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Imbibing Agenda

Seattle Beer Week Picks: What to Drink May 18-20

Days nine, 10, and 11 are for Belgians, barrels, beer cocktails, and a major discount on beer purchases at Whole Foods.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on May 18, 2012 at 11:00AM 0 Comments

Each day during Seattle Beer Week, Sauced will recommend a few picks from the vast calendar.

Seattle Beer Week chugs to its boozy conclusion on Sunday, meaning you have three more days to partake of great offerings like Beer O’Clock, Squirreled Away, and assorted kegs and eggs. Meanwhile, here are a few notable events to help you close out the week.

FRIDAY

Fremont Brewing Company
Barrel Night
4–8

One of the coolest breweries in town has been busy laying in a stock of barrels and building up a major program of barrel-aged beers. Some of them aren’t quiiiiite ready for prime time, but the brewery is inviting the public in to sample a few that are just about ready (including the B-Bomb, the already-powerful Abominable made even more potent by a stint in the barrel). Not only do you get to taste some good beers, but it’s a fascinating lesson in how barrel aging changes and deepens a beer over time.

Hopvine
Sound Brewing Night
7–11

I am a sucker for Belgian-style beers, hence I am a sucker for Sound Brewery in Poulsbo. These guys make some brilliant heavy hitters, but even their more sessionable creations pack lots of flavor. And on a completely unsessionable note: Friday night will reportedly involve a keg of WW3, Sound’s Triple Entendre, aged in a barrel that previously housed wheat whiskey from Bainbridge Organic Distillers. Be still my liver.

Liberty
Beer Cocktails
8–midnight

Eugene craft powerhouse Ninkasi + Oola Distillery = a night of beer-based cocktails courtesy of Liberty’s talented barkeeps. Ninkasi founder Jamie Floyd and Oola’s Brandon Gillespie will be on hand to accept your rapturous compliments.

SATURDAY

Maritime Pacific Brewing Company
Jolly Roger Parking Lot Party
1–11

The Ballard taproom’s ample parking lot will be blocked off for the day and devoted to food, beer, and live music.

The Noble Fir
Hawaiian Night Featuring Maui Brewing
4–8

Maui Brewing Co. achieved a bit of a beer miracle by creating a coconut porter that actually tastes (very much) like coconut, yet still manages to be a serious beer. A few of the Hawaiian craft brewery’s creations are common sights around Seattle, but the night’s agenda includes some rarities, including an imperial golden ale, an imperial (aka extra boozy) IPA, and a Abbey-style dark strong ale. It’s an Alohafied take on Belgian-style beers and clearly Hawaiian shirts are encouraged.

SUNDAY

Malt and Vine
First Annual Eastside Brewers Hangover Brunch
1–8

This debut event gathers up the best brewers east of Lake Washington, at one of the best beer shops around. Black Raven, Snoqualmie, Foggy Noggin, Redhook, Mac & Jack’s, Issaquah, Dirty Bucket, and 12 Bars will be in the house for a low-key potluck, and plenty of beermosas. If you’re too hung over to bring food, neighboring Stone Korean Restaurant is supplying Korean chicken wings for $0.60 apiece, and the nearby gyro spot has discounts as well.

Whole Foods
Beer Lovers Appreciation Day
All Day

Hold the phone. All beer purchase are 20 percent off at all Puget Sound–area Whole Foods Markets? Drat—if only I hadn’t just spent all my money on Beer Week events.

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Tags: Seattle Beer Week, Seattle Beer Week 2012

Imbibing Agenda

Seattle Beer Week Picks: Where to Drink May 17

Day eight is for vegetarians—and an epic celebration of sour beer.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on May 17, 2012 at 01:40PM 0 Comments

Each day during Seattle Beer Week, Sauced will recommend a few picks from the vast calendar.

Have you been drinking enough water? Seattle Beer Week soldiers on for another round of cant-miss events.

Brouwer’s Cafe
Sour Fest
All Day

Sometimes sweet, sometimes tart, and usually funky, sour beers are a favorite of many brewers and beer geeks, and currently inching their way into the mainstream. Brouwer’s festival of pucker and funk is one of Beer Week’s major gatherings, wherein the bar turns over most of its taps to top-flight sour beers from the U.S. and Belgium. If you love sours, it’s not to be missed. If you think sour beer sounds nasty, this gathering of styles hopefully includes at least one brew that will change your mind.

Carmelita
Pike-Carmelita Dinner
6pm
$65

True, beer is often served in conjunction with pork belly, pork rinds, bacon, and other meaty companions. Which is why tonight’s five-course pairing dinner at lovely vegetarian restaurant Carmelita is such an unusual opportunity. Chef Carlos Caula and Pike Brewing founders Charles and Rose Anne Finkel will preside over a communal table of beer, snacks, and courses, with nary a pig part in sight. Cross your fingers that the weather holds, in which case dinner is served in Carmelita’s garden.

Taylor Shellfish Farms
Beer and Oysters
4–5

It’s always nice to see atypical establishments get in on the Beer Week action. Taylor Shellfish Farms’ Melrose Market shop always has a few oyster-friendly beers in the cooler, but tonight Widmer Brothers is invited over to comingle with freshly shucked oysters. The Portland brewery is bringing a hefeweizen and its seldom-seen oyster stout. If you’ve ever wondered what the deal is with oyster stout, and whether this dark, creamy beer can really complement crisp, briny oysters, tonight’s the night to find out.

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Tags: Seattle Beer Week, Seattle Beer Week 2012

Imbibing Agenda

Seattle Beer Week Picks: What to Drink May 16

Day seven is for sours, slap shots, and firkin faceoffs.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on May 16, 2012 at 09:45AM 0 Comments

Each day during Seattle Beer Week, Sauced will recommend a few picks from the vast calendar.

Today’s lineup is full of brewery nights, where bars devote considerable tap real estate to a specific beermaker. Consult the schedule if you’re interested in getting to know Georgetown, Diamond Knot, Silver City, Skagit River Brewing, or a joint session with SoDo’s brewing powerhouses. Here are a few more events highly worthy of your time and liver.

Brave Horse Tavern
West Coast Brewers Dinner
6:30pm
$50
Brave Horse is a great place for beers, burgers, and pretzels, but chef Brian Walczyk is at his best when he’s creating more artful dishes to pair with brews. This four-course meal showcases nine beers from some of the best brewers on the west coast: Chuckanut in Bellingham, the delightful Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland, and Anderson Valley Brewing Company in California’s Mendocino County, whose head brewer, Fal Allen, learned the trade up here at Red Hook, Pike, and Big Time.

Elysian Brewing Co.
Fourth Annual Firkin-Firkin
3–10

San Diego is a new darling on the national craft beer scene, and Elysian is lining up a smackdown of our firkins versus theirs. A firkin is a wee cask, used to condition small amounts of beer into an even greater state of complexity and delightfulness. Eight local breweries will face off with eight SoCal contemporaries to see which city does it better. Though the real winner here is anyone who shows up and gets to sample these 16 beers.

American Brewing Company
Score on Skip
6–10

In addition to being one of the region’s most respected brewers, ABC brewmaster Skip Madsen is reportedly a whizbang hockey player. Hence he’s suiting up and inviting any takers to take three shots on goal against him. Prizes ensue for anyone who actually scores on him. What does this have to do with beer? Well, very little, but it sounds highly entertaining nonetheless. Plus this spectacle comes with a cask or two of beer rarities, and those three seductive words: hot dog buffet.

The Noble Fir
Snipes Mountain Sour Night
4–8

Sunnyside brewery Snipes Mountain is setting ts up shop at Ballard’s cidercentric bar to share a crazy bouquet of its best sour beers. Snipes is taking over five taps to pour Sour Coyote (a dark English mild), Darkstrong (aged in port barrels), Twangzister #3 (this one did time in bourbon barrels), and Dali’s Garag—a spontaneously fermented, unhopped heather and mugwort blonde, aged in Bordeaux barrels). Oh, and was that not extreme enough for you? There’s also Quinceanera, the blended culmination of the other four brews.

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Tags: Beer, Seattle Beer Week, Seattle Beer Week 2012

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Seattle Beer Week Picks: What to Drink May 15

Day six is for exotic meats, flash mobs, and beer and ice cream pairings.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on May 15, 2012 at 11:00AM 0 Comments

Each day during Seattle Beer Week, Sauced will recommend a few picks from the ever-growing calendar.

Much like the weather, today’s event schedule is insanely good. These picks don’t even begin to cover the brewer nights, beer dinners, or tidal wave of cask-conditioned, rare, or otherwise notable beers being unleashed in bars, restaurants, and bottle shops around the city.

8oz. Burger Bar
Exotic Meats and Local Lagers
7–11

At first glance, Capitol Hill’s new burger restaurant comes off as awfully corporate, but the service has a great vibe, and friends and colleagues of all stripes have been raving about the burgers. Tonight Emerald City Beer Co. is paying a call (they brew in the Old Rainier Building next to I-5) to pair its Dottie Seattle Lager, Betty Black Lager, and Ivana Pale Lager with a trio of veal, lamb, and wild boar sliders.

Chuck’s 85th Street Market
Beer and Ice Cream Pairing
5–8
$10 for a flight of four pairings

The great thing about beer—it pairs with cheese, chocolate, savory foods, and even ice cream. Chuck’s, a covertly awesome beer shop, is bringing in Widmer Brothers and the frozen stylings of Full Tilt Ice Cream to win a few converts to this seasonally appropriate pairing.

Hopvine
Black Raven Brewing and BBQ
7–10

Black Raven Brewing’s taproom in Redmond is absolutely, positively worth a visit. But tonight the brewery is bringing its complex creations to Capitol Hill, and throwing some brats on the grill. Black Raven’s beer is spectacular in its standard form, and positively mind blowing after being conditioned in a cask.

Pike Brewing Co. (Museum Room)
Northwest Women in Beer
5–8
$20 (includes five tasting tickets)

This gathering is for ladies who generally eschew cosmos, novelty vodka, and those sparkly pink straps that let you carry a wine glass around your neck. Expect snacks, brews, and a strong turnout of women who make, sell, and consume beer. Dudes are welcome too.

The Troll
12-Pack at the Troll
11–11:30pm

When I interviewed Beer Week organizer Ian Roberts a few weeks back, he mentioned this flash-mob-cum-outdoor-drinking-session as one of his favorite events of the week. As the name implies, people just show up at the troll with beer, drink it, then scatter into the night. It’s the essence of Seattle’s beer community, distilled into one semirogue gathering.

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Tags: Seattle Beer Week, Seattle Beer Week 2012

Imbibing Agenda

Seattle Beer Week Picks: What to Drink May 14

Day five is for bingo, bulls, and Randall handling.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on May 14, 2012 at 10:15AM 0 Comments

Each day during Seattle Beer Week, Sauced will recommend a few picks from the ever-growing calendar.

Didn’t get enough Beer Week this weekend? Today’s schedule is overflowing with events, and you couldn’t ask for better beer-drinking weather.

Here are some highlights for Monday.

Brouwer’s Cafe
Ride the Bull
6–11

Fremont’s destination for uncommon and exotic brews will be pouring uncommon and exotic brews from…Missoula. Reps from Montana’s Big Sky Brewing will be serving up cans of Big Sky IPA for the first time in Seattle, but let’s be honest, here: The real draw is the mechanical bull. Is it possible to ride one of these suckers ironically? We’ll find out tonight.

Emmer and Rye
Meet the Brewers: Pike, Scuttlebutt, and Alpine
4–7
$20

Beer Week isn’t all bull rides and tattoos. One of the biggest draws is a chance to encounter new beers (and the men and women who brew them) in relaxed and nonintimidating settings. This event strikes a happy medium between wandering into a bar, and a full-on, five-course beer dinner.

Pyramid Breweries Seattle Alehouse
Beer Bingo
6–9

Okay, I admit. I include this event for the sole reason that I love bingo with a deep and abiding passion. Plus it’s free to play, and this game of minimal skill and logic goes down better with Pyramid beer specials.

The Pine Box
Can You Handle My Randall?
3–10

This event wins points for its name alone, but the sensory-challenging mashups of beer and flavor notes are absolutely worth the trip to Capitol Hill. One of the coolest features of the Pine Box is its built-in Randall tap, which infuses a beer with whatever flavoring elements you put inside. Tonight the bar will have an unholy number (eleven) of Randall taps in the house, and will be serving up combinations like Flyers Pacemaker Porter with coffee and vanilla beans, Fremont’s Summer Ale with Thai basil and lemongrass, and a dark, smoky Emelisse Rauchbier with bacon.

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Tags: Seattle Beer Week, Seattle Beer Week 2012

Imbibing Agenda

Seattle Beer Week Picks: Where to Drink Tonight

Day one is for kickoffs, casks, and Kastrated Dawgs.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on May 10, 2012 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

Each day during Seattle Beer Week, Sauced will be recommending a few picks from the ever-growing calendar.

When I stopped by Brave Horse Tavern yesterday, and the pub was festooned with so many banners, signs and decorations that it looked like the joint was throwing a Beer Week-themed birthday party. But you can’t blame the staff for being excited. The fourth installment of Seattle Beer Week begins today, and brings a formidable list of events, each more intoxicating than the last.

Here’s where beer fans should be celebrating on Thursday, May 10.

Elysian Brewing Co. (first stop)
SBW 2012 Kickoff
5pm and on
Drinkers usher in this most beery of weeks with a progressive celebration that begins at Elysian and continues on to Pyramid, Naked City, and The Pine Box. The highlight of this first stop will be tapping the inaugural keg of the official Beer Week brew, Elysian’s Split Shot Espresso Milk Stout.

Elliott Bay Pizza and Pub
Drink Your ‘Fn’ Beer
6-9pm
Every brew I’ve tasted from Bothell brewery Foggy Noggin (most recently the English-style pale ale Diablo del Sol) has been damn delicious, and I do enjoy a brewery that gives its creations names like Bit O’ Beaver and Kastrated Dawg (UW fans probably don’t buy a lot of that one). Brewer Jim Jamison is kicking off Beer Week at this Mill Creek pizza spot, and bringing some rare kegs with him.

Beveridge Place Pub
Cask-O-Rama, Part 1
6pm-Midnight
West Seattle’s coziest of beer bars will set up 12 cask-conditioned ales, each from a different Seattle brewery, and let you have at it. The night’s offerings include Elysian’s official Beer Week brew, the Space Needle Anniversary Ale brewed by Pike, and Two Beers’ Heart of Darkness Cascadian dark ale, infused with habanero and plum, as well as beers from Georgetown, Schooner Exact, Big Time, Maritine, Odin, Elliott Bay, Hale’s, Big Al, and Naked City.

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Tags: Beer, Seattle Beer Week, Seattle Beer Week 2012

Imbibing Agenda

Seattle Beer Week Starts Thursday

Brace yourself for 11 days of epic beer events.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on May 07, 2012 at 09:45AM 0 Comments

Seattle Beer Week, now a four-year local tradition, begins Thursday, ushering in 11 days of beer dinners, brewer events, drop-in tastings, rare brews, and an excuse to build tiny cars out of beer cans.

The official listing of events has swelled in recent days, and should keep growing this week; keep an eye on Sauced, where we will be recommending our top Beer Week picks each day starting on May 10. Spoiler alert: Buy your tickets to the annual pig roast at Quinn’s now. This very instant.

Meanwhile, local beer blogger extraordinaire Kendall Jones has shared his survival guide for properly appreciating Seattle Beer Week. Commence preemptive hydration now.

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Tags: Seattle Beer Week, Seattle Beer Week 2012

Imbibing Agenda

Seattle Beer Week Returns May 10

The burgeoning calendar has beer events both fancy and low-key.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Apr 12, 2012 at 11:15AM 0 Comments

The fourth installment of Seattle Beer Week happens May 10 through 20, and the official event calendar is already filling up with beer dinners, cask-o-ramas, and other shindigs celebrating the pairing, production, investigation, education, and consumption of this fine beverage.

“It seems like every city has a beer week now,” says Ian Roberts, one of the events three organizers. “It didn’t seem that way four years ago.” Back then, says Roberts, the national beer community was more focused on the East Coast, and all but ignored the Northwest. What a difference four years makes.

Unlike some other cities’ beer celebrations, Seattle anoints an official brew for its 11-day week of beer. This year Elysian brewed a Split Shot espresso milk stout made with Lighthouse coffee. The label states that “Beer and coffee are Seattle siblings, jealously dividing the day.”

These days Roberts spends most of his time at The Pine Box, the excellent funeral-home-turned-beer bar he recently opened on Capitol Hill. His establishment is holding a can derby, similar to a pinewood derby except participants make tiny cars out of beer cans rather than wood.

Other standouts on the schedule include the Sour Fest at Brouwer’s Café and the pig roast at Quinn’s, which has doubled its capacity in response to the crushing demand for its beer and bottomless platters of pork.

If you want to shell out for a beer dinner, the food and drink offerings are usually a tremendous value. However many events are of the free, drop-in variety. And plenty of them occur in neighborhood restaurants and non–beer geek bars. Beer Week is a great opportunity to get acquainted with an unfamiliar brewery or beer style, or figure out what exactly a firkin is. As Roberts says, “You can almost not change your life and still run into a Beer Week event.” Though it’s definitely worth changing your life just a little to add some of these outings to your drinking agenda. Check the calendar regularly, as bars, restaurants, and breweries add new events.

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Tags: Beer, Seattle Beer Week

Seattle Beer Week

Seattle Beer Week Essentials: $3 Pints at Noble Fir, Fremont Brewing Collab, HUB in SLU

The whole thing ends in three days, so tighten up and stay in the zone. There’s more beer to drink.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 26, 2011 at 04:18PM 0 Comments

No silly stuff. I’m just going to get to it:

BALLARD
It’s kind of hard to believe that The Noble Fir has been around for a year already. Celebrate its anniversary tonight with $3 pints on all draughts.

FREMONT
Through 8pm, stop by Fremont Brewing where they’re dusting off their agers for Cellar Night. You can also try the brewery’s collab with Left Hand Brewing called “Left Handed Dark Star.” That’s a mixture of Dark Star and Milk Stout.

PHINNEY RIDGE
74th Street Ale House is hosting the folks from Ninkasi, a Portland brewery we all know and love, from 6 to 9pm.

SOUTH LAKE UNION
The Brave Horse Tavern welcomes reps from another excellent Portland brewery: Hopworks Urban Brewery. That lasts from 8 through 11pm.

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Tags: South Lake Union, Beer, Ballard, Seattle Beer Week,

Seattle Beer Week

Seattle Beer Week Essentials: More Beer Cocktails, Hale’s at Cooper’s, Old World Versus Lazy Boy

There are still plenty of chances to take advantage of SBW.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 25, 2011 at 01:26PM 0 Comments

More beer? More beer! Here are the SBW picks for May 25.

FREMONT
If you missed Brewing Up Cocktails last night, you have another chance. This time tenders will be making cocktails with brews from Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland. The five signature drinks are available tonight at Brouwer’s Cafe from 6 to 9pm.

MAPLE LEAF
Cooper’s Alehouse is all about the home-brewed pride: Its 23 taps have been devoted exlusively to Seattle beers all week, and tonight it is featuring brews from Hale’s Ales in Ballard.

WEST SEATTLE:
Tonight at the Cask a tasting that pits four Euro brews against four beers from Lazy Boy in Everett. It goes from 6 to 9pm.

A sampling of all eight runs you $5. These are the beers:
Belgian: Orval Trappist Ale versus Lazy Boy Belgian
German: Pinkus Organic Ur Pils versus Lazy Boy Lager
English: Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale versus Lazy Boy Amber
English: Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout versus Lazy Boy Porter.

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Tags: Fremont, West Seattle, Seattle Beer Week, Seattle Beer,

Seattle Beer Week

Seattle Beer Week Essentials: New Belgium at the Troll, Ninkasi (Cocktails!) at the Shelter

Here’s what’s up on day six.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 24, 2011 at 10:51AM 0 Comments

Are you experiencing lucid dreams in which giant pints of beer are chasing you through darkened alleys, shouting out claims on your soul? It’s all part of beer week, friends.

Here are the picks for Tuesday, May 24.

BALLARD
Not to be missed: The Brewing Up Cocktails event at The Shelter Lounge from 7 to 10pm tonight: Ninkasi Brewmaster Jamie Floyd teams up with Ezra Johnson-Greenough and Jacob Grier, all from Portland. They will mix up beer cocktails for your drinking pleasure. (If you must miss it, Brewing Up Cocktails will be at Brouwer’s on Wednesday night with Hopworks.)

FREMONT
Bike up to the Fremont Troll tonight from 11 to 11:45pm and you can partake in cans from New Belgium Brewing.

GREENWOOD
Naked City invites West Puget Sound brewers to the bar tonight from 6 to 10pm, your chance to sample offerings from Silver City, Port Townsend, Hood Canal, Der Blokken, Sound, Slippery Pig, Valholl, and Slip Point.

WALLINGFORD
It’s like some how-to-avoid-toxic-people self-help course, only it’s bad beer you’ll be avoiding: Jamie Mastin from New Belgium Brewing will be at Bottleworks from 3 to 6pm today to teach a primer on common defects in beer and how to identify them.

A duo of side notes:
1. I would have included the La Trappe event at Lot No. 3 tonight but it’s totally booked. If you want to put yourself on a list in case of cancellation, call 206-838-3853.

2. As always, find the complete list of SBW events here.

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Tags: Cocktails, Portland , Seattle Beer Week, The Fremont Troll,

Seattle Beer Week

Seattle Beer Week Essentials: Cider on Cap Hill, $3 Pints, Brouwer’s Taps Evil Twin

Rare deals and rarer taps on day five of SBW.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 21, 2011 at 10:21AM 0 Comments

And so we’ve come to the middle.

It’s day five of Seattle Beer Week, and the events continue to flow forward like a frothy, turbulent river current. Break out your metaphorical canoes and ride that rapid, people. Beer week comes but once a year.

Here’s what looks good for Monday, May 23.

CAPITOL HILL
Cider fans: Tonight Quinn’s is hosting an event in your honor. Pay $25 at the door to receive six different cider samplings paired with cheeses. This goes from 6 to 9pm—I suggest you call to see if there is still space. I’d do it for you right now but Quinn’s isn’t open yet.

FREMONT
Brouwer’s Cafe in Fremont has been touting the fact that tonight it will tap rare kegs from Evil Twin Brewing in Denmark.

WEST SEATTLE
If Beer Week, for you, is about sampling as many state-made brews as possible, head to Beveridge Place Pub in West Seattle. It has 24 Washington beers on tap, and is charging just $3 a pint.

Also, Tomme Arthur from Southern California’s Port Brewing Company will be at Super Deli Mart at 1pm. (At 7pm he heads to Hopvine on Capitol Hill. Don’t let any Cascadia brewers catch you chilling with one of the San Diego dudes.)

A trio of side notes:
1. Don’t forget we’ve got a guide to SBW beer week dinners over on Nosh.

2. All week The Dray on Phinney Ridge is dusting off bottles stored in its cellar and serving them up to you, fair customer. This is to honor its third birthday.

3. For a full list of events, turn to the SBW website.

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Tags: Capitol Hill, Fremont, West Seattle, Phinney Ridge, Seattle Beer Week,