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Beer Week

Sour Beer Fest Tonight at Brouwer’s

Pay your respects to the Duchesse and 39 other tarties tonight in Fremont.

Beer_duchesse_de_bourgogne

All hail the Duchesse

Can’t believe I forgot to mention this most momentous of beer week events: the sour beer fest. Lambics, gueuzes, krieks? Heck yes. Brouwer’s is serving up over 40 sours including Verhege Duchesse de Bourgogne, a rich, Belgian red ale that is aged for 18 months in oak. (Brouwer’s shows its reverence for the duchess by hanging her portrait on the wall at the mezzanine level.) There are three from Lost Abbey, some New Belgiums and Russian Rivers, a bunch of Cascades. It’s a sour-lover’s ultimate event. Stop by.

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Tags: Fremont, Seattle Beer Week

Festivals

The Hopscotch Festival is Upon Us.

Here’s how to do it right this year.

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Drinking good beer from wee glasses in the dark while pop music plays in the background: This is Hopscotch Spring Beer and Scotch Festival at Fremont Studios, and it is good. I went last year and camped out by the Firestone Walker booth, a California microbrewery that makes some of the best pale ale and IPA I’ve ever tasted. But there are so many good breweries on hand it will make you dizzy, check out the list.

A ticket ($20 in advance; $25 at the door) buys you a tasting glass and five tokens, each good for one beer. You can go on either Friday, April 23rd from 5pm to 12am or on Saturday, April 24th from 1pm to 12am. Or go on both days. Nobody’s judging.

An added attraction are the spirit flights—scotch or tequila—each $10. There is also the option of super-sizing your experience by paying $25 in advance, $30 at the door and receiving, in return, 10 tokens. If you’re going this route, I suggest you plan ahead. There is food at Hopscotch, but what if they run out? Or you don’t like sausage sandwiches or whatever stadium eats are on hand this year? You’re in Fremont, there is plenty of food around. Go to Roxy’s for latkes and eggs beforehand, or Homegrown for a grass-fed organic something something, or Paseo for a giant Cuban sandwich. Whatever you do, eat before you drink.

I’ll leave you with two final suggestions. 1. Buy the tickets in advance, it’s cheaper and that way you can plan for a designated driver or Hummer limo or whatever mode of transport strikes your fancy. 2. Arrive early. The line becomes atrocious as early as 30 minutes into the festival. It’s seriously terrible. If you go late and find yourself stuck, for an hour, behind six drunk girls in tank tops screaming into a cell phone, you can’t say I didn’t warn you.

Happy Hopscotch!

[ Photo Source ]

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Tags: Beer, Fremont, Tequila, Scotch, Festivals

Inside the Festival

What Not to Miss at Hard Liver

Secrets of the barley wine festival from organizer Ian Roberts.

Sierra-nevada-bigfoot-2008

It occurred to me after I wrote about it yesterday that Hard Liver sounded a little overwhelming. All those barley wines! So I asked Brouwer’s GM/brewsky guru Ian Roberts to clue me in on the not-to-be-missed barley wines on tap.

Here is Ian’s list. When you hit the festival tomorrow, call it up on your iphone to ensure you get the most for your blood-alcohol-content buck.

1. Pike Brewing four-year vertical sample: try four vintages of Pike’s Old Bawdy barley wine side-by-side.
2. The 1996 vintage of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot.
3. The Angel Share from Lost Abbey (two vintages will be available).
4. A special wooden firken of Port Townsend barley wine to be tapped at 3pm.

Be there before 1pm, however, if you’re interested in seeing the judges announce this year’s festival winners. (Ian says they are usually announced “by 1 or 2.”)

Anyone else getting thirsty?

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Tags: Beer, Fremont, Barley Wine, Festivals

Boozefests

Are You Ready for Hard Liver?

Brouwer’s Annual barley wine festival this Saturday, March 20.

Barleywine

Brouwer’s Cafe opens its big Belgian doors at 11am this Saturday, March 20 for the Hard Liver Festival, an annual tasting of barley wines. The festival lasts until there is no more barley wine to drink. What is a barley wine? It’s a really strong ale.

Three-ounce pours will go for $2, 6oz pours for $4, and 12oz pours for $6. I haven’t yet had the opportunity to attend, but I’m told the place fills up fast, so get there early.

A reminder about barley wines: they are boozey. Like, 8 to 12 percent ABV boozey. So just to be safe expect to get twice as drunk as you do drinking other beers, and plan accordingly. Full list of barley wines to be served is here.

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Tags: Tastings and Classes, Beer, Fremont, Barley Wine, Festivals

Brews News

New Belgium’s New IPA: Release Party Tonight at Brouwers

The Fremont beerhall is donating sales to Haiti.

View Slideshow » Illustration: View Slideshow » Illustration:

Tonight: Freak out that beer-loving blowhard at work by trying the newest beer from New Belgium (the Colorado microbrewery most famous for its Fat Tire amber ale) before he does. The new brew is called Ranger and features three kinds of hops: Cascade, Chinook, and Simcoe. It will be the first IPA from New Belgium to be sold by the six-pack.

Order one tonight, February 1, at Brouwers, and 100 percent of the sale will go to relief in Haiti. Brouwers offers a happy hour from 3 to 6pm every day and there are food specials, so go early.

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Tags: Haiti, Beer, Fremont

Good spirits

George and Dragon Event Raises 20K for Haiti

Seattle Sounders Steve Zakuani and James Riley signed autographs in exchange for donations.

Riley

Sounders defender James Riley and his teammate signed autographs to help raise 20k for Doctors Without Borders.

Kevin Zelko, the founder of the Gorilla FC Sounders fan group, says the group’s event at George and Dragon on Saturday, January 24 raised over $20,000 for Haiti. Sounders players Steve Zakuani and James Riley signed autographs for a suggested donation of $5. Proceeds went to Doctors Without Borders.

Zelko says Gorilla FC, already known in the Sounders fan community for its community outreach efforts, will start organizing quarterly charity events benefiting different causes, check the web site for updates.

Find a list of bar events helping Haiti here.

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Tags: Haiti, Fremont, Seattle Sounders

Booze News

Kids in Bars?

New York weighs in on drinking with the wee ones.

Beerdog

Dogs are a frequent sight at some Seattle bars.

Should parents bring small children to bars? Risa Chubinsky thinks not. Her New York Times article from January 15 complained about young Park Slope parents who bring their tots out for drinks generated 362 comments (and counting) on the Times’ web site.

Writes Chubinsky:
No matter what breeders might think, bars are not family-friendly. If I am out drinking and sobbing about a bad breakup, I don’t want my cries to compete with those of an infant sitting next to me. If I go to the bathroom to correct my wayward mascara at the end of a long weekend night, I don’t want to watch a baby being wiped down on the soggy sink counter.

One commenter seconded the piece:
Adults have no rights anymore, only kids have rights.

Another disagreed, and had a suggestion for the writer:
There are probably bars for grouches and prudes also.

Then there were the commenters in the middle:
A yuppie complaining about yuppies. I don’t know which side to take.

It seems that city is divided. Around these parts, we hear more complaints about dogs at places like Summit Tavern on Capitol Hill and Norm’s in Fremont than kids at the bar. Strictly speaking, bars aren’t allowed to allow anyone under 21. But there are plenty of kid-allowing “restaurants” where drinking is the main activity—beer-guzzling destinations like Madrona Alehouse (where there are even toys in the back) and Naked City come to mind.

Does anyone care? And are Seattle parents bringing kids anywhere where they shouldn’t be?

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Tags: Beer, Dogs, Bar Etiquette, Fremont, Madrona

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