED something about beer and it's different flavors. Imagine that... thank you my devoted teacher for always trying to make me more 'studious'.

The apex of my weekend was realizing (as if I didn't know already) that I have such amazing people in my life who are ridiculously supportive of me and consider my journey to be a shared one. They show up for events, will write down beers I consume and hold my free swag in their big purses & pockets. Outrageously barter for unobtainable goods and make sure I meet the right people. I wish I could encapsulate these moments in time we've all shared together. Magic in the making, over WAY too soon.

I love beer. I love my blog. I love what I get to do with my time concerning both. I'm having the time of my life in every way and THEY are the one's who make this possible for me. Thank you, you know who you    are.     

 What a great way to end the day. A beautiful view, empty glasses and big smiles.

A parting shot as the sun sets and the tasters begin to empty...

Cheers, the pissed liBEERian