World Class Beverages Inland NW Blog

Beauty is in the Eyes of the Beer Holder

World Class Beverages Inland NW — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 20:55:58 +0000

The consolidation and expansion of the craft beer industry continues at a rapid pace. just this week the acquisition of IBU (Pyramid, Mactarnahans and Magic Hat) and Anchor Brewing by consolidators was announced. Meanwhile there is a dizzying amount of new local start up breweries. We are up to over 100 breweries now in the state of Washington. What does this mean to the consumer? In my opinion-NOTHING. Just because a brewery is owned by a larger company doesn’t mean they make bad beer, and just because there is a brewpub in your neighborhood doesn’t mean they have drinkable products. Certainly the opposite is true as well, and that is where the fun comes in. Craft beer is about the journey, trying and evaluating different beers on your own and coming to your own conclusions. That is what makes this industry so much fun. We all have our favorites, but nothing beats finding a NEW favorite. So keep an open mind and go out and try something you havent had before. Cheers!

OREGON BREWERS FESTIVAL

World Class Beverages Inland NW — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 23:23:07 +0000

Looking for a weekend road trip? Going on right now in Portland:

Oregon Brewers Festival

June

World Class Beverages Inland NW — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:56:57 +0000

Juneuary is upon us and the weather is till bad enough to enjoy dark big beers like Sierra Nevada’s 30 series Stout (if you can still find any), Deschutes Jubel 2010 and Samuel Adams Double Bock to name a few of my favorites. However, the weather will break and it is time to enjoy some sessionable ales and lagers. Already on the shelves are New Belgium Skinny Dip, Pyramid Curve Ball Blonde, Full Sail LTDo2, Bayern Dump Truck and Oskar Blues Mamas Lil Yella Pils. Some more coming this month are Ninkasi Radiant, Laughing Dog Rocket Dog and Stone 14th Anniversary EPA. And don’t forget to grab some canned craft beers for the boat, beach and trails. 21st Amendment IPA, Fat Tire Amber, Blue Moon White and Red Stripe are some good choices now available. Beer me!

April in the Inland NW

World Class Beverages Inland NW — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 18:21:35 +0000

It is snowing as I write this post in Spokane. But it is April and time to think about spring time beer activities. This is a very busy month for me. I head to Chicago tomorrow for the Craft Brewer’s Conference/World Beer Cup which is my favorite industry event. Hopefully I will come back with some great new contacts and information about the state of craft beer. Here in the Inland NW there are some cool events for you to check out this month: Leavenwoth Ale Fest is April 17th outside of the Bavarian town in central Wa, that same night if you aren’t heading to L-worth check out the Wooden Keg Tapping by Juergen (Bayern brewmaster) at Litz’s on Ermina and Division. Waddell’s will be starting their annual Hoppy Daze promotion on 4/20 with 15 IPAS on tap for 15 daze. Some cool beers that you don’t see too often in this region will be on tap. The Odom Spring Beer Trade Show will be on April 27th (for licensed accounts only), but that means there will be a ton of craft/import beer reps in town doing some cool events. A possible Merchant Du Vin Beer Dinner at Soulful Soups (date TBD), a Ninkasi Brewer’s Dinner at Hills Restaurant on April 28th and a New Belgium beer tasting at Huckleberrys on the South Hill on Sat May 1st. I am sure there will be more events lined up as we get closer so check back to the events page at worldclassbeverages.com! Cheers!!

March

World Class Beverages Inland NW — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:30:06 +0000

Time for green grass, green beer and Guinness! Lots of fun will be had in downtown Spokane during the St Patrick’s Day parade on Saturday March 13th. It is one of the single largest days of the year for downtown bars. Get down there early and grab some breakfast and a good viewing post. Other events this month include a Cigar-Beer pairing at Legends of Fire on March 17th featuring Guinness, Smithwicks, Harp, Grand Teton and Orval; Chic A Ria Stein Fest for March 20th; Rogue beer dinner at Twigs Wandermere tentatively set for March 25th; and Full Sail Brewmaster’s Tasting at Enoteca on March 25th. Keep checking the events page at worldclassbeverages.com for updates….and don’t forget to wear green!!

February

World Class Beverages Inland NW — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:02:26 +0000

Busy month ahead with many different craft breweries sending representatives to Spokane to develop business. So far the schedule includes Laughing Dog, New Belgium, Ninkasi, Grand Teton, Bayern and 21st Amendment. Look for us out in the bars talking the gospel and putting new things on tap. There will be some events taking place as well starting with Laughing Dog tasting tonight at McGlade’s in north Spokane, Laughing Dog at Williams Seafood in Spoakne Valley this Friday at 11am, New Belgium beer Dinner at Soulful Soups downtown on Tues Feb 16th, Ninkasi Pint Night somewhere TBD on Thur Feb 25th and the Wine, Stein and Dine at the Greyhound Park in Post Falls on March 6th. Keep checking back for updates to the event calendar at worldclassbeverages.com and look for the seasonal barley wines hitting the shelves and taps throughout the month. Lagunitas Gnarley Wine (2010 GABWF Gold Medalist), Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, Stone Old Guardian and Deschutes Super Jubel will all be here soon. It is a great time to have a beer!

Barley Wine Festival Day 4–The End

World Class Beverages Inland NW — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:43:58 +0000

Day 4 went very smoothly. Breakfast at Humpy’s. Re-icing all the kegs and making sure everything was pouring. The ‘Connoseuer’s Session’ began at 2pm. This crowd was a bit thinner than the night before and more interested in the nuances of the beers rather than how many they could get down the trap. At about 4pm they announced the winners of the competition. In the ‘Winter Seasonal’ category, the judges chose only 1 winner as a ‘Judge’s Choice’ since winter beers can span a huge variety of flavors. The winner was Glacier Brewhouse Oak-Aged Eisbock, which WAS incredible. As for the Barley Wines, they chose a 3rd, 2nd, and 1st. 3rd–Port Brewing Farley Barleywine from So-cal. 2nd–Midnight Sun Arctic Barleywine from the local Anchorage brewery. 1st place–(for the second straight year) Lagunitas Gnarley Wine from Petaluma CA. I cannot disagree with the ultimate winner, my take is that it must be exactly the elements the judges are looking for, to win it twice in a row. After all, it IS a double-blind judging. The evening session was sold out again and we began to blow kegs very fast. All in all around 6000 people showed up to sip their favorite brews from about 50 different producers. It was a fantastically run event and I would highly recommend making plans to attend the Great Alaska Barley Wine Festival 2011 in Anchorage, AK.

Barley Wine Festival Day3-It opens

World Class Beverages Inland NW — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:59:23 +0000

Day 3 for me was actually Day 1 of the festival. Most of the day was setting up the Egan center, but we had an amazing lunch at the Glacier Brewhouse. Kevin, the brewmaster, treated us to a 7 course tapas-style lunch as well as samples of his tasty beers. I had the IPA, Export Lager, Double IPA and Beam Barrel-Aged Stout. Once the (sold out) festival began at 5, the center filled up quickly. The festival goers were provided with 30 beer tickets for the price of admission. Judges pulled samples of all of the Barley Wines as well as anything considered a Winter Seasonal. Most of the judges were from the local homebrewer’s chapter with some guests sprinkled in (The Allstrom brothers-founders of Beer Advocate). They chose a number of finalists from each category that will compete in the ‘finals’ today for the honors. Among the beers I was able to sample at the event: Deschutes Super Jubel, Ninkasi Critical Hit BW, Oskar Blues Old Double Bagger BW, Full Sail Old Boardhead BW, Lagunitas Gnarly Wine BW, Big Sky ’06 Old Bluehair BW, Stone Old Guardian BW, Lazy Boy Whip Pale Ale, Avery Old Yeti Imp Stout, Sierra Nevada Glissade Bock, Sierra Nevada Kellerweiss and Ayinger Celebrator. My top 3 from Day 1: Big Sky Bluehair, Deschutes Super Jubel, Oskar Blues ODB. We will see if my picks are close to the top with the judges. More tomorrow!

Barley Wine Festival Day 2

World Class Beverages Inland NW — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:42:12 +0000

Day 2 for me included lunch at Cafe Amsterdam which is a very cool Belgian beer bar with really good food. I had a Sierra/Dogfish Life and Limb and a 21st Amendment Monk’s Blood. Both are wonderful! We also toured Gold Rush Liquors which is amazing with 44 doors of cold, organized beer. Hit a coupe other bars and then stopped by Glacier Brewhouse in downtown Anchorage. What a classy place with some solid beers made in house. Then we hit the Anchorage Homebrewer’s meeting where we sampled many beers including Big Sky Biere De Noel and Ivan the Terrible, Ninkasi SleighR, Silver Gulch Imperial Stout, Alaskan Smoked Porter, The Bruery Autumn and Stone 13th Anniversary. There was probably more that I am forgetting…don’t know how that could have happened. Time to embark on Day 3!!

Anchorage Barleywine Festival Day 1

World Class Beverages Inland NW — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:14:29 +0000

Arrived midday on the 13th of January and checked into the hotel. Along with John and Joe from Full Sail, Chris from Left Hand and my counterpart John Burket from Alaska, we stopped by a hosted tasting of the beers from Kassik’s. Kassik’s is a small brewery from the Kenai penninsula. I enjoyed their Smoked Imperial Porter and the Imperial Honey Wheat. Next we went to Kinley’s for a combo beer dinner featuring the beers of Full Sail and Left Hand. 5 courses, paired with a beer from each brewery. The food was quite good and the pairings were daring, but most worked really well. There was no clearcut winner between the breweries, but my personal favorite was the dessert. It was a dark chocolate/cinnamon lava-cake paired with the Left Hand Fade to Black and Full Sail Old Boardhead Barleywine.