Shotgun: 2 week Recap

I’ve been so busy!

So much has gone on the last few weeks, that I am nearly overwhelmed with what to talk about. Particularly notable events include a cocktail book launch with TAC, a trip to the Fremont Brewery, Montana cherry wine (seriously), and a beginning brewing class at The Cellar in Seattle. But which to discuss? Perhaps a synopsis of each would be sufficient. Or, a synopsis and haiku? Hmm, I think we’re on to something…

Tacoma Alcohol Consortium – book sendoff with author Ted Munat

Running Up That Road? Not in these heels...

Left Coast Libations
Hole-in-the-wall, gorgeous sips
Hilltop classes up

If you don’t know him, you should: Todd Buckley is hero and champion of South Sound cocktail connoisseurs. Ted Munat is a former event organizer who fell into writing after a promotional pamphlet took on a life of its own. Ted was on his way to Tales of the Cocktail, an annual, international celebration of the latest and greatest the grand world of booze. Left Coast Libations, a collection of recipes and personal profiles from the shining stars of the West Coast bartending scene. The event was a smash, and 1022 South in Tacoma was packed to the gills.

Ted didn’t win at ToC, but I suspect it matters little:

Fremont Brewery

Proletariat art, or wrestling fetish? You decide.

Beer in a warehouse
Here dogs and locals abound
Keg seating, free pretzels

Finally made it! There appear to be 2 classes of breweries in this world: those that prosh up and build a proper restaurant, and those that pour pints in a warehouse. I have a special place in my heart for the latter.
The facility was standing-room only, and pints were pulled by a single Fremont employee. Beer was good, and the long lines moved quickly. Dogs are apparently welcome here, as are takeout delivery meals. If you are disinclined to bring your own sustenance, a massive bowl of free pretzels was available at the door. Good beer, but limited selection, and the cask ales were not as exciting as some others from Fremont that I have seen recently.

Flathead Lake Winery

Wine monkey is watching you. In other news, my cameraphone sucks ass.

Transparent, ruby
Sweet and fruity, very light
I prefer Ten Spoon

Mom and Dad went to Montana recently, and brought me back a lot of wine for watching the dog and watering the plants. Unfortunately, 10 Spoon seemed to be in short supply during their visit. I did get a large variety, and decided to crack the Flathead Red first.

This wine is made with half grapes and half Montana-grown Lambert cherries, which Google informs me are sweet. Well, that was a waste of fuckin’ time: I would have guessed that anyway. The wine was tasty, to be sure, but lacked the depth that I love in Ten Spoon’s exquisite cherry-grape blend. Very light, very transparent, and very obviously cherry, this is a sweet summer sipper and a good wine for a red beginner.

The Cellar

I already know how to drink it: this is the logical next step.

Heady scent of malt
Pumps, pots, cappers and carboys
Hops will kill your dog

I learned a lot about myself at this event: I like funky yeast flavors, I will purchase anything if I can make consumables with it, and I am dreadfully allergic to Greenwood.

I like to see things before I try them, and this excellent class gave me an opportunity to watch the process beginning to end. Kevin also graced us with many tips and tricks accumulated from his personal experiences. All in all, a fun class, although the end of it turned into a namedrop extravaganza of local brewers. It was after 9, and I was ready to gooooooooo, so I think this overly hampered my memories of the experience.

Now I am off to discover a cocktail to drink with dinner tonight. Then, perhaps, a dinner to eat with cocktails. Happy Sunday!

Next up, Ames is going to do something awesome and tell us all about it :D Aren’t you so excited? I know I am!

Brouwer's - under-the-weather delay

The fact that it's 12 oz matters less when it's awesome. Unfortunately, this was not.

Please forgive any poor spelling or grammar: I have been fucked-up sick since Wednesday, which has delayed my posting. Since the sick is apparently not going away, I may as well post while I can remember my drinkies.

As I have mentioned, one of my verrrrrrry favorite places to drink is Brouwer's in Fremont. It might actually be the best place in the entire city of Seattle, but you'd better not be looking for a mai tai: they serve wine, a bajillion beers (50+ tapped, innumerable bottled), whisk(e)y (50+ here too, including a house blend), and a small selection of wine for the unadventurous. An aside here: I do love wine, but you really shouldn't drink it anyplace that can't tell you how long it's been open. They also make a point of stocking lost of local beers, cooking with local incredients, and making what they can from scratch. House made venison sausage? I would kill you for it.

A friend and I had intended to check out Fremont Brewing, but alas, we didn't plan well: the urban beer garden is only open Thursday-Saturday, and we arrived on a Tuesday. A trip to Brouwer's was in order: it was happy hour and I was crazy hungry.

Heaven... I'm in heaven....

Brouwers should be famous for their small plates, honestly: we ordered the happy hour sausage of the day (house made, some spicy pork concoction), which came unbunned with whole grain mustard and a generous pile of crunchy sauerkraut. We also got Vern’s Warm Nuts (warm nuts, in my mouth… heh). They would have been lovely anyway, with a great balance of salt, sweet and spice, but these are hashed up with motherfucking bacon. SERIOUSLY. I am not on the “bacon in everything” train as a general rule, but this was ingenious.

Here’s what we drank:

Friendly M:
Fremont Brewing Interurban IPA (Seattle, WA)
I generally dislike the overhop and bitterness of IPAs, but this one was lovely and floral.

Some apple-cidery thing
Tasted like a fizzy Fuji apple. Friendly M is a girl about ciders.

Zoe:
Unfortunately, they were out of my first choice, Silver City’s Katy Saison cask

Flyers Daybreak Breakfast Stout (Oak Harbor, WA)
Like Nutella on burnt toast: nutty, deep, rich and chocolatey, with just a hint of coffee. Not too heavy, but with a mouthfeel like cupcakes.

Brasserie de Blaugies Darbyste Fig Saison (Belgium)
Taut, bland, easing into a soapy fruit flavor at the end: a really typical Belgian. Not particularly figgy. It had moments of huge fruit and a bright sour flavor, but I’m not sure why: I could not consistently recreate the experience.

Now, time to crawl my ass into bed, watch some History Channel and get my TheraFlu on. See you next week!

Treatise: the 8-hour brunch

What does this even mean?



I like a lot of things that don't like me back: milk, absinthe, and the sun are notable examples. I consider these elements stuffy, unfriendly, and not very fun due to their inability to play well with others.

If you're looking for a buddy, beer is your guy: beer is chill, and beer doesn't judge. Beer might make you fat (oh.my.lawd), but beer is never embarassed to hang out with you when you're fat. I can spend a lot of time with beer and not feel shitty about myself. Wine makes me cry at stupid shit, and hard A gives me headaches and lots of empty glasses. Both make me damn hungry (taco truck? yes please). Beer is filling (bonus: no drunk hungries!), and it doesn't make me weird(er than usual). Basically, it makes me feel like a better person, which I like because actually being better is hard.

Some friends and I spent last Sunday wandering around Tacoma. We started at The Harmon for brunch, and wound up wandering all over looking for more things to drink. Invariably, we didn't stop until we found a place with excellent beer at good prices. Why? Any silly bitch can pour wine or make a rummy cola. However, there is something sacred and particularly delicious about draught beer. We did a big circle of the waterfront district and wound up just a few blocks from where we started, at The Swiss. Beers and beers later, pre-noon brunch had turned into supper hour, and we bid our adieus.

One of my brunch friends and I decide that the topic of girls who are girls and like beer is entirely underdiscussed, and at very least not discussed by either of us.

Some girls drink real beer, not Smirnoff Ice or lite beer (Guinness bottles = 124 cal = plenty the fuck low cal). My personal favorite? Lately I've been rocking on some Big Sky Brewing from Missoula MT, mah lovely sister's adopted hometown. My favorite beery places drink are my sunny deck (I for real need a keggerator out here), Oddfellas in Auburn, Brouwer's Cafe in Seattle and, of course, The Harmon (Vanilla Porter, always, gdism!). Ames and I would love to know what other girls out there are drinking (and if it's Cosmos out of a bottle mix before you're wasted, srsly f.o.d.).