Welcome back all, I thought today would be an excellent opportunity to showcase two new beers from Ballast Point. Recently acquired by Constellation Brands for $1B Ballast Point becomes their sole craft beer brand. Since that acquisition, Ballast Point has been on a bit of a war path with fruited beer releases, [...]
Greetings brethren's of beer. As this year comes to a close, I wanted to take a moment and look back at the beers reviewed this year on the Tap Trail, and see how they all stacked up. There was no shortage of good beer here, and I didn't even get to post full [...]
Today is a special day, for we have before us a super local Barrel Aged beer to sample. As many of you may know, on Friday Boundary Bay offered a unique glimpse into their barrel-aging project: The Bootlegger Barrel Series. Tapping exclusive barrel aged variants of Cedar Dust IPA, Scotch Ale, Cabin Fever, and [...]
2016 is three weeks away. Tap Trail, 2015 has been a year for the books. But we think 2016 will be even better. And we want you to start it off right by ensuring you're sporting the best craft beer gear we have to offer. We teamed up with Damian Vines Photography to build [...]
I wanted to step outside of the box a little bit here and review a non packaged beer, get a little bit more local with the review process. Structures has just opened and I was as excited as anyone to try their beers. I have bumped into James and Ryan at the [...]
Welcome back craft beer connoisseurs, enthusiasts, gourmands, and epicureans. We are nearly fully entrenched in my favorite season for beer. Winter time always brings with it some bitter cold temperatures, and some equally warming and fulfilling beers to warm the heart, mind, and soul. It is no coincidence that Crux has just released Tough Love, their [...]
As the weather continues to cool and nights become longer and darker, I am often leaning towards darker and darker beers to match the season. I have however still had an unrelenting thirst for hops, which is fine, because there are still delicious, fresh, new(ish), IPA's being released left and right. [...]
Courage. Power. Strength. These were all the qualities Frank Tosset and his partner Jack needed to take on their unconventional way of starting a brewery. They needed a powerful mascot that could help push them to where they needed to be. Aslan, the Turkish translation of lion, was the perfect representation [...]
Man do we have some catching up to do. Beer releases this fall and early winter have been fast and furious. Lots of Barrel Aged beers floating around, 'tis the season. But I have been waiting and waiting for this one for a while now. I first got wind about 6-8 [...]
This is a series on the Tap Trail where we introduce you to all the fantastic head brewers behind all the delicious beer in our town. Catch up with past articles on Aslan, Kulshan, Boundary Bay, and Chuckanut. This week, we highlight Chad Kuehl of Wander Brewing. Although Wander Brewing has [...]
Fresh hop season has been upon us for quite some time now, there have been many delicious renditions, and a few duds of suds so far. Everything from "Fresh Hop" to "Wet Hop" and everything in between, it is certainly harvest time for hops, and most definitely time to reap the [...]
Welcome back beer mavens, slingers, drinkers, and connoisseurs, let's jump back on the hop train and dive into a delicious new beer. What we've got for us today comes to us from the fine folks at 21st Amendment Brewery, in San Francisco, "In 2000, Nico Freccia and Shaun O’Sullivan founded the 21st [...]
The North Fork Beer Shrine and Brewery have always had a long standing relationship with the Whatcom Humane Society. From participating in auctions to donating free pizzas to anyone who adopts a black cat, almost all their fundraising efforts go towards supporting the Humane Society. This Friday will be your chance [...]
In case you missed last week's article, this is a new series on the Tap Trail where we introduce you to all the fantastic head brewers behind all the delicious beer in our town. This week, we highlight Tom Eastwood of Kulshan Brewing. Kulshan changed the game in when they opened [...]
Alright, no more mucking about, Winter is coming and so are the delicious beers that accompany it. We have been spoiled in the past with some ridiculous dark beers from our friends at Fremont Brewing Co. Dark Star, Kentucky Dark Star, KDS w/ Coffee, KDS Spice Wars, Bourbon Barrel Abominable, BBomb [...]
par·a·dox / ˈperəˌdäks / noun / A statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory. Paradox is quite an interesting name to choose for a brewery, but this little known brewery from Divide, CO, nestled off Highway 24 [...]
Welcome to Fall everybody, there has been a noticeable and welcome change in the weather and in the atmosphere of the city. Mornings are crisp and cool, evenings are slowly getting shorter and shorter. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have learned of myself that I tend to be [...]
Welcome back fellow beer lovers! Firstly, I wanted to have this up earlier in the week, as it was fresh in my mind, but I came down with a bit of a head cold, which may or may not have been directly attributed to numerous beer week shenanigans...the verdict is still out [...]
Firestone Walker, in a box, must be good, right? Absolutely. Firestone Walker has been churning out fantastic beers for quite some time now. This iteration is somewhat of a rarity, as it has been draft only for a number of years. This beer was originally brewed simply as a blending agent, [...]
The first day of Bellingham Beer Week is CHOCK full of events. The launch of our new map is one of them. New Map. New look. New beer. New prizes Tap Trail Event Stamp Carry your map with you and you'll be rewarded! If you attend one of our [...]
Oskar Blues IPA you say? I thought they already had one? Well, yes and no. The flagship beer, Dale's Pale Ale, has long been argued and debated as to whether it is a true Pale Ale, or an IPA. It sits on the shelf branded as a Pale, but it comes [...]
Hello again beer aficionados, judges, aspirants, brewers, miscreants and lovers. We've got a truly special bottle this week, it has been peeking out on shelves for a couple of weeks now, but it is finally time to give this one a proper review. We have before us a treasure from Omnipollo — [...]
Bottle Share, Tasting Party, Beer Meet-Up, whatever you choose to call it; I wanted to pass along some helpful tips to have a great time. Bottle shares can be one of the BEST parts of the craft beer world. What happens when you get a bunch of beer geeks together, with [...]
Hop heads rejoice, as today, Thursday August 6th, is IPA Day! Whether this has been marked on your calendar, or it has come as a surprise, I encourage you to get out and at least enjoy your favorite IPA on this day. The IPA spectrum is quite large now, we have [...]
Pumpkin beers, in July? Yes, some have been released already, and many more are sure to come, and no, right now pumpkins are not even in season. Somehow, that doesn't stop Elysian (and others), from releasing pumpkin beers in July and August. I, like many others will happily celebrate the arrival [...]
Welcome back craft beer advocates and aspirants. I thought it would be fun to step a bit out of my comfort zone this week and try something truly unique and new. There is such a variety of beer available, that I sometimes have to try something crazy. Epic Ales, located in [...]
Session beers? What are they? Why are they a thing? Session beers are a simple category, well at least they were for quite a while. At it's simplest a "Session Beer" is any beer with an ABV <5%, so that you may enjoy a few at a barbeque, on a boat, [...]
Welcome back craft beer dabblers, aficionados, advocates, and stewards. Let's get a little crazy this week with some wild yeast! Yes I said wild yeast, those who are uninitiated or skeptical of this, do not fear! Wild yeast is a magical thing and will bring you many new beer horizons. Let's get [...]
Greetings again all craft beer brothers and sisters, advocates and aficionados, I hope you all have been enjoying the bit of cooler weather we have received thus far this week. It's been a great, albeit a bit hot, summer thus far. Prime season for outdoor shenanigans: camping, fishing, sailing, hiking, golfing, [...]
Welcome back all you beer snobs, it's official now, "we're number one!" Let us first take everything with a grain of salt, and take a moment to revel in the local beer scene. With all the options available in Bellingham and the Northwest in general, I would claim we are one [...]
Bellingham Beer Week is coming in mid-September and it's going to be the biggest year yet. As always, Bellingham's breweries got together and brewed up BBW's collaborative brew. This year it was hosted at Chuckanut Brewing. Chuckanut teamed up with Aslan Brewing, North Fork Brewing and some of Bellingham's newest breweries, [...]
Aslan Brewing has been on a roll lately. It has become more and more accepted in the Bellingham community and its recent awards attest to the growing quality of it's beer. The canning of their popular Batch 15 IPA has been met with open arms by it's fans. They have been [...]
Bellingham has some world class breweries. There are more breweries being built here than, arguably, any city in Washington State. Soon we'll have double the breweries per capita of Seattle, WA. The options available to us are quite impressive and this doesn't even include the amazing diverse selection that's about to be available to [...]
Greetings and happy fourth to you all! I trust you are all enjoying some delicious craft beer during this holiday weekend. I always look forward to holidays to break out or conquer at least one special or rare beer. This holiday is no exception and I have been very excited to topple [...]
Greetings beer nuts, aficionados, prospectors, advocates, and purveyors. Summer is in full swing and it's somehow nearly July in the Pacific Northwest! This weeks offering comes from an often maligned and certainly polarizing brewery — Lagunitas. Some will be die-hard Lagunitas fans for life, while others will scoff at each new release, [...]
Bellingham breweries recently cleaned up at the North American Beer Awards. The word has gotten out. Now they've done it again. This last weekend, every single Bellingham Tap Trail brewery won big at the Washington Beer Awards. Boundary, Aslan, Kulshan, Wander, Chuckanut and Menace all picked up the following awards. Head out today [...]
Bellingham breweries continue to delight the palates of everyone, from the casual drinker to the experts. Aslan Brewing Company, Boundary Bay Brewing, Chuckanut Brewery and Wander Brewing all won awards at the 2015 North American Beer Awards! Looks like Bellingham is the place to be for Dubbels. Boundary Bay took 1st in the category [...]
Bellingham's newest brewery, Kulshan Brewery's second brewery, K2, opened last Saturday. K2 is the first in what will be a series of brewery openings over the next 9 months in Bellingham. Stones Throw, Gruff, Structures and Subdued Brewing will be opening in due time! Bellingham, get out on the #taptrail today [...]
Hello all and welcome back for another beer review. This week we'll be sampling a local offering from Chuckanut, their Kolsch. This style of beer was first brewed in Cologne (Köln), Germany, it is a very light and refreshing style, which also shows excellent clarity, it is a bright, flavorful, and [...]
Create your own user feedback survey
On July 4th the 2nd Annual Yes, We Can! Canned Beer Festival will take place at Elizabeth Station. It's the Northwest's 1st canned beer festival. We are giving away two (2) free tickets to this happy and hoppy event. Here's the event details. POLECAT & WILD RABBIT 40+ breweries - hot food - [...]
Pedal Party Northwest has made craft beer in Bellingham that much cooler. We let you know about Pedal Party NW a while ago when we were invited on their inaugural ride. They are a 15 multi-person bike, with music and and tours of Bellingham's breweries. They have plans to offer tours [...]
The good folks at The Local are hosting their 2nd Annual Home Brewers Competition. I spoke with Ben Buccarrelli of Menace Brewing and The Local. He says this year's competition will be much more legitimate and and will be very competitive. "Instead of having brewers submit their recipes, we will give [...]
Structures Brewing is Bellingham's newest announced brewery. They are apart of the 12 active and planned breweries in our fair city. These 12 will give us more breweries per capita than Seattle Washington and push us towards further regional and national recognition in the craft beer world. Stuctures Brewing is owned by James [...]
Take a listen to Bellingham Tap Trail's inaugural podcast! We sat down with Aaron Matson, owner of The Copper Hog and Director of Bellingham Beer Week and Steve DeMoney brewer, beer disciple and sailboat owner, to discuss some pressing matters in the craft beer world, including pay to play. Some sound issues, but [...]
We like polls. We like them a lot. We also know that Hops and Headz is opening their awesome beer garden very soon! We also like quizzes, so when you're done with this poll make sure to take our Bellingham Tap Trail quiz as well. It's hard and you'll probably score [...]
Urban Kickball League Every Thursday, 5pm - 730pm May 14th, May 21st, May 28th, June 4th, Jun 11th Tournament on June 13th Maritime Heritage Park The Downtown Bellingham Partnership is hosting an Urban Kickball League and the Bellingham Tap Trail Breweries are going to win it. For five Thursdays, starting May 14th, [...]
Fairhaven Stones Throw has been making some exciting progress. We got an exclusive walk through last week when the new shipping containers were dropped into place with a 90 ton crane. This brewery is going to be quite unique. More unique than anything I've seen. The brew house will be built [...]
Patrick McEvoy, our Bottle Editor, recently got to interview the good folks at renowned Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project out of Denver, Colorado. Their beer is heading our way and this is great news for Bellingham. Look for it soon at Elizabeth Station! Here's the full interview: The only people I know [...]
Subdued Brewing is Bellingham's newest brewery, but it is a long way off from becoming a reality. Opening a brewery takes time. Just ask Fairhaven Stones Throw Brewing or Gruff Brewing. Permitting, funding and renovations all have to fall into place at the right time. Subdued Brewing is somewhere between permitting [...]
Thanks for visiting us! If you’d like to learn more about Tap Trail please visit our Contact Us page and send us a message!
Copyright 2015-2023 © Tap Trail • Tap Trail is a product and DBA of Ketchup+Mustard, Inc.
