The guys running Seattle Beer Week showed up at The Dray in Fremont around 10 p.m. last night, bum-rushing the bar whilst holding up a framed proclamation from Mayor Greg Nickels. Not that his official endorsement was necessary to get people to drink local microbrews for seven days straight, but the pub owners in tow seemed stoked to hold up anything official-looking for the kick-off.
“The real one’s not that big,” a nearby photographer said about the framed, signed proof of Seattle Beer Week, before laying into Nickels for not showing up for any of last night’s festivities. “His aide called at the last minute,” she said with a nicely drunken sneer, then stood on a chair to photograph the sardine-packed pub.
Seems the week is an excuse for regional brewers to bust out limited-edition brews and fancy, old casks—never understood the latter, as casks are pretty much a way to make your beer insta-flat, but maybe a week’s worth of liver bombardment will blur my judgment. Nightly events for the next week-plus are listed here; tonight’s stout event at Brouwer’s sounds particularly tasty, and it runs early enough so that I might get out by 9 p.m.
I am shocked they could not get Tim Ceis to dri-I mean speak in his place!
BTW,nice post but it is Nickels.
umm… cool, but of which city is “greg nichols” mayor?
really?
@1 & @2: I’d say that Jonah just laid into me about this idiotic typo, but that’d require spelling Jonah’s last name, and, well…
This sounds like the kind of event I’d be excited about, if I’d ever heard of most of the places involved, didn’t have to work at 6:30 AM next Saturday, and liked going out to drink every single night.
The lower carbonation levels is one of the intended and desired results of casking. Not all styles of beer are improved by this, but several are. Hale’s winter beer, Wee Heavy, is the single best local beer that is significantly better by cask condition.
seattlebeeerweek.com is one of the more unbearable websites I’ve seen in a while.
It’s a 10 day week as well, Sam. It ends on the 17th.
Brouwer’s is really fun, especially now that you can’t park on my street after 8 pm if you don’t live here.
ballard.
what about ballard? ballard bitter? ballard ale? ballard market?
Closing ceremonies at the Tap House Grill? Was TGIFridays booked?
OMG!!! The Stranger is actually notincing that we have a fucking microbrewed neer scene in this town. And no, Pabst is an inductrial beer as is not invited.
Cask beer is the way beer USED to be made and served, and the lower carbonation does enhance the flavor of some styles; in fact, “nitro beers” (like Guiness) are gassed and poured on a nitro gas mix just so they can acheive this same effect.
CHEERS SEATTLE (and don’t forget thr Firkin Throwdown at Elysian next Tuesday! See you all there!
Damn, guess I shouldn’t have started drinking at 2:30 today… I meant we have a microbrewed BEER scene, and you won’t find Pabst on the menus….Bartender, pour me another, please!
Just don’t salt em too heavily, @13.
Sam: Cask-conditioned beer is naturally-carbonated by yeast. The alternative is to take your flat (and thus, un-finished) beer and force CO2 out of a tank into it. The latter is usually done to reduce costs. Cask conditioning takes more effort and requires more care.
seattle microbrews are hoppy masterpieces of SUCK.
I just got back from Brouwer’s stout event. The winner by far: Founder’s Canadian Breakfast Stout. It’s today’s “secret” selection–with coffee undertones but not unbearably rich. I also really enjoyed the Pike Entire (with appealing hints of wine and cherries), and the Stone 12th Anniversary Stout (bourbon barrel aged).
DRINK UP!
Try anything on cask at Big Time in the Udistrict. Their cask selections are usually the most floral, delicious stuff in town.