Washington’s annual celebration of Triple IPA kicks off Thursday, February 7th.
Five years ago Adam Robbings of Reuben’s Brews hatched a crazy idea: he envisioned a beer event featuring a whole bunch of Washington-brewed Triple IPAs on tap at once. The first year, a handful of breweries created beers for the event, but within a couple years the numbers had grown. Now in its fifth year, the Hop Mob Triple IPA Roadshow features beers from over 20 Washington breweries (listed below). Not just a single event, the “roadshow” includes stops at seven different locations (listed below).
By definition, Triple IPA clocks in at 10 percent ABV or higher. It is a notoriously difficult thing to brew, requiring the brewer to balance a hefty malt bill (to provide the requisite ABV) along with lots of hops, which should balance or even outshine any malty sweetness.
The official kickoff event takes place on Thursday, February 7th at Brouwer’s Cafe in Seattle and will feature the largest selection of beers. Starting at 3:00, guests can order from a menu that includes as many as two dozen Triple IPAs, available in small pours and regular-size pours. Likely, a lot of the brewers will attend the kickoff.
Following the kickoff, over the course of the next 10 days events will take place at bars (or brewery taprooms) in West Seattle, Renton, Kirkland, Yakima, Snohomish and Seattle (Lake City). At each of these events, you will find at least eight of the Hop Mob beers on tap, available in taster-size pours and full pours.
Why?
Each year in early February, Russian River Brewing releases its Triple IPA, Pliny the Younger. It is one of the nation’s most celebrated beer releases of the year, with lots of fanfare and hoopla. Nary a drop of that ballyhooed beer makes it to Washington. Hop Mob Triple IPA Roadshow was intended to showcase how Washington breweries can produce great beers of this style too. The date is not at all coincidental; it is no accident that Hop Mob happens at the same time of year as the Pliny the Younger release.
Now, Hop Mob has its own legs and the intentional coincidence with Pliny’s release is all but forgotten. In 2017 the official Hop Mob Kickoff event featured 32 Triple IPAs on tap at once. We are pretty sure it was the most Triple IPAs that have ever been on tap at one time, in one place, ever. That year, over 50 of Washington’s breweries produced Triple IPAs for release in early February.
Truthfully, those number were unsustainable and a little bit ridiculous, so now we’ve backed off a bit, moderating ourselves and operating within more reasonable bounds. The kickoff features as many as 24 beers on tap and thereafter each roadshow event features at least eight Triple IPAs on tap, which is still quite remarkable.
HOP MOB EVENTS
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7TH
3:00 – 11:00
HOP MOB KICKOFF
BROUWER’S CAFE
Seattle
Event page on Facebook
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8TH
HOP MOB ROADSHOW EVENT
THE SPORTS CENTER
Yakima
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH
11:00 – 9:00
HOP MOB ROADSHOW EVENT
THE BREWMASTER’S TAPROOM
Renton
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH
Noon – 11:00
HOP MOB ROADSHOW EVENT
THIRSTY HOP
Kirkland
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12TH
3:00 – 11:00
HOP MOB ROADSHOW EVENT
SOUND TO SUMMIT BREWING
Snohomish
Event page on Facebook
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14TH
3:00 – CLOSE
HOP MOB ROADSHOW EVENT
BEVERIDGE PLACE PUB
West Seattle
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16TH
HOP MOB CLOSING CEREMONIES (last event of the year)
THE GROWLER GUYS
NE Seattle
Tasters and full pours
Noon – 11:00PM
HOP MOB BREWERIES
- 7 Seas Brewing
- Aslan Brewing
- Bale Breaker Brewing
- Big Time Brewing/Beardslee collaboration
- Cloudburst Brewing
- Dru Bru
- Elliott Bay Brewing
- Elysian Brewing
- Farmstrong Brewing
- Georgetown Brewing
- Matchless Brewing
- Mirage Beer Co.
- Postdoc Brewing
- Ravenna Brewing
- Redhook Brewlab
- Reuben’s Brews
- Single Hill Brewing
- Sound to Summit Brewing
- Stoup Brewing
- Three Magnets Brewing
- Wandering Hop Brewing
- Wet Coast Brewing