Beer Blotter

Party you say?  That’s right beer lovers, it’s time to celebrate with everyone’s favorite Kent, WA brewery – Airways Brewing.

Man, it really seems like those guys have a lot to be thankful for lately.  You may remember that they recently celebrated their one year anniversary.  That news came not too long after the announcement of the brewery expansion and the plans to open a second location to serve as a pub/bistro.

Speaking of that expansion at the original location, it seems the time has come to break in the newly improved Tap Room.  Airways, not surprisingly, plans to do this the way any good brewery should, with special beers for the people.  One of these special specials will be making it’s world debut.  Draw curtains…commence applause…rise to feet…flail in exuberance…It’s time for Uber Hag!

All of your delicious details are below.  Don’t miss out.  And remember, the only known way to mellow the outlandish curmudgeon that is the Sky Hag is to stuff her in whiskey barrels, age her, then quickly consume her.  Know you’ll be making the world a more pleasant place to live with each empty glass.

Kent, WA (06/25/11) – Airways Brewing Company, Kent’s Brewery, celebrates the completion of its Tap Room expansion on Saturday, July 9th with a special celebration.

“We’re finally done with the tap room expansion, albeit about two months later than planned, so we decided to celebrate with extended hours and some special beers,” says Airways founder and head brewer, Alex Dittmar.

In addition to the standard lineup, the special beers on tap on July 9th include:

Midnight Departure CDA – brewed for the first time since last summer.

Tickel Your Zwickel – German Unfiltered Lager

Maylani’s Tropical Stout – Chocolate Coconut Stout

Über Hag – Sky Hag IPA™ aged in Heaven Hills Bourbon Barrels

We’ll also have the new beer engine in place, so we’ll hook up a firkin of something good to that as well,” says Dittmar.

The celebration runs from 1 p.m. – 9 p.m., and includes special food items for sale from Airways neighbor, Yukon Grill.

Founded in spring of 2010, Airways Brewing Company is located in Kent, Washington.  The brewery produces five standard beers, Starliner Stout, First Class IPA, Jet City ESB, Sky Hag IPA™, and T-Tail Blonde, and features casks and special-edition beers in its Kent tap room. Airways distributes its beer to fine microbrew specialty bars and taverns in the greaterSeattle/Tacoma area.

1st Birthday Cake

Our good friends down at Airways Brewing in Kent, WA have a lot to celebrate these days.  You may have seen our article a few weeks back about their impending expansion.  If not, check it out here.

Probably the most impressive thing about that piece of news is the fact that Airways is just now turning one year old.  That’s an amazingly steep growth curve they’re working with.  We can only hope that in 5 years they will be taking over the world.  Well, lets not get too far ahead of ourselves.

In celebration of one successful year of business, Alex and Dione will be throwing a small birthday party.  Here’s the details from their site:

Join us in the Airways tap room for a small celebration from 1 pm to 8 pm on Saturday, March 12 for our first birthday. We’ll have dessert provided by Down Home Catering, giveaways including tickets to Thunderbirds Fan Appreciation Night, tickets to Cask Beer Festival, and we’re even going to let our very own DJ Wick have control of the music.Join us in the Airways tap room for a small celebration from 1 pm to 8 pm on Saturday, March 12 for our first birthday.

We’ll have the big party when we open the expanded tap room next month. But, this is a good way to thank our fans and customers for what’s been a great year.

Bigger and better things

Good friend to Beer Blotter and head honcho down at Airways Brewing contacted me yesterday with some really exciting news.  If you have been following them on Twitter (@airwaysbrewing), you’d know that they have been subtly hinting at a coming big announcement.  It has finally arrived.

Check out the official press relief below, because I sure as hell couldn’t have said it better.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Airways Brewing to Expand Current Location and Open Second Location in
Downtown Kent Historic District

Kent, WA (02/14/11) – Airways Brewing Company, Kent’s Brewery, today announced the
expansion of its North Kent production facility and tap room, as well as a new location in the Downtown Kent Historic District.

The brewery’s current location, in the North Kent industrial area, will expand from 1,200 to
2,400 square feet. The larger space will feature a larger tap room and a new 10-barrel
brewing system. The tap room expansion is expected to be open in early April, while the new
brewing system should arrive in early summer.

Airways has also leased space in the Downtown Kent Historic District for the Airways
Brewing Company Beer & Bistro. The location will feature a full food menu, as well as an
extensive tap beer lineup. The new location is expected to open in early June.

“We planned this expansion from the beginning, so it’s exciting to see it become reality,”
said Alex Dittmar, the company’s founder and brewer. “The larger brewing system and
expanded tap room at our current location will help us more efficiently serve our customers
and allow us to introduce some new special beers.”

“We are equally excited to announce our second location in the Downtown Kent Historic
District. Being Kent’s Brewery, we knew we eventually wanted to end up downtown. It took
us about six months to find the right place, and we think people will really enjoy the location,
as well as what we’ll have to offer.”

Founded in spring of 2010, Airways Brewing Company is located in Kent, Washington. The
brewery produces five standard beers, Starliner Stout, First Class IPA, Jet City ESB, Sky Hag
IPA, and T-Tail Blonde, and features casks and special-edition beers in its Kent tap room.
Airways distributes its beer to fine microbrew specialty bars and taverns in the greater
Seattle/Tacoma area.

Contact:
Alex Dittmar
alex@airwaysbrewing.com
Ph: 253-200-1707
###

That really is a big announcement!  I couldn’t be happier for the Dittmar’s, two amazingly cool and gracious people in the local beer community.  I’m sure that they are relieved and excited to finally have their own serious brewhouse in Kent.  All you crazed beer junkies probably know that Airways has had production assistance from the very beginning (only last year) from SoDo’s Two Beers Brewing.  With the help of those facilities, Alex has been pumping out some seriously tasty and well balanced ales and often, some of the most exciting beers offered at local brew fests.  This is going to be a good thing, no doubt.

Come late summer, when all of this is in full swing, It’s going to be really exciting to go on a South End beer tour featuring the likes of Trade Route Brewing, Dog & Pony Ale House and, of course, Airways and Airways Part Deux.

First it was harvest season and in celebration we indulged in glorious IPAs, then it was Halloween, so we attended a Pumpkin beer fest. Now, the first snow has fallen (sending Seattle into a state of disbelif, terror and general panic) and it is time for Christmas brews and Winter ales.

This year’s Winter Beer Fest will not dissapoint. Here are the details:

2010 WINTER BEER FEST

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DATES & HOURS

Friday, December 10th, 2010 5:30-9:30 pm
(WABL* Hour: 5:00-5:30 pm)

Saturday December 11th, 2010 12-4 pm + 5:30-9:30 pm
(WABL* Hour: 11:30-12 pm)

*Open exclusively to WABL members.

LOCATION

Hale’s Palladium
4301 Leary Way NW
Seattle, WA
MAP

ADMISSION

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$23 advance/$25 at the door.
Admission includes a tasting cup and six 5 oz. beer tastes.
Additional tokens are available at $1.50 each.

Designated driver admission is $5 and available at the door only.
We accept cash and check only. Sorry, no credit cards!

Admission and token sales will end at 45 minutes before the end of each session and taps will close with 20 minutes left in each session.

This is a 21+ only event

Space is limited so get your tickets early!

Advance tickets are available online now.

Advance ticket sales end at 5:00 AM on Friday, December 10th, or whenever tickets allocated for advance sale are sold out. There will be additional tickets available at the door during the event.

Beers to look out for (and by look out for, I mean drink)-

7 Seas Saison

Airways Hot Chocolate Ale

Big Al Penut Butter Stout

Big Time Yulefest Winter Ale

Black Raven Old Birdbrain Barleywine

Black Raven Bourboun Barrel la Petite Mort

Boundary Bay 2008, 2009 and 2010 Cabin Fever

Elysian Bifrost Winter Ale

Flyers Brewery Daybreak Breakfast Oatmeal Stout

Fremont Brewing Bourbon Barrel Aged Abominable

Naked City Bing Spiked Cherry Ale

Schooner Exact Hoppy the Woodsman

Silver City Brewing Old Scrooge Christmas Ale

There are so many amazing beers being poured at this event- check out the full list here!

What beer puts you in the holiday spirit??

I am afraid of her, yet strangely allured...

This just in: one of beerblotter’s favorite new WA brewery upstarts has really exciting news to share.  The following press release pretty much tells you everything that you need to know, so I won’t blabber on to extensively, but it’s worth noting that, if you saw our 52 Weeks article about the taproom, you know what we really enjoy all of their offerings, and clearly, we love double IPAs, so this is going to be more than worth a trip down to Kent.  Do it!

Kent, WA (10/25/10) – Celebrating the bitter women of the air who refuse to retire, Airways Brewing Company, Kent’s Microbrewery, is proud to announce the official release of Sky Hag IPA™ as the newest addition to its regular roster of beers. This is the first Double / Imperial IPA to come from the brewery and the first change in its standard lineup since opening in March of this year.

“With this beer, we set out to celebrate a true American icon of aviation. One that I feel we’re all united in knowing, the Sky Hag,” says Airways Brewing Company founder and brewer, Alex Dittmar. “With a 7.8% alcohol level and bitterness of over 99 IBUs, this beer is definitely as bitter as she is.”

Sky Hag IPA is made with Pacific Northwest grown malted barley and all Columbus Hops from start to finish. A generous dose of “dry hops” give the beer its distinctive citrus aroma.

“We released this beer as a test batch during the summer in our tap room, and our customers loved it,” says Dittmar. “I’m thrilled to be able to add Sky Hag IPA to our regular tap room lineup, and to be able to distribute it as well.”

To celebrate the beer’s release, the Airways tap room in Kent will feature Sky Hag IPA on tap, on cask, and a special oaked version Thursday, October 28, 2010.

Founded in spring of 2010, Airways Brewing Company is Kent, Washington’s microbrewery. The brewery produces five standard beers, Starliner Stout, First Class IPA, Jet City ESB, Sky Hag IPA, and T-Tail Blonde, and features casks and special-edition beers in its Kent tap room. Airways distributes its beer to fine microbrew specialty bars and taverns in the greater Seattle/Tacoma area.