Beer Blotter

Two Beers Brewing, Seattle, WA- feels like just yesterday they were the new brewery in town.

4 years later, their distinctly decorated cans are all over the city. Next month, Two Beers is expaning their Georgetown location to include a new tap room and more brewing space. The expansion also means extended tasting/drinking hours- YAY! Below is more information about the Grand Opening from Two Beers’ press release:

What: 

Craft beer lovers and Two Beers Brewing fans are invited to the grand opening of Two Beers Brewing Co.’s newly expanded tasting room and brewery! After what has already been a record-breaking year for Two Beers Brewing – with the release of 22-ounce bottles in February, followed by the release of 12-ounce cans in June – the growing brewery must now make room as it prepares to double its production. Coinciding with the brewery’s four-year anniversary, all are invited to celebrate as Two Beers Brewing unveils a brewery doubled in size (4,800 sq. ft.), a dedicated tasting room, expanded business hours and more. Join us on Saturday, November 12 from 2-7 p.m. and enjoy:

• $4 pints and food available for purchase from on-site mobile food truck
• All year-round offerings on tap, plus seasonal brews including award-winning Jive Espresso Stout, Heart of Darkness Imperial CDA, and Pumpkin Spice 2011
• A special anniversary edition beer, with $1 of every pint sold donated to the Washington Trails Alliance
• Help name the new tasting room; winner receives a keg full of the Two Beers Brewing beer of their choice for just $5!
• A free limited edition Two Beers Brewing poster (limit one per person)
• Self-guided brewery tours
• Bad beer toss and more!

When: 

Saturday, November 12
2 – 7 p.m.

Where: 

Two Beers Brewing Co.
4700 Ohio Ave S, Unit B
Seattle, WA  98134

Who:  

This event is open to the public. Kids and dogs welcome.

More:

Visit the Two Beers Brewing Facebook page for more information as the event nears.

 

Washington Beer Commission's logo- a staple in the beer community.

This Saturday, February 26, 2011 (TOMORROW)  for approximately 4 hours, you should go on a tour of the local craft brewing industry.

The Washington Beer Commission organized an Open House of sorts where local breweries open their doors to beer lovers providing them with the good stuff to make this an epic Saturday afternoon. From 12PM-4PM you can plan your route or pick an area of Washington to tour:

CENTRAL and EASTERN WA

C.I. Shenanigans Brewery, Spokane
Iron Horse Brewery, Ellensburg
Palouse Falls Brewing, Pullman
Yakima Craft Brewing, Yakima

NORTH and EAST of SEATTLE

American Brewing, Edmonds
Anacortes Brewing, Anacortes
Black Raven Brewing, Redmond
Boundary Bay Brewing, Bellingham
Chuckanut Brewing, Bellingham
Diamond Knot Brewing, Mukilteo
Foggy Noggin Brewing, Bothell
Gallagher’s Where U Brew, Edmonds
Lazy Boy Brewing, Everett
Redhook Brewery, Woodinville
Scuttlebutt Brewing, Everett
Snoqualmie Falls Brewing, Snoqualmie

NORTH SEATTLE

Big Time Brewery, U District
Fremont Brewing, Fremont
Maritime Pacific Brewing, Ballard
Naked City Brewing, Greenwood

DOWNTOWN SEATTLE

Pike Brewing

SOUTH and WEST of DOWNTOWN SEATTLE

Big Al Brewing, White Center
Elliott Bay Brewing, W. Seattle
Epic Ales, SODO
Georgetown Brewing, Georgetown
Schooner Exact Brewing, SODO
Three Skulls Brewing, South Park
Two Beers Brewing, SODO

SOUTH SOUND

M.T. Head Brewing, Graham
Trade Route Brewing, Pacific
The Ram Brewery, Puyallup
The Ram Brewery, Tacoma

WEST of PUGET SOUND

7 Seas Brewing, Gig Harbor
Der Blokken Brewing, Bremerton

This event will showcase a number of special beers, beer pairings and surprises at many locations. You will just have to go and find out what is in store. Don’t forget this Saturday is the Grand Opening of American Brewing Co.

This event is free but beer prices at each location will apply. Drive safely or don’t drive at all and ENJOY!

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.

What excitement awaits on twitter?

Since Editor Jess is off living in the lap of luxury by means of a massive sea-faring vessel and therefore finds herself unable to pen the much heralded Events column, I figured I’d bring you my version of the events.

Many of our local readers may very well be savvy in the 140 character world of Twitter, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they both follow all of the tweeters that I do and actually keep up with what they are saying on a daily basis.  Admittedly, I find it nearly impossible myself, but today I made a point to sift through all the bird calls and pull out a few of the Seattle area events and/or beers on tap that may interest you all.

Let me know if you find this helpful or simply redundant by leaving a comment below.  Have a great week and drink good beer!

Latona Pub (@latonapub) in Greenlake has the following on tap (as of 1/31/11):

Port Townsent Nitro Stout

Roslyn Dark Lager

Laurelwood IPA

Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

Allagash White

Bayern Pilsner

Full Sail LTD 4 Pale

Hale’s Wee Heavy

Firestone Walker Union Jack

New Belgium Vrienden

Silver City Whoop Ass

Super Deli Mart (@superdelimart) in West Seattle (9051 35th Ave SW) has Oskar Blues G’Knight Imperial Red and Flyers Hop Duster IPA on tap as of 1/31/11.

It’s most likely a joke, but Iron Horse Brewing (@ironhorsebeer) of Ellensburg claims to be releasing a beer called Double Rainbow Ale inspired by the impossibly hilarious YouTube video that went viral last year.  Check it out here.

The Toronado (@toronado), an absolutely epic beer bar in San Francisco, is having a special event on 2/18/11 for the release of Pliny the Younger.  Yes, that is during San Fran’s annual Beer Week, but this, most likely means that we should see kegs in the Seattle market either slightly before that or around the same time.  Are you ready?

This Wednesday at the 74th St. Alehouse (via @twobeersbrewing) in Phinny – Two Beers Brewing will be providing a very special cask of Evo IPA.  Here are the details from their Facebook page:

Wednesday Night: 74th St. Alehouse Cask of Double Dry-Hopped (Simcoe, Amarillo, Sorachi Ace, Centenniel) Evo. IPA. We also threw in some D’Anjou Pears and Pink Lady Apples to help with the secondary fermentation. Uhhh, you won’t want to miss this one of a kind beer.

That sounds redonculous!

Elliot Bay Brewing (@elliotbay_beer)will be sending out two barrel-aged beers today, one “Sour” to the West Seattle location and a “Bourbon Stout” to Burien.  I would highly recommend checking these out if you are able.

The Porterhouse Pub (via @diamondknot) in West Seattle is hosting a Super Bowl party/fundraiser in conjunction with Beer Church that will feature brews from Diamond Knot, Port Townsend and Georgetown.  For more details please check out this site.  Go to this!

This Friday, 2/4/11, at 5pm, Cooper’s Alehouse (@coopersalehouse) in Maple Leaf will be hosting a 5 year vertical tasting of Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale.  You can order a tasting tray and try all 5 side by side.  If there are any beer aging naysayers out there, get you ass out to this event and see what age can do for yourself.  They also have Sierra’s Bigfoot Barleywine on tap (as of Sunday).

As of Sunday night, Naked City (@nakedcitybeer) had Fish Brewing’s 10 Squared Barleywine on tap.  If it’s still on, it won’t be for long.  They also have Sierra Nevada’s Hoptimum and Snipes Zombie Killer.

Apparently, Grandfather Raven, Black Raven’s Imperial Stout, is still on tap at the brewery’s taproom (as of Sunday, via @seattlebeerclub) .

One of several beer fests in Seattle throughout the year, Belgium Fest is the first in 2011. On January 22, 2011 this festival, run by the Washington Beer Commission will begin. Due to the high demand of this event, the venue has been moved to Magnuson Park (it will be heated, do not worry).

Word on the street is that tickets are already being sold at an alarming rate, so go online NOW and secure your spot. This is a festival that requires some advance commitment. Waiting until the day of might not be the best idea. $30.00 advance and $35.00 at the door, if available. As always, the designated driver ticket is $5.00 and only available at the door- includes free water and soda.

You pick one of two sessions on Saturday, January 22, 2011-

Session 1: 12:00-4:00 p.m.
Session 2: 5:30-9:30 p.m.

The Workshop at Magnuson Park
6310 NE 74th St., Seattle, WA

Now for the important stuff. The beers. For now all I have are the breweries, but hope to have a list of all the beers in the next week or so.

Breweries expected to participate:
Anacortes Brewery
Baron Brewing
Big Al Brewing
Big Time Brewery
Black Raven Brewing
Boundary Bay Brewery
Der Blokken Brewing Co.
Elliott Bay Brewing
Elysian Brewing
Fremont Brewing
Georgetown Brewing
Hale’s Ales Brewery
Issaquah Brewhouse
Lazy Boy Brewing
Naked City Brewery
Odin Brewing
Paradise Creek Brewery
Pike Brewing
Ram Brewery
Redhook Ale Brewery
Scuttlebutt Brewing
Snipes Mountain Brewery
Snoqualmie Falls Brewing
Silver City Brewery
Two Beers Brewing

Its going to be a doozy!