Ode to weather..

"The sun did not shine,
It was too wet to play,
So we sat in the bar,
And drank Bhagwan's all day"
Bill Jenkins
For those of you outside of Seattle, it was unseasonably wet and cold over the last couple days for July, reminding me of and East Coast summer, wet and muggy. No worries though summer has returned today, with sunny skies abound.
After a long Thursday that included delivering beer to a few accounts around town and tending bar until closing time, I had the pleasure of mashing in (read lifting lots of milled grain)with Bill. It is hard work, then I filled some kegs. Lets just say it is not as glamorous as people think that it is. They just think its a party all day, I imagine, lets just say it is hard work. We were brewing the beer for the twentieth anniversary at Latona, Double Decade???or we joked around with some other names, Bob's "Barely Legal"? she's not quite twenty one. We had a good laugh. It will be hoppy have no fear. It will be pouring at the Latona on the evening of Monday, August 13th our brewer's night, and the kick off to a week of good times. Come on down, I expect to see you there.

Matt's Red Eye IPA is on draft right now. All Centennial Hops and a descent amount of malt give this beer a dark reddish color. Matt is heading with the family to Hong Kong for two plus years, he will be missed and we are looking forward to his stories upon returning to the states.

We still have Old Sol, while the bottles are almost gone there is a little over two barrels left on draft, and we have plenty of t shirts as well. This beer will age quite well.

Brewer's night

One of the Northwest's greatest beer supporters has been Bob Brenlin, of the Hopvine, Fiddler's and Latona fame. This year the Latona Pub is celebrating their 20th anniversary. They have had a series of Brewer's nights throughout the previous months. Each brewery had brewed, with the help/assistance of the Latona staff, a beer for the evening and the month. Always held on Monday evening usually the 3rd of each month. Well attended, with a raffle, what more reason do you need to get out on a Monday for a few drinks, its the new..... yeah you get the idea. I took some photos of the evening, but then got caught up, well drinking of course, that and the batteries decided to fail.
The Elysian crew brewed up a beer, and Imperial Lager using a new hybrid hop, if I heard everything right, the beer smelled like a lager and finished like an ale. They also had an keg of the Imperial Pumpkin that was fabulous, it was drinking very well.

Bill has a special Double Decade, creation, some have joked that you might serve it with a lighter, I think not. Since the Big Time brewer's night has been moved up a week to the 13th of August. This will kick off the week of the actual 20th year celebration at the Latona, it sounds like the week is full of events every night. A Cask night, a old tymer's reunion, a band, Dave(of Elysian) and Nina(of Waterstreet) will work the bar, sounds like lots of fun, plan accordingly. Enough about others. IF you choose one day make it the Monday night brewer's night. With the date change Bill needs to get brewing, great time for the assistant brewer to be on vacation.

The Ave Rat is a thing of the past, until next year????? The Trombipulator has also come and gone. We do have 3 IPA's on tap, and Matt's Red Eye is on the way, while called a Red IPA it is more a hoppy red ale than IPA. Rumor has it Matt is headed to Japan. We wish him well.

now some pics from the brewer's night:
Bob sets the stage

Bill enters at just the right time

Dick talks beer

Drew ponders world domination...


check out the flickr photo link in the side bar for more photos.

Meet Zack...

Do you like the Ave Rat t-shirts? Do you have one in your wardrobe yet? It is a must. If not there are 3 large shirts left, we may order more, but probably not until next year, and hopefully then they will be a bit different. I like to keep the evolution going. Each year a new shirt. That said if you like the t-shirt design this is your chance to see some more art by Zack the artist. Zach stopped by the brewery last night, to discuss ideas for the upcoming Scarlet Fire shirts that we are thinking about making. In the conversation his flickr account came up and I wanted to link it here. Below is the picture that he suggested I put up on the site.


He titled this one "3 idiots" and it was taken right after they had completed their half month project on the side of Piece of Mind in Fremont. Check out more of his artwork on his flickr account here. It sounds like he has some interesting projects coming up, and that the Work under the Eastlake bridge might get some revamping, all in the interest of the constant evolution and growth that is part of life. The original artist is coming back and wants to add some changes. Thank you Zack for all your time and efforts, we appreciate it.

In other Big Time news. The Meerkat IPA has arrived. Lots Amarillo and Chinook hops combine provide a great drinking beer that can stand up to all the heat we have had. Here is the official description:

Meerkat IPA

Meerkat India Pale Ale Those fabled voyages of the British Empire supplying heavily hopped beer to their troops in India had to travel around the southern tip of Africa, home to the terminally cute meerkat. We paid homage to this often overlooked leg of the journey with this beer; a crisp, citrusy blend of Chinook and Amarillo hops. O.G. 16.0, 6.1% ABV.

Bill has connected again and brewed another fantastic IPA. We now have 3 IPA's on draft," three" you say, "yes" we live in the northwest where hops are close and plentiful and the drink of choice is IPA. That said look for more in the near future.

Not only are the Ave Rat t-shirts almost gone, but the beer itself is a mere puddle in the tank. There is much speculation as to who will get the honor of the last pint. Ben, one of our regulars got the first, and wants to get the last as well. The jockeying and taunting has already begun among a few select regulars. All in good fun. The Trombipulator Belgian Ale and the Nemesis Strong Ale are about to make an exit as well. So if either of those are your favorites the time is right to come in and see us for one last pint or two.

Bill's research for a coffee brown ale continues. Hopefully he will comment on all the going ons in the Brewery real soon. Sarah has been taking a writing class so you may see a post coming from her real soon.

The wait begins

I am sure that your palette has been wet by the Old Sol Wheatwine, and the questions has started to come. In and attempt to quell your curiosity, I just got an update from Bill, the Old Wooly Barleywine is currently being brewed, as in right this moment. It takes two consecutive brews on our little system that would to get the 11 or so barrels of liquid gold. It is then aged for about the next 6 months until its release date, December 1st every year. Last year was a day and night to remember, we had one of our busiest days on record, and no one wanted to leave. All good things come to an end. There you have it, but like with all good things there is a wait. Let your wait begin. I just totally butchered those cliches.

We have lost two beers, the Hopfest came and went and the Dublin Stout has left as well, we have replaced one with Yardbird, our American Wheat beer. Just in time for the heat which I am assured is coming. They are predicting temperatures in the mid to high 90's for the next couple of days. We have a/c and after the length of the winter we all just endured up here, I will take a hot and dry for awhile.

In other news. Sarah is taking a creative writing class, ask her about it she will be surprised. I think the theme is "what my pet did this summer" or from the pet's perspective "what I did this summer"

I just got back from one of my favorite places on the planet, Oakridge, OR. I participated in the 12th annual Cascade Creampuff, a 100 mile mountain bike race. I had the pleasure of trying some local Eugene, OR beer while there. This my second trip down to the Eugene area this year, while I didn't get to meet Jaime of Ninkasi Brewing I did get to taste his Total Domination IPA and quite enjoyed it. Here is a pic that makes this author look a little mad. At this point in the race my girlfriend handed me a Porter that Wade made just for the race, damn it tasted good after 8 plus hours of riding. I just had a few more to go. Gave me some energy when I was really low. I have recovered a bit and am back to work this evening.