Driving through Sunnyland on a cold November morning, if you're taking the long way, you'll probably pass Kulshan on James St., Twin Sisters Brewing on Carolina St. When you loop around to pass Homeskillet, if you turn on Humboldt, there's a brand new building that was once upon a time [...]
Green power is renewable power. It's power made from resources that are naturally replenishing like sunlight, flowing streams and cool breezes. The PSE Green Power Program is an ideal way customers can match some or all of their electricity usage with green power. The attached graphic indicates the amount of renewable [...]
Getting your first few stamps on your Tap Trail passport right off the bat can be easy when you have a handful of places where you’re a regular. For instance, the Cornwall neighborhood has Wander, Kulshan, Twin Sisters and more right at their fingertips, easily walkable for a pint. But half [...]
Coming Summer 2019...Aslan Seattle! Located in the heart of the Fremont neighborhood, this new taproom will serve exclusive organic beer brewed by and delivered directly from Aslan Brewing Company. Soon, Aslan will be able to give the Seattle community access to a wider selection of seasonal offerings, barrel projects, and specialty can [...]
As we're just a little under two weeks until Christmas, time is of the essence when it comes to buying gifts. If you're staying local to celebrate with family, chances are there's a craft beer lover on your list of people to shop for. If you're traveling, now may be the [...]
I’ve been home brewing – off and on – for roughly 20 years, but I’m always eager to see how things are done at commercial breweries. I recently had the opportunity to help brew a batch of beer at Menace Brewing in Bellingham, and it was yet another learning experience. While [...]
It's Thursday night and you randomly scored a babysitter. Wondering what to do with your spouse with the few hours of free time that you have, you naturally decide to get a few stamps on your Tap Trail passport, right? Soon enough, the number of breweries on the passport will grow [...]
We’re all always thinking about where we’re gonna get our next pint, in the beer garden at Twin Sisters, in the Menace taproom or down the street at Elizabeth Station. But having a pint at home has become increasingly popular, luckily Growler’s Keep, located in Bakerview Square Shopping Center, has Bellingham’s [...]
In craft beer towns across the United States, not only have the brews become a point of tourism, but an integral part of the community. In fact, some of us probably see our beertenders more than we see some of our family members. While it’s easy to get lost in [...]
With all the challenges of opening a brewery these days, coming up with names for beers is usually low on a brewer’s priority list. If anything, it may be viewed as one of the “fun” tasks. But it shouldn’t be taken lightly, as it’s an important part of a brewery’s brand. [...]
Each Bellingham beer drinker has a few favorite places to frequent for a pint, whether it’s the Wander Brew Hall or either Kulshan location to take advantage of the best parts of summer (patios and food trucks). But what happens when you just don’t feel like leaving your backyard and want [...]
According to a recent report by the Brewers Association (BA), U.S. craft breweries now consume nearly 40% of the total malt consumed by U.S. brewers, even though craft breweries only represent 12.7% of the market. And both of those percentages are expected to continue to grow. Illustration by Aubrey Laurence [...]
In principle, beer is incredibly simple: use hot water to coax sugars out of malted barley, spice with hops, and then let some microorganisms gorge themselves. But in practice, the wide variety of available malts, hops, and yeast strains means that brewers have nearly limitless opportunities for creativity and innovation. [...]
It’s 6:30 in the morning on a cold and dreary Wednesday in February. I pull up to the Atwood Ales Farm Brewery, which is a mere 2 miles south of the U.S.-Canada border, and I see owner/brewer Josh Smith quietly laboring away through the fogged-up windows of the old barn. After [...]
Menace Brewing, part of a Bellingham beer trifecta alongside The Local Public House and its neighboring Annex, has brought delicious and memorable beer to the Fountain neighborhood for officially over a year now. Before their brewery opened its doors, co-owner and brewer Ben Buccarelli made beer and perfected recipes for the [...]
Tucked into Mount Vernon, WA is a Skagit Valley brewery that, lucky for us, appears on guest taps all through out Bellingham. Farmstrong Brewing Company, a dog and kid-friendly taproom, has an atmosphere much like a brewery we'd find in our northern neck of the woods, with some extra exciting [...]
Boulder, CO • December 13, 2017 – Strong brewery growth, increased beer tourism and the launch of the independent craft brewer seal—with more than 2,700 craft brewers signed on—were all part of a watershed year for craft beer in 2017. The Brewers Association (BA) —the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independentAmerican brewers—looks back on [...]
An increasing number of American breweries are making beers similar to Belgian Lambics using traditional methods, such as spontaneous fermentations, turbid mashes, long boils, barrel aging, etc., along with traditional ingredients such as raw/unmalted wheat and aged hops. Some are even blending one-, two-, and three-year-old batches, similar to Belgian Gueuze [...]
Bellingham bike riders, students and families often times head the direction of the San Juans, whether it be for the change of scenery or a leisurely day enjoying everything else the islands have to offer. Now, lucky for those who take advantage of how close we are to an island escape, [...]
Sitting down for a meal and deconstructing where everything on your plate came from is something many Bellingham residents are guilty of. What can we say? We love buying locally and knowing exactly where our food is from. It’s easy to look at a plate of huevos rancheros and be [...]
If you’ve been around the block in the Bellingham brew scene, you know that each brewery has a style of their own. Aslan has a knack for citrus IPA’s, Wander has sour-ing down to a science, Menace’s Chili Bravo spicy brew is hard to beat. With so many breweries that [...]
It’s an exciting time of year in the Northwest. We’re now knee deep in hop harvest season, which typically runs from August through late September, depending on the hop variety and the local climate of the hop field. It’s also prime time for making “fresh” or “wet” hop beers, which are [...]
When someone tries to insult you by calling you a name, a good defense tactic is just to own the name. When we were kids the word "nerd" was insulting, but then we grew up and realized that smart is sexy, so it’s good to be a nerd. For the same [...]
With every decision Aslan Brewing’s owners make, they ask themselves: Does this support our principles? And as you may know, one of their core principles is producing 100% organic beer, which is a challenging and expensive way to make beer. Raw ingredients are limited and difficult to source, additives that [...]
In Bellingham, craft beer is killing it. It's growing, breweries are flourishing and things are looking up. Across the US though, outside of our secluded and protected waters, craft beer isn't flowing with the same fervor. The Brewer's Association released a midway 2017 report on how craft beer is fairing. [...]
There are all sorts of brewer collaborations these days, but the best ones happen naturally. (Isaac, Josh, and Rowan) After enjoying some Atwood Ales beers, Rowan Chadwick and Isaac Koski, co-head brewers of Urban Family Brewing, contacted Atwood Ales owners Josh and Monica Smith about collaborating on a beer. [...]
This week, the Brewers Association released their new Independent logo, which was intended to distinguish which breweries are independently owned and which breweries are owned by "Big Beer." The logo has riled up the Big vs. Craft debate in an increasing competitive market. Yesterday, AB took an official stance on [...]
Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of articles on Skagit Valley Malting. We'll be looking at SVM's impact on craft brewing, their importance to our region and the impact they can have on the malting industry. ------- There are now more than 5,300 breweries in America, and [...]
Boulder, CO • June 27, 2017—In an effort to educate beer lovers about which beers are independently produced, the Brewers Association—the not-for-profit trade group dedicated to promoting and protecting America’s small and independent craft brewers—launched a new seal touting independent craft brewers. Featuring an iconic beer bottle shape flipped upside down, [...]
If there are two things Bellingham has lots of [but not enough of!] it's coffee and beer. We're well aware that Bellingham is an elite craft beer destination. With world class beers and more breweries per capita than any of its neighbors, it ranks at the top of all craft [...]
2016 is well behind us, but the numbers are still trickling out. The Brewer's Association just released it's May/June edition of The New Brewer Magazine. In it they detailed their annual Industry Review where 2016 barrel production for all US breweries was broken down. For those unaware, a barrel is equal [...]
I love chocolate porters, stouts, and brown ales, but most of the commercial examples I have had lack the chocolate depth I desire, and many seem to get their chocolaty flavor more from dark malts than actual chocolate additions. I get it, though. As a homebrewer, I understand how challenging it [...]
Last week AB InBev bought the entire South African hop crop. That's right, the entire country's crop. South African hops make up about 1% of the world's hop crop, but have become an increasingly hot commodity in the race towards breweries seeking out new, rare and innovative hops. According to AB [...]
Yeah, things are slowing down in craft beer. But keep in mind that is saying something for one of the hottest growing business sectors in the US. 2016 saw a tapering off in in growth and, by some measurements, a regression. But there's still over 5,200 breweries in the United [...]
It happened again. AB InBev acquired yet another craft brewery. I know, shock of the century. Except, this time it was the highly praised and respected Wicked Weed Brewing of Asheville, N.C., and it nearly broke the internet. After reading hundreds of comments from various sources, the same arguments, explanations, [...]
Redhook Brewery is almost as synonymous with Northwest craft beer as Rainier and, well, maybe craft beer itself. It's ESB was ubiquitous across in grocery stores aross the Northwest and the region. It was announced today in the Seattle Times that Redhook will be closing its 220,000bbl. It's likely that [...]
2017 is quarter old and AB InBev is at it again with the announced purchase of Wicked Weed Brewing out of North Carolina. The proposed purchase won't happen until it gets regulatory approval. In a press release, Wicked Weed co-founder Walt Dickinson expressed excitement for the potential acquisition. We have [...]
By far, the India Pale Ale is the most popular style of craft beer, and I don’t see its status changing anytime soon. Every so often, another critic claims this hop-craze “trend” will fade, and that it will be replaced by the rising popularity of light lagers or the surge of saisons, [...]
The national craft beer scene has peaked from its once unstoppable momentum upward. With over 5,200 craft breweries in operation, we're entering a new era. The big movers in the market such as Stone, Sierra Nevada and many others, are slowing their volume, or even regressing. There have been layoffs and volume [...]
Two years ago, back when Bellingham had half the number of breweries that it does today, I outlined many reasons why I thought this city could sustain many more breweries. Even though Bellingham now has 10 breweries (with more in the works), plus a continuously expanding selection of beers from other [...]
The Brewers Association (BA) – the not-for-profit trade group representing small and independent craft brewers – just released its annual lists of the top 50 craft and overall brewing companies in the U.S., based on beer sales volume. Of the top 50 overall brewing companies, 40 were craft brewing companies. The [...]
Decades ago, beer lovers began gravitating toward full-flavored craft beers (“micro” beers back then) while abandoning the likes of Miller, Coors, and Budweiser. The vapid light lagers that dominated the market at the time were essentially industrial products made with adjuncts (see the definitions at the end of this article) with [...]
The Alcohol and Tabacco Tax and Trade Bureau just released it's Beer Statistical Report of December 2016. The numbers show (full report below) that domestic production for December was down approximately 200,000 barrels. The total volume for 2016 was down about 2.3million barrels, or a drop of 1.3%. According to Bart [...]
Scotland’s dog-friendly brewery, BrewDog, opened its new brewery, restaurant and taproom in Columbus, Ohio yesterday. Named DogTap Columbus, the stylish building features a gaming area, a full restaurant, and a dozen taps from BrewDog and other guest breweries (see photos below from brewdog.com). Once its brewhouse is fully operational, it will double [...]
In December 2016 Amazon announced plans to open its first Amazon Go store in Seattle by early 2017. That's kinda now. Amazon Go is a market where customers can walk in, scan their phone, shop for what they want and walk out. No registers. No cashiers. No lines. Looks pretty [...]
Scotland's BrewDog is well known for not only its crazy powerful beers, expanding business, but also its unique business practices. BrewDog has announced that any employees that adopt a dog will officially receive one week of paid vacation when they bring a new dog into the household. This is a [...]
Nearly two years ago, Blue Moon was sued by a San Diego man because he claimed that the AB was misleading consumers into thinking it was "craft" when, in fact it was owned by the largest brewery in the world. The term "craft brewery" is defined by the Brewers Association [...]
With this last round of snowstorms behind us, I think we could all use a tropical escape. But if that’s not possible, the next best thing just might be some tropical drinks, and I’m not talking sugary cocktails with tiny umbrellas. In recent times, I’ve noticed a surge of “tropical IPAs” [...]
Craft beer tourism is actually a thing. It's why Tap Trail even exists and it drives people to our city every year. As you may know, Bellingham Beer Week 2017 is in April and we want people to flock here from across the region, drink our award winning beers and stay [...]
RateBeer has just released its last batch of competition results from its annual RateBeer Best Awards for the year 2016. “I'd like to raise a glass to the people who make the beer we drink,” says Joe Tucker, executive director of RateBeer. “These men and women are the artists, engineers, visionaries, [...]
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