Jay Fairchild

Those wanting to share in the memory of our good friend Jay are invited to a celebration of his life this Saturday, January 9th, 2pm to 8pm at the Tacoma Outboard Association at 646 Wilton Road, Tacoma. It's a potluck and a wake, so bring food and an ability to drink.

Oh Dear, Not More Breweries

Recently approved by the liquor board but not by the Marketing Dept. 192 Brewing.

Is This How It Ends?

Our friends at Olympic Eagle Distributing, you know them as the Bud guys, are quite excited about the possibility of peddling real beer. Word reaches us that Dogfish Head is considering a switch from Click in the new year. Remember it's all about store space and the Bud guys know a thing or two about that. We also hear that we may be seeing Goose Island on draft here in the not too distant future.

There's also talk about a very small, very local, new brewery hitching their wagon to the Clydesdale's train. 7 Seas and their soon to arrive line of canned beer perhaps? Pure speculation. But we have confidence that for any good salesperson it's a small leap from hawking Bud Light Lime to double IPAs. It's all beer, right?

Anyone in doubt of their Bud guy's dedication to offering the finest of craft beers can check Olympic Eagle's generic website.

This just in: Olympic Eagle has just picked up the highly prized Trade Route brand, yup those folks famous for the Purple Yam Porter etc. Sorry for the non-story.

R.I.P. Jay Fairchild

I received very sad news this weekend. Jay Fairchild finally lost his four year fight with cancer and passed away on Saturday. I've never met anyone with the courage and guts that Jay displayed these last few years as he met the challenges of his illness and his treatment. And through it all he never lost his love of beer.

Jay had worked at Aviator in their early days, managed the Parkway Tavern during its formative years, and was more recently with Snoqualmie Brewing. He loved the business as much as the beer. Hoist a pint to him. A Pelican IPA if possible.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Ona and all his friends and family.

Whither Jolly?

The question on everybody's unusually sober lips this season is "Where's the Jolly Roger?" The Maritime website gives a date of December 2nd but a Maritime human says the 9th. We can expect most, if not all, of the first few batches to go directly into bottles so expect draft supplies to be very limited.

Rumors were flying that the reason for the delay was because some stoner at head office had forgotten to file paperwork with the liquor board. These rumors were so spurious that even I wouldn't print them. The dull truth involves only construction and permitting delays during the brewery move.

R.I.P. Brian Sollenberger

More sad news for the Washington beer community: Brian Sollenberger, one of the founders of Diamond Knot Brewery has died, the apparent victim of an accident at home.

Diamond Knot had recently celebrated its 15th Anniversary and this loss must be particularly hard to cope with after such a happy occasion. My sincere condolences go out to his family and all those that worked with him.

I remember when their IPA first arrived in Tacoma, about the time that my career in the beer business began, and that beer seemed like a gift from the gods. And, God knows, I drank more than my fair share of it. Thanks for making my life a little richer Brian.

R.I.P. Dick Young

It was with great sadness that I learned this morning of the death of Dick Young the founder of Dick's Brewing in Centralia.

Dick was a pioneer in the Northwest craft brewing movement and, as anyone that met him will testify, he had it figured out: He made beer and sausage. Life doesn't get much better than that.

We'll miss you Dick.

Pump Kin!

Don't miss this seasonal shin-dig at the Red Hot:

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 21ST!
"ELYSIAN PUMPKIN NIGHT! FEATURING NIGHT OWL PUMPKIN ALE, THE GREAT PUMPKIN IMPERIAL PUMPKIN ALE, DARK O' THE MOON PUMPKIN STOUT, & HANSEL AND GRETEL PUMPKIN PILSNER! SCHWAG AND GOODTIMES TO BE HAD BY ALL ON THE BEST PUMPKIN ALES CRAFTED.
THESE ARE NOT BEERS WITH TONS OF PUMPKIN PIE SPICE ADDED AND CALLED GOOD, LIKE A LOT OF OTHER PUMPKIN BEERS, BUT TOTALLY WELL CRAFTED BREWS PAYING HOMAGE TO THE ORANGE GOURD WE ALL KNOW AND LOVE. COME TASTE WHAT ELYSIAN IS COOKING!"

Which reminds me of my favorite joke. "What do Hill Billies do at Halloween?"

Oh No, Not More Breweries

We all have to start somewhere, I guess:

Northwest Peaks Brewery at this address: 142 N 80th St., Seattle 98103