Elysian Brewing’s Great Pumpkin Beer Festival at 20

Elysian Brewing’s Great Pumpkin Beer Festival at 20

Last weekend in Seattle (October 4 and 5), the Great Pumpkin Beer Festival returned for its 20th edition. This long-running event from Elysian Brewing started out as a relatively small brewfest in 2005 with a mere 12 pumpkin beers, and grew over the years to be a multi-day festival featuring … Continue reading

Recent print article: The styles of Oktoberfest

Recent print article: The styles of Oktoberfest

While Oktoberfest in Munich is over, many breweries are still celebrating all month long and many Oktoberfest beers are currently available. My recent article for The Bulletin covers the two beer styles associated with the festival, Märzen and Festbier, with examples from Wild Ride Brewing and Sunriver Brewing. Märzen is … Continue reading

Reviewing Redhook’s Big Ballards

Reviewing Redhook’s Big Ballards

Redhook is in an interesting position in the beer world, being one of the original American microbreweries (founded in 1981 in Seattle) that somehow is easy to forget is still around. I don’t mean this maliciously at all, I like (and always have) Redhook, but the series of acquisitions and … Continue reading

Double Mountain Grower 397 IPA and Harrison Hard Cider

Double Mountain Grower 397 IPA and Harrison Hard Cider

Double Mountain Brewery is one of those breweries that, to me, consistently brews solid, drinkable beers almost without exception (you can see my past reviews for example), and this extends to the ciders that Double Mountain produces as well. I happen to be on a media list in which I … Continue reading

Latest print article: The fresh hop roundup, 2024 edition

Latest print article: The fresh hop roundup, 2024 edition

My latest print article for The Bulletin (published last week) is my annual fresh hop roundup—or rather, because there are so many fresh hop beers being released and I have limited space in the article, a look at a handful fresh hop beers to get an idea of what to … Continue reading

Received: Killer Green Fresh Hop IPA from Double Mountain Brewery

Received: Killer Green Fresh Hop IPA from Double Mountain Brewery

The fresh hop beers from Double Mountain Brewery have returned, and in conjunction with the releases, the brewery sent me a bottle of this year’s Killer Green Fresh Hop IPA. The other standards are back as well—Killer Red Fresh Hop IRA, and Fresh Hop Iowa Bar Fight—and this year, there’s … Continue reading

Received: Pumpkin beers from Montauk, Blue Point Brewing

Received: Pumpkin beers from Montauk, Blue Point Brewing

Pumpkin beer season is here again, and you may have seen pumpkin beers starting to appear on the shelves since the beginning of the month. I already have a bunch in my fridge (of course) and recently I also received two pumpkin ales and an Oktoberfest from Montauk Brewing and … Continue reading

Living Häus + Zupan’s Farm to Market Japanese-style Lager

Living Häus + Zupan’s Farm to Market Japanese-style Lager

Over the summer, one of the latest in the Zupan’s Markets Farm to Market beer collaborations, a Japanese-style Lager with Portland’s Living Häus Beer, was released to the specialty grocery chain’s stores. It was the 29th beer in the series, in which Zupan’s partners with regional breweries to brew various … Continue reading

The 20th annual Great Pumpkin Beer Festival is coming

The 20th annual Great Pumpkin Beer Festival is coming

Hard to believe it’s been two decades, but Elysian Brewing’s Great Pumpkin Beer Festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The two day celebration returns to the Seattle Center on Friday and Saturday, October 4 and 5. This year’s event is presented by The Vera Project, and you can … Continue reading