Lucky Envelope Brewing will celebrate Chinese New Year on Friday, February 16th and Saturday, February 17th. The celebration includes the special release of five beers. Raymond Kwan and Barry Chan, the co-founders of Lucky Envelope Brewing in Seattle, are both of Chinese descent. They invite you to join them at the brewery and taproom in Ballard as they welcome the Year of the Earth Dog.
“Last year’s celebration was such a great success that we decided to extend the event to two days this year,” said Raymond Kwan, co-founder of Lucky Envelope. The brewery is excited to release five specialty beers for the event including their Buddha’s Hand Citron IPA, Lychee Sour, Double Happiness Barrel-Aged Porter, Mijiaya Historic Chinese Beer, and Tea-Smoked Helles Lager.
“Our Assistant Brewer Josh and I are particularly excited for our Lychee Sour and Buddha’s Hand Citron IPA,” says Barry Chan, co-founder and Brewmaster. “We have been focused on ‘culturally inspired beers’ and both of these beers combine elements of Asian food culture with traditional brewing techniques.”
Among the special beers released that weekend, Double Happiness Barrel-Aged Imperial Porter, which was aged twice, first in a Merlot wine barrel and then in a Westland Distillery 5-Malt whiskey barrel. The beer is describes as “delightfully complex, clocking in at 9.2% ABV, with red stone fruit and oak tannin combining with vanilla, smoke, and caramel.”
Rounding out the special beer releases, the return of the Mijiaya Historic Chinese Beer (named after the 5,000 year-old Mijiaya archaeological site in Shaanxi, Northern China), and a Tea-Smoked Helles Lager.
Arrive early on Friday and Saturday and you’ll receive a celebratory lucky envelope containing special coupons. The brewery will also be selling limited edition Year of the Earth Dog t-shirts while supplies last.
Lucky Envelope Brewing takes its name from a Chinese tradition that is tied closely with New Year celebrations. The tradition involves elders bestowing envelopes, which are often often red and gold, to loved ones as a gesture of luck and goodwill.
Lucky Envelope Brewing is an award-winning family-friendly craft brewery in Seattle’s Ballard brewery district that has earned impressive accolades since opening in May of 2015. Among other honors, the brewery brought home several medals from the 2017 and 2016 Washington Beer Awards. Also, Lucky Envelope has won medals at the 2015 Great American Beer Festival (GABF), the most prestigious beer judging competition in North America.