Head on over to Hale's on Saturday, July 5, to celebrate 25 years of beer. Congrats to Mike Hale and the rest of the gang; here's to another 25 years.

They are releasing "25", a Belgian-style Dubbel Ale, to celebrate 25 years of making WA a better place to drink beer.

From 4pm to 10pm, they'll be celebrating with good beer, music and friends. I'd think a perfect day might start out at SIB around noon, and then head to Hale's around 4pm. Just get someone else to drive....

Don't forget to enjoy the lineup at SIB this weekend (Not like you could forget). From Friday, July 4 to Sunday, July 6, you'll have access to some great beers from all over the planet, as well as from the NW.

In addition to the beers I highlighted a while back, make sure to grab some 2007 Angel's Share from Port Brewing. This is a special treat indeed.

If I wasn't in Italy, I'd be there all weekend. I can't think of a better way to enjoy the 4th of July than heading down to a great beer festival and sticking around the area afterwards to watch fireworks.

I'd suggest trying to miss the crowds on Saturday late afternoon/evening though; last year was way too packed and just sucked. Enjoy yourself on Friday, early Saturday and Sunday.

By the way, Walt. Happy Birthday, you old man.

Local jazz legend Ernestine Anderson needs your help. From the PI:

Jazz vocalist great Ernestine Anderson, who lives in the Central District, is in danger of losing her home, which is in foreclosure proceedings.

Friends and supporters citywide are trying to raise $45,000 by a June 30 deadline to prevent the 79-year-old woman's six-bedroom family home from being auctioned.

Last week, the Anderson family contacted the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle.

"They said, 'We need help,' " James Kelly, the president of the Urban League told me Monday. "We want to make sure there isn't a sign in front of her house that says, 'sold.' "

According to public records, Anderson's property in the 700 block of 19th Avenue is scheduled for auction July 11. As of April, the singer was in arrears of more than $30,000.

The Collins Pub is just one of many restaurants around Pioneer Square hosting a benefit dinner to try and help in any way they can. Details:

This Sunday, 6/29
5-8pm
Suggested donation of $100/person
Three course meal, including wild alaskan salmon and beer pairings.
Live jazz and a visit from Ernestine herself.
For reservations, contact info: seth howard 206 623-1016, dany mitchell 206 310-8284.

If you're in town and can afford to help out, I hope you do.

Well, I had these grand plans to do a comprehensive post about Italian beer; ran out of time, though.

I won't be hunting out beer while over there, but I'm sure I'll manage to stumble upon a few. It seems like the majority of the brewpubs etc...are up north in Italy, and we'll be staying mostly in the Tuscan/Umbria/Rome area.

I'm looking forward to two weeks of relaxation, nothing but sun(80's and sunny is the forecast every day), great food and.....some great wine. Yep, I'm looking forward to hitting some of the local wineries for sure. Life's not all about beer all the time. Of course, I'm still hoping to find a few good beers.

Here is a review of what another beer blogger (From London) found in Rome.
I'm not really sure that anything I've read about in Rome is a "must hit" for beer. But, I'm hoping to have time for the first place Stonch talks about, Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fa'.

As a prep for this trip, Jeanne and I attended a beer/food pairing at La Spiga this week. La Spiga is an Italian restaurant in Capitol Hill that specializes in northern Italian cuisine. I'll have to put together a more complete review when we're back from our trip, but it was a pretty fantastic meal. Great food and great beers all around. Check out their website and their list of beers (From the wine list). They're pricey, but there are some very rare offerings available:

Seson ml.750 32
Malthus Baluba ml.750 32
Bran ml.750 35
Bran Riserva ml.330 22
BB 10 ml.750 45
Toccadibo ml.750 35
Sella del Diavolo ml.750 35
Friska ml.750 35
Genziana ml.330 18
Te ml.333 18
Super Baladin ml.750 25
Scires ml.750 38

I think the only one I had tried going into the dinner was Super Baladin. The Bran & Bran Riserva were both superb, as were the other 2 we tried; Te and Sciresona. The pairing highlight of the night was a Ricotta cheese cake with dried cherries paired with the Sciresona, which is a sour cherry beer. It was fantastic. The prices are high, but for the product you're getting it doesn't seem that unreasonable. I'm not sure what the Baladin goes for at Uber, but I don't think it is to different that the $25 La Spiga is charging. We'll be back for sure.

OK, I'm out of here. Italy here I come. Enjoy the SIB, Deschutes XX Porter and whatever else I'll be "missing"

This is the last keg of Reunion Organic Red Rye Ale available anywhere.
Beveridge Place Pub in West Seattle will be featuring Reunion this Thursday
the 26th, starting at 7p, and will be donating a share of the proceeds to
the Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research - Reunion's beneficiary
(www.imbcr.org). Hope you can join us!

Beveridge Place Pub
6413 California Ave SW (near Morgan Junction)
West Seattle, WA 98136
206.932.9906
www.beveridgeplacepub.com

If you didn't make it over to Big Time for the release of Old Sol Wheatwine this weekend, I'd suggest heading over ASAP before it is gone. This year's seemed a little more on the hoppy side, which is a good thing, in my book at least. It's tough to make a 10% ABV beer so drinkable, but Old Sol is a pleasure indeed. Kudos, to Bill Jenkins and the rest of the staff at Big Time. Old Sol is available on tap (In a snifter for about $4.25?), and in 22oz bottles for $12. Pick a couple up and save one to compare for next year. Of course, I did that last year with those intentions, but I just ended up drinking them. Oh well...we'll see how long my two bottles last this year.

Big Time also had a Belgian-style wheat beer called Blanche de Mensonge, and an organic pale ale called Artemis. Both were solid; I especially enjoyed the Artemis on cask.

I also wanted to say a big happy 60th birthday to Alan Moen, my editor at the Northwest Brewing News, amongst other things.

Alan is an abyss of beer knowledge and is quite an asset to the NW/WA/National craft brewing scene. With the limited time I've spent with Alan, I'm already truly impressed by his knowledge and love of beer. He's a hell of a nice guy, too.

Ever the world traveler, here is a picture of Alan in Africa.

Congrats again to my friends Ben & Daysha! They entered the world of parenthood with the birth of their daughter this past Tuesday. Daysha is shown here with her "Buddha Belly" at the WA Brewers Festival, just a few days before giving birth.

I've been MIA this week (Like I said, new job...), but I wanted to make sure and post about this weekend's homebrew fair. It looks like a great opportunity for those looking to learn more about brewing.

http://www.homebrewfair.com/

It's not the most informative website re: times/what to expect...seems like much of the info is from last year's event? As far as times, here is what I see:

Demonstrations

10 AM Full Grain Brewing with Nick Templeton
2 PM Extract Brewing with Nick Templeton

Here is a good summary of what to expect:

What is the Homebrew Fair?

The Homebrew Fair is a unique educational beer event, pairing homebrewers directly with BJCP (Beer Judges Certification Program) judges, professional brewers, award-winning brewers, homebrew shop employees, and beer literati to evaluate their beers .

Homebrew competitions are generally based on styles, these are well-defined objective criteria the judges use to evaluate entries. However, these can be very evasive for homebrewers. The average homebrewer, not having a great understanding of styles, is apt to enter into whatever category seems correct, without understanding all of the subtleties involved. Judges find it very distressing to have to write comments such as "This Pale Ale would've scored much higher had it been entered as a Special Bitter," and can only imagine how opaque such comments are to the typical homebrewer.

Instead, how about a "Homebrew Fair" where the individual brewers can bring in a host of beverages and sit down with an expert who can evaluate and help troubleshoot the beer/mead? This has tremendous advantages because the judge would have access to the recipe and techniques used, which we do not typically have at competition, so we can prescribe very precise remedies.

There is an additional benefit to this: the evaluators get feedback on their feedback, something that the whole judging program is sorely lacking and has no mechanism to provide. So we train both the brewers and the judges.

In addition to having one-on-one tasting and troubleshooting, the fair provides basic information on brewing. All of the local homebrew clubs will have tables to inform and recruit new members, as will the local shops. While the brewers are waiting to get their score sheets, local brewers and other style experts will be giving lectures on style and technique.

Even if you don't brew (yet) the fair will be entertaining. Learning about brewing will help you appreciate beer the way learning about art history helps to appreciate art. And if you're on the fence about brewing, come and meet your local brewing community: every major brewing club and homebrew store in the area will have representatives at the fair.

So, grab some of your homebrew and bring it down to the fair this weekend. Or, just go learn more about brewing.

If anyone else has info on times/details, feel free to post.

Man, as I sit here on my porch reflecting on the great time I had today at the Washington Brewers Fest, I can't help but smile. Nothing but sun, good times and good beers were to be found at Saint Edwards Park this Saturday. It sure was packed, but the organizers and brewers did a great job of keeping the beer flowing and the lines as short as possible.

I started out Friday, and I thought it was busy, but I had no idea what to expect for the rest of the weekend. As it turns out, there was probably 10% as many people there on Friday night as there were on Saturday during the day. They had their problems Friday, with many breweries not even showing up and some pouring a partial lineup. But, there was still plenty of good beer to be had. The Lazy Boy Chili Pepper Pils was a gem, with lots of green chili flavor and just enough heat. Snipes Mountain had a cask of Shootin' Iron IPA that was much to my liking; bitter hops with mild malt backing. The Red Hook Triple was a nice change from them, but still a bit on the light side for the style.

Saturday found us driving to the Kenmore Park & Ride to grab the shuttle, and I'm glad we did. The park was packed and it seemed like parking remote was the way to go. The sun broke just as we were sauntering in, and it kept us warm throughout the day. As this was my first year at this fest, I really wasn't sure how it would go having kids/families around. But, it was really great. There was much to do for the kids and plenty of room for families to spread out with blankets etc.... Us drinkers were for the most part left alone to do as we do best; drink up the tasty treats.

The Herbert's Legendary Cask Fest Ale was a definite highlight of the day. But, my overall best of show was hands down the Black IPA from Laughing Dog. Titled "Dog Zilla", I was told this brew will be available in bottles in the Seattle area next month. It had lots of hops, but was also balanced well with black roasted malt. It was the only beer of the fest that I went back for multiple times (3!). Other highlights were the Snoqualmie Lemondipity, which was an intense brew with loads of lemongrass, the Maritime Pacific Bosun's Black Porter, which was barrel aged with rum, and all of the beers from Norther Lights Brewery; I wish these guys had more of a presence in Seattle. The cask of Anacortes IPA was also another welcome sight; I love that beer. My biggest letdown of the fest was probably the Elliott Bay Organic Alder Smoked Coffee Stout. It sounds like a beer right up my alley, but it had minimal smoke and tasted like the last sip of a cup of Turkish coffee (grounds and all).

Overall, I just had a blast at this fest. There was plenty of good beer, even if there wasn't that many that knocked my socks off. It turned out to be a beautiful day, and it was a great way to kick of the summer drinking season.

Cheers to all, and to all a good night.

Pictures to follow.

Congrats to Deisha and Ben; if you're not at the hospital having your baby yet, you will be soon!!!