The fourth annual, 3rd consecutive Eastern Washington Brewfest is just around the corner… It’s weird that it’s Eastern Washington Brewfest, event though it’s held in Central Washington. You can get your tickets here if you don’t care about any of this banter. We’re okay with weird, but we’re not okay with only 12% of beer sales coming from the craft ( indie ) beer segment…that’s nationwide. Washington state is closer to 20%.
The goal for EWBF has been and will continue to be, to promote Washington, Indie Made Beer, specifically focusing on beer producers in the 509 area code. I would love nothing more than 100% of the bars and restaurants in Kittitas county to serve 100% independently produced beer on tap, relegating “America” beer to the back of the shelf. That’s a lofty and most likely, unattainable goal, however, it doesn’t mean we should stop trying.
While it may seem counter-intuitive to host a brewfest where we invite our local retail partners to sample the goods from other breweries; it’s all in the name of craft, err, indie made beer. Supporting small businesses where the livelihoods are directly tied to the community it serves is more important than offering “variety” of the watered-down water kind.
Whenever I see a beer on tap that was mass produced by a multi-gajillion behemoth, I die a little inside, which is hard to do, since I’m a boring robot with no real emotion to speak of. What’s more troubling though is that there are still far too many people that believe that are being “American” by drinking that stuff. Readers of this blog already get it; but it’s your uncle’s brother that needs convincing, or Connie’s mom. Come on Connie’s mom, stop drinking America.
There are a plethora of great breweries in Washington state, and while Seattle tends to get most of the media attention, the 509 has some pretty amazing producers on the dryer side of the state.
Below is a list of breweries that will be attending EWBF on May 20th, starting at 5:00pm.
12 String Brewing, Bale Baker, Dru Bru, Top Frog Brewery, Hop Nation, Icicle Brewing, No-Li, Northern Ales, Orlison Brewing, Paradise Creek Brewery, Roslyn Brewery, Snipes Brewing, Whipsaw, Yakima Craft Brewing, Rocky Coulee Brewing and us, duh.
Hmm, crazy, but here’s a link to where you can get tickets, which you’ll want to purchase ahead of time because the price goes up the day of the event.
(special note: if you are retailer looking to add additional indie made beer to your service offerings and would like to sample beer from the following; then email ilove@ironhorsebrewery.com we’ll open from 4:00-5:00 just for you)
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