Brouwer’s Cafe, one of Seattle’s most esteemed and legendary beer joints, has some really cool events coming up over the next couple of months. Rolling Bones is a celebration of a local beer icon who passed earlier this year, Matt Bonney. Big Wood Festival is an annual tribute to barrel-aged beers. Burial Night features beers from North Carolina’s Burial Beer Company, an outstanding brewery started by some former Seattlites. And then in January, an amazing Firestone Walker tasting event with vertical flights of carefully aged anniversary beers from this beloved California brewery.
Here are event descriptions straight from Brouwers.
Rolling Bones
Wednesday, November 27th on draft here at Brouwer’s Cafe and bottles at Bottleworks
This year, we lost a very important and special figure in not just our local scene, but the larger one as well. Obviously, we are talking about Matt Bonney, former Operations Manager here at Brouwer’s, the Burgundian, and Bottleworks and owner of the Toronado Seattle, and member of the Publican National Committee. Rightfully so, many brewers have made special beers commemorating his life and legacy. It has been incredible to watch the community come together to to send the Centaur out in style. Years ago, while the PNC was still very active, they all got together to brew a handful of beers. They brewed a stout with Firestone Walker, and it was appropriately named PNC. A sour was brewed by Allagash and was named PNC #2 Broken Elevator. Wanting to honor these amazing beers, the former members of the PNC descended upon Paso Robles and had a conference at the Walker Farm. Together they crafted two beers that will hopefully be a lasting tribute.
The stout isn’t ready just yet, but soon we’ll have the sour. We’ll be tapping a keg of Rolling Bones American Wild Ale fermented with plums, cherries, black currants, and grapes on Wednesday, November 27th. Bottles will be available for purchase at Bottleworks on that day as well. This was a very limited release and will only be available at a few locations around the United States.
We hope you’ll join us that evening.
13th Annual Big Wood Festival
Thursday, December 5th – Sunday, December 8th
Here at Brouwer’s, we like our festivals. The is so much good in the beer world, that we like to host events that focus on a particular style to give the nice people out there a chance to try how diverse that style can be. Whether Barleywine, Stout, Sour, or IPA is life, we’ll have you covered at some point during the year.
Well, what if you want to try lots of different styles of beer, but are still REALLY into themes? We’ve got you there as well. The first Thursday of December, Big Wood begins anew. It is arguably our favorite festival because we get to showcase all different kinds of beer AND they will all be barrel-aged. As the winter gray settles in, it is the perfect time to hunker down in the beer cave and sip on some extraordinary offerings from your favorite breweries.
On December 5th – 8th, we will once again dive deep into the bowels of the cellar and pull all sorts of vintage goods for your palate from sour to sweet and everything in between. Join us that weekend for 50+ barrel-aged beers, making it one of the biggest festivals of its kind in the city. No tickets necessary, just come on down.
For the draft list, keep an eye on the Facebook event page as the event nears.
An Evening with Burial Night
Saturday, December 7th @6pm
Naming beers might be one of the most difficult parts in the logistics process. They need to be unique, stand out just enough, and stand out for the right reasons. It also helps if they reference something local and familiar. It often goes unnoticed, but a beer name can make or break the sale.
There are, of course, breweries that don’t care how local, familiar, or pleasant the names are. One of our favorite breweries subscribes to this principle. We are talking about Burial out of Asheville, NC. You might not be totally familiar with them, but they have been making outstanding beers of all styles on the east coast for quite a few years now. Doug and Tim, the owners, are products of the PNW brew scene, and into giving their beers rad names. They’ve been friends of the restaurant for a while now and were gracious enough to send some delicious treats our way, not just for festivals, but to have a bunch on at once. Bottleworks will also be getting some package, so you can enjoy them at home, at someone else’s home, in the woods, or at a ritual sacrifice.
On December 7th, yes, the Saturday of Big Wood, we’ll be tapping several of the beers we’re receiving for y’all to come out to try. It’ll be the next best thing to flying out to Asheville and checking out the scene (seriously, though, it is highly recommended).
Taplist for the evening:
- To Wear the Feathers of Slain Beasts Mixed Culture Saison w/second use peaches
- This Earthen Helix of Death DIPA
- When You Lay in Your Grave DIPA
- Hellstar Dark Lager
- Contrition Pilsner
- Surf Wax IPA
10 year Firestone Walker Anniversary Vertical
Thursday, January 23rd @5pm
Just like many of you, we too, are beer hoarders. And just like you, we’re running out of space in a cellar. We try to put together creative events that allow us to showcase both vintage and fresh selections while making space for the next wave of beers that will need some time to age.
A couple of years ago, we took real notice of something. We have some Firestone Walker Anniversary beers… like several years of them. In fact, at that point, we had anniversary beers 14th through 21st. At that point, we decided that 8 years is cool, but a decade would be a lot cooler. We hung on to those special beers for another two years.
On January 23rd at 5 p.m. we will be tapping Firestone Walker XIV-XXIII. David Walker, with his beautiful mane, will be in attendance to help send off a decade of making fantastic beers. We here are incredibly excited to be able to put this unique event on and we’re probably the only place outside of the brewery who can do it.
We’ll be doing two separate flights of five years each. Only flights will be available that evening, i.e., we will not be doing pours of single years. We want to be able to give everyone an opportunity to get a flight. We also suggest bringing a friend or two, because most of these beers are over 12%.
The taplist, because it is cool to type out, will be…
The Lion Flight:
- Firestone Walker XIV
- Firestone Walker XV
- Firestone Walker XVI
- Firestone Walker XVII
- Firestone Walker XVIII
The Bear Flight:
- Firestone Walker XIX
- Firestone Walker XX
- Firestone Walker XXI
- Firestone Walker XXII
- Firestone Walker XXIII