Photo blog of the brewer's night

The night begins.


Danielle shows her hop broach, courtesy of our garden.


Drew was there, wearing his Big Time tie dye shirt. Old school.


Bill talks about the beer in his usual loud, overbearing voice.


We start the raffle. It is straight forward, that is of course until Sarah takes over. That is when the place really got going. Here we are having a bit of fun.


I try to maintain the straight man face, as Sarah brings the house to their knees, she had them all in the palm of her hand. I believe she is in the middle of "Like a Virgin" or "Papa Don't Preach" when this was taken. It was one of the best nights I have had in a long time. Thank you Sarah, thank you Bob, and thank you Bill who without the night would not have even happened.


There you have it thanks to all who made a trip to the Latona to celebrate with us. We appreciate it.

Sarah Stole the show...

Monday night was a night to remember, not only was it our Brewer's night at the Latona Pub, it was the kickoff event for their 20th anniversary. That is not why it will be remembered though. Our very own Sarah put on a show that will be talked about forever, especially by those in attendance. How many of you can say you have heard "Papa Don't Preach" sung in the middle of a raffle? Not many I'd imagine. I laughed until my sides heart and then continued to laugh as she finished up her performance with "Like a Virgin". Sarah is our resident Madonna fan, she celebrates all things Madonna and has a year party where all in attendance must be dressed appropriately. In addition to Sarah, we celebrated all things Bill, he brewed a Double Decade IPA just for the event, we also had a Dry Hopped Version that was well liked. If you weren't there you missed out on a great evening. I think it left Bob speechless. Let's just say I know who to call on when I need an announcer to run the show in the future. Sarah. There are pictures, those of you that took them please send them. I used a friend's camera and will have my pictures shortly. Look for the evidence soon.

Sunbreak Blonde Ale is on draft. Double Decade is available in the pint, the pitcher or even the gallon to go, sorry no retail kegs though.

Coming up soon to a tap near you:
Kolsh 45
Powderfinger Rye

Don't miss out...

This upcoming Monday is our Brewer's night at the Latona Pub, to kick off their 20th anniversary celebration. Come on by, the festivities start at around 8pm. We will have The Double Decade anniversary beer in addition to a few other beers on tap, think IPA. We have a few shirts to raffle off and the evening will be a grand celebration.

New and exciting on draft:
Buster's Brown ale
Double Decade 20th Latona's 20th anniversary ale
Brown Bombshell

Scarlet Fire shirts are in the works. I should be speaking with the artist in the upcoming days, we hope to have shirts in the not too distant future. We struggled with a design for this beer for awhile, it has been around for so long and has a long history, add to it that everyone has their own idea of what the logo/shirt should look like and it makes for some difficult decisions. I do believe the shirt will rock, we are using the same artist that produced the Ave Rat shirt/logo.

The Washington Beer Commission is having and Oktoberfest out at St Edwards Park on Friday September 14th 3-9 and Saturday September 15th 1-9. We will be represented there. Funny that Oktoberfest is always in September, ohhh how the world works.

Have a good weekend. Bottoms up.

Fresh off the press....

The Meerkat IPA was on draft for mere moments it seems. It was a crowd favorite. The Old Sol is gone as well, to return next year at the same time. It is also headed to Denver this year as one of our 6 entries. Speaking of Denver and the Great American Beer Festival, Bill has started to brew some of the beers, like the Brown Bombshell, a coffee Brown Ale. It will use Stumptown coffee, they are opening a coffee shop on Capitol Hill that I have been told will be open around the beginning of September. Let the take over begin. This being the first time experimenting with a coffee brown ale we are infusing it in the keg and trying varying amounts and varieties of coffee. Stop in for a pint and see if you notice the differences. It was on cask to rave reviews all weekend.

We are in the process of ordering new shirts, the inventory got a bit low so we decided it was time. There is also a rumor of a Scarlet Fire shirt in the works.

I hope that everyone is enjoying the summer that we are having and that everyone is ready to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Latona Pub. Next Monday we kick of the anniversary week with our Brewer's night. Come on come all.

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.