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.