Beer Blotter: Seattle based. World focused.

Get a taste of whats in these amazing bottles tonight at the Beer Junction!

Tonight, don’t miss your chance to get a sip of Sound Brewery’s best and brightest. Seattle’s (actually Poulsbo, WA) bright young star – and the brewing home of a BeerBlotter.com writer – will showcase five of its best ales at West Seattle’s Beer Junction this evening!

Around a year ago, Sound Brewery popped on the scene with a short line of Belgian style ales. While the early releases were indeed intriguing, we were blown away once Tripel Entendre, Monk’s Indiscretion and Humulo Nimbus hit the taps. Now, Sound is garnering attention from national beer publications.

Last month, Sound announced that they would begin bottling their beers. If you have yet to see the packaging, take a look at the early promos above in the image. With a sleek wrap-around design and cap  strips, these are some of the best looking bottles on the market. Beer Junction will have a bunch of these in stock for tonight’s tasting, so be sure and snag a few for your cellar.

This brewery was so exciting that it beckoned BeerBlotter.com writer Tim Gormley. Tim is now happily brewing with the Sound team and will be on hand tonight to discuss Sound beer and help promote one of Seattle’s fastest-growing brands.

The Beer Junction will be pouring Humulo Nimbus Double IPA, Monk’s Indiscretion Belgian-style Strong Ale, Tripel Entendre, Dubbel Entendre, and Koperen Ketel Belgian-style Pale Ale from 5:00-8:00 PM. There is a $4 tasting fee and the last call for alcohol will be at 7:45.

We hope to see you all there – though we hope you save some bottles for us!

Eric Salazar drinking, teaching and working.

It wasn’t exactly as easy as I made it sound.  When I planned a Boston trip back in 2010, I had no idea what I was getting into.  About a month ago, I happened to realize that it was Boston Beer Week, followed by Philly Beer Week. Eureka!

The sad part is that we leave Seattle Beer Week this evening. For the third straight year, our vacation has fallen on the end of SBW. Last year, we headed to Belgium – this year to Boston and Philly. Not so bad.

I will say this, despite falling ill I really enjoyed this year’s installment of SBW. A few less notable beer personalities, but much more quality time with those that came. Eric Salazar‘s presence was uncanny. The blending event hosted by New Belgium’s Todd Gillman and Eric Salazar was head and shoulders above any other event. You will hear much more about that experience when Timperial waxes poetic over some amazing photos, early next week.

SBW grows every year. This year, I especially noticed a diverse crowd. Two years ago, it was just us three. We couldn’t pay our friends to have interest. This year, most of our friends outperformed us. Kudos to the men who championed Sour Beer Fest yesterday. Your enthusiasm for the great wild grog makes me giddy.

Alas, my SBW comes to close. While Timperial will stick around to trudge through the remainder of the weekend, we are off to Boston to explore a whole new world of beer. Along with an overnight in Portland, ME and a stop in Portsmouth, NH, I expect this journey to be the thing of legends. I will be visiting Boston’s Sunset Grill, Deep Ellum, Redbones and Cambridge Brewing. The trip up North will quench my palette for beers from Allagash, Smuttynose and Portsmouth Brewing. Oh yeah – and a dinner at the Lion’s Pride.

From there, we travel down to New York City for a few days of Blind Tiger, Rattle N Hum and Spuyten Duyvil. Luckily, good friend and confidant, Beaux Fingey, has decided to grace us with his presence in Philadelphia. A night worker, Beaux has decided to rise from the monotony of his high-priced Fishtown condo to show an old pal around Philly Beer Week. A whirlwind downtown tour will take me through Monk’s Cafe, Farmer’s Cabinet (25 Mikkeller beers – one time) and Memphis Taproom.

So, I say adieu to you crazy Seattle drinkers. Do not quit. Continue your wondrous exploration through the world’s best beverage. SBW shall live on.

Elysian Raconteur. Beer for the wise-cracking gentleman in all of us.

***Seattle Beer Week is a 10 day triumph through beer in the City of Seattle.  We published a SBW Bible last week. Check it out here – and get ready for the grog to flow.***

Well, here is the synopsis for Beer Blotter. 1 pregnant lady, 1 sick guy and 1 annoyed guy who wishes the others were not pregnant and sick. Luckily, Timperial is a nice guy.

In any event, our condition has not kept us away from everything. We have had a nice chance to get out and see the showings of many a wonderful brewery. Yes sir, SBW is in full flux.

The Before

So far, Back in Black takes the cake. As if you would ever be surprised that a festival showcasing over 60 tarry, chocolaty, delicious stouts would have caught our hearts. Brouwers Cafe’s Back in Black came out firing this year with Green Flash’s Silva Stout. That beer went way too fast, indicating that the beer public agree with my selection of this beer as #1. Luckily for me, I have a bottle down in my cellar from San Diego Beer Week. If you can find it, buy it in bulk. Its incredible.

Other than that, the others of note were Avery Mephistopheles, Hair of the Dog Matt, HUB Brouwers 6th Anniversary Stout and Port Townsend. I find that every festival, Port Townsend shows up with a fury. Nice work.

We also found some time to sneak in to The Dray early enough to avoid the line for Alan Sprints’ magic. Hair of the Dog poured from 3 taps and one cask on that wonderful afternoon. The cask 2009 Cherry Fred was mind-boggling and the talk of the room. Unfortunately, it overshadowed Doggie Claws, which made a rare appearance. Great to see everyone come out to support Alan’s fine craft work.

Mind blowing.

Did anyone grab a bottle of Firestone Parabola? Hopefully, you made it to one of the many bottle shop appearances of David Walker, brewer/owner of Firestone Walker. Parabola went quickly and I am hoping for a better showing than last year’s release, which left much to be desired. Any immediate response on Parabola 2011? Let us know below.

Last but not least, I hauled my butt over to Elysian on Friday for the release of Elysian Raconteur. This beer was brewed in honor of good friend, Chris Cavanaugh, who passed away recently. The fine gentlemen of the Elysian Brewing Co. decided to honor Chris by replicating his favorite hometown ale, Yuengling Porter. I have to say, quite honestly, I love this beer. Brewed like traditional porters, this beer is lagered and has quite a bit of chocolate flavor. You will find much more taste in this brew, than in the Yuengling version.

The best part about Raconteur (besides the excellent tap handle) is that every glass you buy adds to the Chris Cavanaugh Memorial Fund. Please help out – all you have to do is drink a damn good beer.

The After

Keep the faith, do not falter in your commitments, and stay the course. There is so much left to love about SBW. Don’t forget to study the SBW Bible, published here at BeerBlotter.com.

Tonight truly begins the rush of excellent events. Do not miss out on Burgers n’ Beers Bash at Brouwers Cafe. This is the 3rd year for this event. 5 brewers, 5 beers each, and 5 designed burgers and fries. This year expect to see Skagit River,  Fremont Brewing, Sierra Nevada, Port Brewing/Lost Abbey and HUB. Last year, Tomme Arthus (Port) and Christian Ettinger (HUB) stole the show, in my opinion. So its great to see them back at it.  Follow this up with a trip to the Fremont Troll around 11 PM to sip some beers donated by New Belgium.

Cavy!!! Nice shot.

I am most excited about the New Belgium Blending Symposium being held on Wednesday at the Stumbling Monk. Slowly gaining ground to overcome long-time favorite, Uber Tavern, the Monk is the venue for one hell of an event. Read more about it over at Timperial’s previous post.

Before or after the Symposium, make sure to make it over to Elysian for this year’s Firkin Firkin throwdown. California and Oregon have already passed through (2009 and 2010, respectively) and its Colorado’s chance to take on Washington. Read more about this event here. Also, if you are still standing after these two events, be sure to go see Tomme Arthur over at the Dray.

Thursday brings Sour Beer Fest, which needs no introduction on this site. Friday brings Naked City’s Pro Am night, which gets amateur brewers like us, a little giddy.

Hope to see you all out!!! Long live Seattle Beer Week.

Pic courtest of www.foodgps.com

Tomme Arthur, owner and head brewer of Lost Abbey/Port Brewing in SoCal is someone I respect greatly and admire for his creativity and quality craft. Tonight, at Hopvine, Tomme will be there to enjoy some brews and answer questions.

To entice you further, I have had two very memorable beer experiences with Tomme and/or Port Brewing/ Lost Abbey.

Take one: Seattle Beer Week 2010- The Tomme Arthur Experience. A 5 course dinner at Brouwers Cafe paired with 15 Port Brewing/Lost Abbey beers.

There were the farmhouse ales, the raisin beers, the IPAs, the sours, the stouts….this man does it all. The food was amazing and the beers knocked it out of the park. Tomme joined the group, introduced the beers and took time to answer questions before, during and after the dinner.

My last epic beer journey before I embarked on this 9 month/life long journey of motherhood was in Southern California. Lost Abbey/Port Brewing was my number one stop on this 48 hour trip. A modest taproom embodied that laid back feel of the west coast.

Mongo Double IPA, Santa’s Little Helper and a sneak peak of the next round of Red Poppy all blew my mind, cured my hangover and put a smile on my face.

So head to Hopvine rom 5-7PM today, May 23rd, drink one of these amazing beers and pick Tomme’s brain. You wont regret it!

Its here! Its really here!

That time of the year all beer loving Seattleites wait for- its sunny, getting warm, the flowers and tree are out and most importantly its Seattle Beer Week.

Tonight at 5:30PM, Maritime Brewing Co. is hosting the kick off event for this very special time. Maritime is the creator and brewer of this year’s Seattle Beer Week beer, Decompression, an American Strong Ale brewed exclusively with the Falconer Flight hops, would become a beast.

To learn more about this beer, Falconer hops and the man named for them, click here.

To make Seattle Beer Week even more “official”, Congressman Mike O’Brian will be at Maritime to read the official proclamation of beer week. All beers at Maritime are only $3 and there will be live music.

Cheers and Enjoy 2011 Seattle Beer Week!!