Bellingham Bay BREWS Cruises

Boundary Bay and San Juan Cruises are excited to announce the return of our summer BREWS Cruises. Every Wednesday evening, we invite you to hop aboard the Victoria Star and tour the Bay as we serve a variety of our award-winning beers. Boundary will be joined by two additional Northwest breweries who will also be serving up their finest ales. These tasty brews will be paired with plenty of savory snacks.  Spend a summer evening kicking back and enjoying the spectacular views Bellingham bay has to offer! 

Cruises are $35 per adult.  Fee includes the tastings of three beers, per brewery. Cruises will sell out quickly so reserve your spot ONLINE or by calling 1-800-443-4552 or (360) 738-8099. (This summer, season passes are available!)  The boat departs from the Alaska Ferry Terminal in Fairhaven at 6:30pm. Check in 30 minutes prior to pick up your tickets and board the Victoria Star.

CRUISE DATE & BREWERIES:

July 10 – Boundary, Kulshan Brewery, Chuckanut Brewery

July 17 –  Boundary, Flyers Brewery, Skagit River Brewery

July 24 – Boundary, Scuttlebutt Brewery, Birdsview Brewing Company

July 31–  Boundary, Dick’s Brewery, Island Hoppin’ Brewery

Aug 07 – Boundary, Pike Place Brewing, North Sound Brewery

Aug 14 – Boundary, Elysian Brewery, Georgetown Brewery 

Aug 21 – Boundary, Port Townsend Brewery, Lazy Boy Brewery

Aug 28 – Boundary, Diamond Knot, Schooner EXACT Brewing Co. 

Sept 04 –Boundary, Snoqualmie Falls Brewing Co., Ram Brewing at Northgate 

Sept 11 – Boundary, Hale’s Ales, Northfork Brewery 

***Pictures courtesty of San Juan Cruises***

A Picturesque Moment at Boundary Bay

Boundary Bay is delighted and honored to have loyal ‘Bounders’ like Liz and Chuck Mather supporting our Brewery and Bistro.  These awesome folks decided to have a painting done of their “favorite place”– Boundary Bay. But what’s uniquely special about this piece, is the fact that Liz and Chuck are highlighted in portrait, sitting together in the tap-room with their Boundary Ales. This painting epitomizes the contagious Bellingham community spirit, that keeps local businesses like us thriving… and ALL of us at Boundary Bay are truly honored. 

Ski to Sea Weekend with BEER!

For many years, a big part of Bellingham’s Memorial Day tradition has been the Ski to Sea race and accompanying festivities.  The race itself is a 93.5 relay race from MT. Baker to Bellingham Bay encompassing seven different sports:  Cross Country Ski; Downhill Ski/Snowboard; Running; Road Bike; Canoe; Mountain Bike and Kayak.

The weekend of fun also includes a community block party with music and food (and a Boundary Bay Brewery beer garden!), a junior Ski to Sea Race for the little ones, a hometown parade and special events all around town – including plenty of ones right here at Boundary Bay Brewery.

Starting Friday, May 25th, we’ll have all kinds of family friendly entertainment to keep everybody busy.  This Friday kicks off the Official Ski to Sea Block Party in our Beer Garden!  There’ll be music, dancing, food and fun.  It’s a costume party too (NOT required!), so wear your Ski to Sea themed attire for a chance to win a fabulous prize! Dress as an original 1911 racer or a modern day racer…be as creative as you want.  AND, the first 800 racers who show up with their race bibs get an official 2012 Ski to Sea beer glass for free!  Oh, and be sure to enter the Ski to Sea and Alaska Airlines contest for a chance to win two round trip tickets from Bellingham to ANYWHERE Alaska Airlines flies. We’ll have our BBQ up and running and there’ll be live music by The Atlantics, too!

Then, on Saturday, May 26th our Beer Garden will open at 2pm and we’ll have the BBQ running all day.  The Bellingham Firefighters Pipes & Drums band will be performing throughout the afternoon along with performances from other pipe and drum bands from the area.  Around 7pm, we’ll start charging a $5 cover for the live music by Sundance which is all ages till 10pm.

The weekend’s festivities will wrap up on Sunday, May 27th with live music by the True Spokes (formerly Flowmotion) at 8:30pm.  The show has a $10 cover as is 21+only, but the Beer Garden and BBQ open at 2, so people of all ages are welcome to relax down there and enjoy BBQ and beer until around 8 when we’ll start charging covers.

Be sure to try some of our Ski to Sea ESB this weekend, too!  It’s brewed specially to commemorate and celebrate the Ski to Sea annual race and this rare brew of ours only gets released once a year.  It’s available on tap here at the brewpub and in 22 oz. bottles sold here at Boundary Bay Brewery and at local grocery stores like Haggens.

Our Ski to Sea ESB is a copper colored English style pale ale that emphasizes the subtle blend of imported and domestic malts. The addition of dry hops adds a delightful hoppy aroma and a slight floral, grassy flavor.

We’ve even got Ski to Sea ESB tshirts and hoodies if you wanna commemorate your experience here in Bellingham this weekend!

Looking Back – 2011 at BBAY

Another year is winding down and before we say hello to 2012, we thought we’d say a fond goodbye to 2011 with some of our favorite moments of the past year.  Here at Boundary Bay Brewery, 2011 gave us lots of opportunities to expand on previous successes and was jam packed with brand new adventures as well:

giddy while filling the Dry Fly barrels with Scotch Ale!

* We partnered up with Dry Fly Distillery (in Spokane, WA) to try barrel aging a couple of our beers.  First up was our Scotch Ale which was consumed with gusto and our Oatmeal Stout is currently aging – to be released soon.  The project was a great success and we’re already looking forward to trying more barrel aging in the new year.

* We brewed up our very first Cascadia Dark Ale and cast our two cents in the debate about what to name this elusive beer style.  We still think Black IPA just doesn’t cut it and retain our vote for Cascadia Dark Ale in honor of the region this iconic style was birthed in.

* We jumped in to our first of (hopefully) many Beer vs. Wine dinners at Semiahmoo Resort.  Craft Beer is gaining ground as a food pairing phenomenon and we’ve had a lot of fun challenging Washington wineries like Chateau Ste. Michelle to see which beverage comes out on top.  We’ve got our next Beer vs. Wine dinner on January 28th, so why not make it one of your New Years resolutions to join us and open your mind to the possibilities of beer and food pairings?!

* We began highlighting our Local Connections through short video blogs, which turned out to be a great way to connect our customers and our suppliers.  It’s been inspiring to connect with those who are passionate about what they do, and we’ve enjoyed visiting the farms who grow our food and the great cafés, bars and restaurants who serve our beer!   We’ll start the new year with a behind-the-scenes peek at Ralf’s Bavarian Pretzels and show you exactly why we love working with this awesome local business.

our shirt on the Discovery Channel!

* We came up with some new merchandise to tempt you: a new 2L growler and a Cabin Fever Hoodie.  Our hoodies continue to be known as Bellingham’s unofficial uniform and our Save the Ales slogan is recognized far outside of our little corner of the Northwest.  We hear about our customers being stopped in Disneyland, in New York and even in New Zealand when someone recognizes our iconic shirt.  A lot of you have probably even seen our Munzinger shirt on the Discovery Channel special “How Beer Saved The World.”

* Our relationships with craft beer lovers across the country (and into Canada!) are continuing to grow and strengthen: our beer was officially poured for the first time in Hawaii when we took part in the Kauai Beer Festival, we’ve expanded our distribution into British Columbia which has been received with MUCH enthusiasm and our little brewpub was even written up in the Vancouver Sun, EnRoute: the AirCanada in-flight magazine and the American Airlines in-flight magazine!

* We were honored to find out that Bellingham Firefighters refer to our brewpub as Station 7 (since there are 6 official fire stations here in town) – so, with their input, we created a Station 7 shirt and are donating the proceeds from shirt sales to Camp Phoenix which is a camp for child burn victims.

* We have continued to take full advantage of our own success and to spread that love by doing everything we can to support local nonprofits.  Every year, we donate to over 100 local charities and  this year, for the first time, we became a sponsor of the Dirty Farm Trek – a physical and mental obstacle race put on by the VZ Foundation.

at the St. Patrick's Day Parade, 2011

* The Bellingham Firefighters Pipes & Drums band has, unofficially, become our house band!  We’re delighted that they feel welcome enough here at the brewpub to just drop by for spontaneous performances and entertain our customers with their tunes.

* Our General Manager, Janet Lightner, has been the driving force behind Bellingham’s St. Patricks Day Parade and we were thrilled to help her put on another successful parade in 2011 despite the unfavorable weather.  Amazingly, it’s almost time to start thinking about next year’s parade too!  This year, the 2011 Paddy’s Day Parade will fall on the 17th – St. Patrick’s Day itself, so mark your calendars and plan on a whole day of Irish-inspired festivities.

* We brewed the very first Ski to Sea ESB  – commemorating 100 years of racing and look forward to continuing that tradition next year.  And, the Boundary Bay Brewery women’s Ski to Sea Team enjoyed another win in the Competitive Women’s Division and continues to be the ONLY team in Ski to Sea history to win their division 11 years in a row!

* We are thrilled to have been named the Best Brewery in Washington, the Best Brewpub in Washington and the Best Scotch Ale in the Northwest by the Northwest Brewing News Reader’s Choice Awards and were named the Best Bar in Bellingham by the Bellingham Herald Readers Choice Awards.

* And, the biggest news of all for 2011, is our impending expansion!  We’ll take over the lease of the new space on January 1st and are excited to start the new year with lots and lots of construction.  ;)

As we look back on 2011 and ahead to whatever may come in 2012, we want to take a moment to say thank you to all of YOU – our beloved friends and customers who have become a part of the Boundary Bay Brewery family!  We are so proud to be a part of this incredible community (both Bellingham and the craft beer community at large) and honored to have your support as we move on to another year of handcrafted beer and great local food.  We truly couldn’t do what we do without you.  Cheers, from all of us here at Boundary Bay Brewery!

Local Connections: Cloud Mountain Farm

Nestled at the foot of Sumas Mountain in the far Northwest corner of Washington State, Cloud Mountain Farm is situated on 20 acres of orchards, vineyards, nursery fields, greenhouses and trial gardens.  They propagate and grow fruit trees, nut trees, berry plants and ornamental plants.  You’ll also find they sell a large variety of dwarf conifers and Japanese maples, hard-to-find orchard and garden supplies, quality tools, and garden books.

They’ve been growing apples commercially since their beginnings in 1978. They supply a number of restaurants in town and we are lucky enough to be one of them!  The menu here at Boundary Bay Brewery regularly features produce grown locally for us at Cloud Mountain Farm and we even serve up their hot apple cider on chilly Winter days.

Education has always been hugely important to the staff at Cloud Mountain Farm.  They have extensive trial gardens to test out crop development and which varieties work best in our climate.  For consumers, their goal is to make sure that when your leave their nursery, you have the right plants, tools and information to be successful in all your gardening endeavors. Their focus on education will certainly grow now that they’ve become a non-profit!  The farm will become an educational/training center for market farmers and consumers.  They will continue to grow and sell to the public through the farm stand, the Bellingham Farmers Market, local restaurants and CSA shares.  But now they will also expand their educational opportunities to include training programs for people wanting to learn the business of farming for market and providing consumer education for food production and ornamental gardening.

We were lucky enough to get to tour Cloud Mountain Farm in September and meet the incredible staff who run the farm.  We spent a lovely morning wandering through the fields with Cheryl, learning about farming for food and snacking on delicious tomatoes, grapes and apples.  Check out this video to find out more about Cloud Mountain Farm, the people behind it and their incredible produce that we use in our menu here at the brewery.

 

Just Call Us Station 7

There are six fire stations here in Bellingham.  We found out earlier this year that among the firefighters, Boundary Bay Brewery is commonly referred to as Station 7.  As in “Hey, wanna go meet up with the boys and grab a beer at Station 7?”  We, of course, LOVE this!

So, we teamed up with some of the firefighters and came up with a tshirt design for Station 7.  Currently, the shirts are only available for purchase here at the brewery.  They are available in grey with black ink and are retailing for $25 each.

$10 from each tshirt sale will be donated directly to Camp Phoenix, a program that is part of the Burned Children Recovery Foundation.

The Burned Children Recovery Foundation is a non-profit organization of dedicated staff and caring volunteers who are committed to effectively supporting burn children survivors and their families during the rehabilitation process. The BCRF provides counseling and financial aid to the child and their family.

Burns are one of the most painful injuries to recover from and many of the children have lost fingers, ears, faces and their spirit to live. But no matter how severe or slight their burn scars are, all require assistance in making difficult changes from being a victim to a survivor and a well adjusted, thriving member of society. The children and their families need emotional and spiritual support after burns/scars have changed their lives forever.

Although the Burned Children Recovery Foundation is located in the Northwest, they pay to bring children to Camp Phoenix from all over America for a summer camp of learning and fun. From the very first day at camp when the children attend orientation, they are taught the skills they need to live and rise above the harassment they get in their everyday life as a burn survivor.

They are given the tools to enjoy life and to teach about life as a survivor to people that do not understand. The children have fun with other burn survivors as well as people from the community. Unfortunately, every year there are children that cannot come to camp. Children get turned away because the camp can only handle so many at a time…not to mention the cost of getting the kids safely to camp, the food, and all the support items needed. Which is exactly why we wanted to help by donating $10 from each Station 7 shirt to this amazing program!

Local Connections – Old World Deli

photo courtesy of Old World Deli website

We had the pleasure of chatting with Christos and Anna, owners of the Old World Deli in Downtown Bellingham last Friday.  Old World Deli is a true deli with an impressive selection of meats & cheeses that you can purchase by the pound as well as a staggering array of olives & extras.  This place could be Foodie Heaven!  You’ll find delights like orange prickly pear soda, black beluga lentils, capers in sea salt, Italian figs covered in dark chocolate, gluten free dark chocolate hazelnut cookies and multitudes of olive oils and aged balsamic vinegars.

And that list isn’t even really scratching the surface of the list of treasures to be found at Old World Deli!  They serve breakfast paninis like brie and apple, Nutella or pancetta, fontina and egg as well as lunch or dinner paninis like grilled vegetable, chicken pesto, muffaletta and albacore tuna.  They have soups and salads and cheese plates too!  Check out the whole menu here.

Old World Deli has an incredible selection of wines that are separated by region and have whole shelves full of bottles uner $10.95.  They also serve Boundary Bay Brewery beer and use our ESB to make their own bratwurst!  They offer catering services, monthly wine tastings and even live music in their space (occasionally).

Anna and Christos like this eclectic approach to their business.  They believe “…a deli is a meeting place where recipes, stories, shared experiences all revolves around how food has always been an integral part of families, friends & culture.” And they want to carry on that tradition…

Ski to Sea ESB

This year, the Ski to Sea Race is celebrating 100 years of racing in this community and they’ve asked us to brew a special Boundary Bay Brewery beer to commemorate this exciting anniversary.  We were thrilled to take on the challenge and created a dry hopped ESB that we’re calling the Ski to Sea ESB.  It is an English style pale ale, copper in color, emphasizing the subtle blend of imported and domestic malts. The addition of dry hops adds a delightful hoppy aroma and a slight floral, grassy flavor.

the label & tshirt design

What is the history of the Ski to Sea race? In 1911, a few crazy Bellingham and Whatcom County locals ran to the summit of Mt. Baker and back down to see who was the fastest in the first Mt. Baker Marathon, America’s original adventure race.  Today, that spirit lives on in the Ski to Sea Race, a 7 sport relay over 100 mile course. You can read more about the rich history of this race here.

We’ll be bottling the beer here at the brewery on May 4th or May 5th and it will be available to the public in 22 oz. bottles and on tap at Boundary Bay Brewery by May 6th.  We’ll also have t-shirts and posters with the Ski to Sea ESB label design for sale here at the brewery – coming soon!

Boundary Bay at the Craft Brewers Conference

Ed and Janet – the powerful duo behind Boundary Bay Brewery were in San Francisco last week enjoying the Craft Brewers Conference (CBC).  The annual conference is an event organized by the Brewers Association, and is a unique event marketed to brewpubs and larger breweries alike.  From March 23rd through the 26th, professional brewers from far and wide gathered in San Francisco for brewing education, vendors showing off the latest and greatest in brewing products and services and, of course, meeting and greeting others in the brewing industry and enjoying loads of great craft beer together.

At the Craft Brewers Conference, all aspects of running a brewery were covered from brewery operations, export development and technical brewing to selling craft beer, brewery startups and sustainability.  For brewpubs (like us!) in particular, speakers offered advice on working with chefs, hiring and training managers, word of mouth marketing, the benefits of partner brewing and how to reignite the fire of established brewpubs.

Janet, our General Manager and all around powerhouse, tweeted from her personal Twitter account during the event and here’s what she had to say about her time at the Craft Brewers Conference last week:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toronado Ale House

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Local Connections – Slough Food

This second episode in our Local Connections series profiles Slough Food – a great little shop in Edison that is definitely worth the trip!

John DeGloria, the owner of Slough Food, traces the inspiration for his shop to his lifetime love of good food and wine as well as his travels in Rome.  The place has an old world feeling and the owner himself stands behind the counter slicing meats and cheeses and greeting each customer who enters the store.  Not only can you find incredible artisan cured meats, fabulous cheeses and an unbelievable wine selection, but you can also enjoy treats like locally made honey, unusual grains and, of course, Boundary Bay Brewery beer!  You can also treat yourself to one of John’s tasting events to learn more about the delicacies you’re enjoying.

We were lucky enough to catch John for a few moments to ask him about Slough Food, why he chooses to support local businesses and why he decided to stock bottles of Boundary Bay Brewery beer when shelf space is a limited commodity in his tiny jewel of a store.  Here’s what he had to say: