Brewer's Notebook

Fish Brewing Oktoberfest

Saturday, September 25, 4-9pm
Fish Brewing Company • 515 Jefferson St.• Downtown Olympia

Here at Fish Brewing, we believe that fresh beer and cider, fine food, and enduring friendships are what life in the Great Pacific Northwest is all about. We invite you to join us for our biggest event of the year as we host our 12th Annual Oktoberfest.

Feast on a variety of savory culinary delights from the Fish Tale Brewpub, including traditional Oktoberfest fare as well as some more contemporary options with Bavarian flair. Even a Puget Sound raw oyster bar will be featured. (Oh, and did we mention beer?) You’ll enjoy our finest, awarding-winning Fish Tale Organic Ales, Leavenworth Biers and Spire Mountain Ciders.

Live entertainment will be provided by the New Blues Brothers as they present a dynamite stage show consisting of all the hits and humor that made the Blues Brothers so permanently engrained in American culture.

A live auction consisting of various choice items will be held as well as a raffle for the ultimate beer-lover’s dream: a free pint a day for a year from the Fish Tale Brewpub. Profits from this event will benefit will benefit the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and preserving the waters of Puget Sound.

Tickets are $27 in advance ($35 at the door) and include a meal of your choice and several drink tickets to enjoy a variety of ales and ciders. This event is 21 and over only.

Click here for Oktoberfest Details

Join us on October 9th for the 2nd annual Celebration of Beer Weekend at Skamania Lodge from 1 pm to 5 pm.  We’ll be on Skamania’s lawn with great music and great beers served by brewers from across the Pacific Northwest. After savoring and sampling, vote for your favorite. Between 3:00-5:00pm, each brewer will roll out their seasonal or unreleased beers for tasting.  $20/20 tickets, $40/50 tickets. 1 ticket per tasting, 4 tickets for a pint. Tickets are not refundable.   Visit www.skamania.com for more details.

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Fish Tale Organic Ales have garnered a piece of print immortality. In his newly-released work, Product Design in the Sustainable Era,  author Dalcacio Reis devotes a two-page spread to Fish Tale. The book is from the Cologne, Germany-based publishing house  Taschen.

A 440-page compendium of innovative products designed “with future generations in mind,” the volume’s Fish Tale pages come in the book’s sixth chapter, “Retail Products”. Other chapters focus on electronics, energy, furniture, home & appliances, lighting, sports & apparel, and miscellanea.

“Of course, we’re elated,” said Fish Brewing’s Director for Arts & Crafts, Scott Miller. “Mr. Reis contacted us nearly a year ago explaining the book and inviting us to submit materials for consideration. Naturally, we sent the kitchen sink, hoping we’d be lucky enough to land a logo or a photo of the brewery. Two entire pages—that was a bit beyond our wildest imaginings.”

Typical of Taschen publications, the book is graphics-rich. On Fish Tale’s pages, both the hoped-for Fish Tale Organic Ales brand logo and the brewery shot appear, as well as Fish Tale Organic Ales style logos and product shots.

Also featured in side-by-side English, German, and French translations are two paragraphs of Fish Tale’s philosophy on clean water. In addition, the pages include Fish Tale’s web address, organic certifier, and awards, plus the names of the Mighty Fish Brewers.

Famed for its multi-lingual volumes on art, design, and culture, Taschen lists Product Design in the Sustainable Era at $39.99.

Hot on the heels of their break-out triumph in Los Angeles (see Leavenworth Biers Win Big, below), two Leavenworth Biers have again been honored by a discerning jury.

This time, judges from the World Beer Championships weighed in. Their verdict: Gold Medal ranking for Boulder Bend Dunkelweizen, and Bronze for Whistling Pig Hefeweizen. The WBC results mirrored those from the LA International Commercial Beer Competition, where judges also awarded Gold to Boulder Bend and Bronze to Whistling Pig.

“For Leavenworth Biers, this has surely been a compelling month of vindication and redemption,” observed Fish Brewing Company’s Chief Operating Officer, Al Triplett. “Sixteen years since the brand’s last medal, now this: five medals in four week’s time. Already, there is talk of optioning this story for the Guy Network’s Afternoon Movie of the Week.”

Founded in 1994, the World Beer Championships claims the title of America’s oldest international beer competition. In format, it is unique among beer competitions.

Rather than judging multiple styles at a single event, WBC juries convene every other month to judge beers in style groupings. Judges review these groupings on a rotating calendar.

The WBC’s June/July panels judged Wheat Beers in categories including Dunkelweizen, Bavarian-style Hefeweizen, Kristall Weizen, Weizen Bock, Berliner Weisse, Filtered & Unfiltered Wheat Ale, White/Wit Beer, and Flavored Wheat Beer.

Results from the Wheat Beer judging will appear the August issue of Tastings, a publication of the Beverage Testing Institute. Based in Chicago, the BTI organizes the World Beer Championship.