Week in Review … with chance of snow

     Sitting here and staring out the window from inside my house I see the occasional flake fall onto the already moistened pavement. And in case you guys are inquiring what I might be drinking while composing this, its a Lost Abbey Serpent’s Stout (bottle signed by the man himself). Earlier I had a Pikes Kilt Lifter at the brewery along with a rather tasty spicy chicken sandwich.

Water Street goes silent but for a good cause
    The previous Saturday a notice from Nina Law and the rest of the owners, brewers and staff at Water Street (Port Townsend) was sent indicating they were holding a silent auction to benefit continued operation at the restaurant and brewery. Doing my part I mentioned this to a few brewers in Seattle as well as posted on a couple of 'enthusiast' sites about the pending auction. I know that Nina, Skip, and Mark all have been coping with less than stellar business at the Restaurant, and with rumors floating around of their demise in the past this official auction will hopefully clear things up and keep them running for a while.

Elysian Trips out with New Belgium
     On Monday I visited Elysian Brewing's 'Fields' location to finally try their latest collaboration with New Belgium Brewing (see, Ft. Collins, CO). I haven't checked to see if they still have it on draft or not but I anticipate to see this soon not only at all their Restaurant locations, but also on draft at locations such as Brouwer's, Uber, Duck Island, Naked City, Collins, and many others. While there I spoke with distributors, Elysian sales staff, bottleshop owner Doug Engler (see, Malt & Vine), Chris Devlin (see, frmr. contributor to the Seattle chapter of the Examiner's Beverage section), and the staff of Schooner Exact.
     All told this was a fun event with the beers and conversation flowing throughout the room. I wanted to congratulate Dick, Bradley, Markus, Dave, Joe, and Laura on a wonderful first collaboration and a great start to what will no doubt be a win-win for craft beer enthusiasts of Elysian and New Belgium beers alike.

Its hard to Consecrate around here
     With an overcast with occasional rainy day behind me I grabbed a bus after work and headed down to Naked City. As one of the lucky few to try the first draft of a sixth barrel (1/6 of a barrel) of Russian River Consecration I was not let down sampling this sour wild ale. Drinking this I was reminded of the some of the local releases from Elliot Bay, Hales,Issaquah Brewhouse, Elysian, Silver City,   as well as Water Street. If I forgot anyone I do apologize ahead of time, but I am trying to recall so many good beers in this state that might have been one-offs or limited annual release beers.
     As it turned out though Brouwer's Cafe (Phinney Ridge in Fremont) had a keg of this as well (they poured through their entire keg in less then four hours!) and according to their posts online it will also be available during the Sour Beer Festival. FYI, special thanks to my wife for picking me up from Piper's Creek (see, Pub at Piper's Creek). Somehow I ended up on the wrong bus to what I thought was Northgate and in the end had to rely on my matrimonial taxi to come get me. Thanks babe.

DRAFT speaks its mind and suffers our rants
     In a recent post on their website the 'editors' of DRAFT magazine posted from their '2009 Two Hundred Top Beer Bars' a para-phrased version of Seattle bars. Needless to say the list looked more like someone having night out on the town and less like a pub crawl meets craft beer. I saw the list of bars posted and although I didn't one hundred percent agree with them I had to admit I did at least know the ones they spoke of. This discussion had me pondering some things regarding what consists of a 'perfect' or 'top' bar, as in my opinion there are several mentionables.
     If you mean does the food go well with the draft list, then I can discuss Brouwer's Cafe, Collin's Pub, Quinn's, or maybe even Spur. If you mean a plethora of draft beers ready to be consumed then I could suggest; again Brouwer's Cafe, but also Naked City, Taphouse, Duck Island, or Collin's. What about Oldest bars? Well if that is case then what about 'Maes in Georgetown, Blue Moon, or Five Point? As you can tell this list could get out of hand, especially if you count does it allow pets, bring your own food, or have beer to go?
     In the end we are all handicapped by our desire to support the bar or brewpub that gives us the best lasting memories, even if its that hole in the wall with the dedicated handle of Ranier since 1967. Happy Hunting, and please speak your opinion but stay off the soap box.

In case you missed it (see, there isn’t time)
     I have to admit there aren't enough hours in the day or the week to allow for someone to try everything. The first two days of the week (not counting Sunday) were fun in of itself, between the release party at Elysian 'Fields' and the out of town limited release of the Consecration (see above). So I wanted to first off apologize as I do almost every week for not having a chance to try everything or be at some places at least once during the week (especially you Gary. I hope to stop in next week for sure). In the end that is the nice thing about the other digital scribes such as Seattle Beer News, Washington Beer Blog, Social Retard, and a few others that deserve more credit than I gave them; we all lend a hand. Hope to write more about this week, details will be posted shortly.

Cheers

Events in Review

Washington

Festivals
Seattle, WA
March 2nd, 2009 6:00 PM PST
Barleywine Bacchanal presents Cask Night, Beveridge Place Pub

March 3rd, 2009 Time to be Determined
Barleywine Bacchanal presents Rare Bottles from the Cellar, Beveridge Place Pub

March 5th, 2009 and March 6th, 2009
Barleywine Bacchanal presents Vertical Night, Beveridge Place Pub

Anniversaries
Burien, WA
March 7th, 2009 6:00 PM PST to 11:00 PM PST
Ellliot Bay "Burien" Brewing's 2nd Anniversary

Releases
Seattle, WA
March 2nd, 2009 5:00 PM PST
Elysian 'Fields' Brewing presents Trip I (are we there yet?) New Belgium Colla-beer-ation
Elysian Fields

Oregon

Festivals
Portland, OR
March 6th, 2009 & 7th, 2009 12:00 PM PST - 10:00 PM PST
Lucky Labrador present Barleywine Bash, Lucky Lab' 'Beer Hall'

Hood River, OR
March 7th, 2009
Double Mountain Brewing's "Das Boot" Release Party