Brewing a Belgian Beer at Boundary Bay

On January 23rd, The Washington Beer Commission is putting together the first-ever Belgianfest 2010!

Here at Boundary Bay Brewery, we’ve brewed up a Tripel to submit and we’re really looking forward to this beer festival.  Not only will the Belgiumfest highlight the skill and creativity of many Washington breweries, but it will celebrate the Belgian approach to brewing, which seems to be a whole lot like our own!  Belgians don’t limit themselves on their ingredients or brewing techniques and are not always compelled to “brew-to-style.”  Basically, if they like it, they brew it! And we can really appreciate that attitude!

There are many styles of Belgian beers (over 500 varieties!) and many that are practically impossible to categorize by style. However, there are some well accepted style definitions and, interestingly, our beer falls into one of those categories.  We’ve hand crafted a Tripel for this competition…historically a brown ale, but many (like ours) are now a golden blond and sweeter than a dubbel.  Both Dubbel and Tripel are Flemish Dutch words meaning double and tripel (respectively) that historically refer to a rough measure of the alcohol level in the beer styles.  Traditionally, monks would brew a beer around 3% or less for their consumption, then a dubbel at about 6% and then a tripel at about 9%.

Our Tripel was made with Pilsner, Vienna, Special B and Belgian aromatic malts.  Then, we rounded it out with Tettnang and Saaz hops, Belgian Candi sugar and Abbey Ale yeast, which is a Belgian Ale yeast with a very high alcohol tolerance traditionally used to make trappist style beers.  I do believe we’ll have some kegs to try here in the brewery, but the brewers are keeping things top-secret right now and keeping their lips sealed as to a release date here at Boundary Bay.  Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for our real-time updates and we’ll be sure to spread the word when our Tripel’s coming up on tap!

And, if sampling a bunch of really creative, interesting Belgian beers from Washington breweries somehow isn’t enough to get you to the Belgianfest, the Washington Beer Commission has a few more tricks up their sleeve.  In addition to the two sessions of beer tastings on January 23rd, there will be a Belgian Beer Dinner at the Corson Building. Dinner details are still being finalized but check the Belgianfest website for more info as they post it.  Plus, there is going to be a special beer brewed exclusively for members of the Washington Association of Beer Lovers (WABL).  Word on the street is that it’s going to be a blended beer made with different Belgianfest beers from several participating breweries and that the group will collectively decide what the blend should be. The actual blending will happen just before the event, when most beers are ready, so no one knows what the beer is going to be like until the event.

Check out this partial list of beers you’ll get to try at the Belgianfest!  See you there…

THE DETAILS:

Saturday, January 23, 201

Session 1: 12-4pm
Session 2: 6-10pm

The Engine Room @ Georgetown Studios
5890 Airport Way S.
Seattle, WA 98108
Map

Admission:
$30 advance tickets
$35 at the door
Separate tickets required for each session
Admission includes a tasting glass and ten 4oz tastes
Designated driver admission is $5 and available at the door only
cash and check only at the door
21+ only

Space is limited- Order your tickets early!
Tickets are available online and at ticket outlets.

Welcome to Denver… (a graphic designer’s perspective on the GABF)

Thanks to the best volunteers ever!

It was a freakishly early flight to Denver. When we arrived it was as if the rules of Seattle and Denver weather had switched. I left 70 degree sunny Washington and arrived at 50 degrees and raining. The forecast called for warming by the weekend and I could put that twinge aside—that I’d just left the end of summer behind. This was to be my first visit to the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) held in Denver, CO and I will tell you now that I’m not a beer expert or even close. I do enjoy beer (duh) and was very excited to see what the festival was like. I really didn’t know what to expect. I’ve been to a handful of beer festivals, but nothing on this scale. With 49,000 attendees and 3,308 beers entered into competition and 457 breweries in the festival hall, this was year’s GABF was bigger than ever.

So what do you do? I guess I should introduce myself. I’m Tammy and I do the graphic design and marketing for Boundary Bay Brewery. We do all of the design for Boundary Bay in-house. All of the beer and event posters, clothing designs, the website, blog, podcast, ads, etc are put together by our team of three downstairs in the bowels of the brewery. People who don’t understand graphic design marvel that we all have enough work and people in the field wonder how we get it all done. Yep, it’s a pretty sweet job. I went to the GABF to meet my people, the fans of craft beer! I wanted some feedback on what people like. I wanted to see what other breweries were doing to promote their beer. And I wanted to drink some GREAT beer!

When the mountains turn blue… We went to a brewer’s dinner at the Wynkoop Brewery on Wednesday night. The place was packed. I was advised to get a glass of Black Folie, the brain child of Red Stone Meadery and New Belgium Brewery, because it would be the first to run out. Wow! Delicious. My boss, Janet whisked me around, introducing me to friends. The Wynkoop is housed in a historic building right in downtown Denver. I enjoyed the vintage poster art hanging throughout the brewery. I tried some more sour beers and decided that they are a new favorite style for me now. After a while, we decided we’d mingled enough and we cut out to see the last of the Colorado Rockies game at Coors field. It was the top of the 5th and they let us in for free on one condition, we had to cheer for the Rockies. We wasted no time and got to hoopin and hollerin. We poked our heads into the Sandlot for a beer. The Sandlot brewery is actually owned by Coors and is part of The Blue Moon Brewing Company, but they brew their own beers on premises and these are the beers that have won more medals at the GABF since their opening than any other brewery. Despite our feverish cheering, the Rockies didn’t pull out a win that night. They did make it to the playoffs, but sigh, the Phillies pulled out a win. There’s always next year, and hey, the Broncos are 5-0. Thanks to everyone at the stadium and at Wynkoop for your hospitality and warm welcome.

Watch out for Falling Rock. On Friday I was having some serious baggage issues. I had stayed with my brother in Littleton and took the light rail into downtown. The light rail is awesome, so convenient and easy. Not so easy, the fact that I had all my bags for the trip with me because I was planning on staying with my dad for the rest of the my stay. I thought I’d check them at the Amtrak station. No can do without a Amtrak ticket. The attendant, while extremely polite and sympathetic told me her boss wasn’t one for exceptions, while her co-workers simultaneously nodded in agreement. So me and my bags went to The Sandlot, Falling Rock Tap House and then on the free mall bus to the Convention Center. Our stop at the Falling Rock put me in awe. So many taps, so many beers! In the basement, people were eagerly awaiting the results of the Alpha King Challenge founded in 1999 as a tribute to Alpha King Pale Ale, crafted by Three Floyds Brewing in Munster, Indiana. Here the hoppiest beers are judged in this fun event hosted by Chris Black, the owner of Falling Rock. Boundary Bay won this award in 2006 for our Imperial IPA and took 2nd place in 2008. A total of 70 beers from around the United States competed in the tenth annual Alpha King Challenge. Congrats to Mountain Sun Pub and Brewery and this year’s winner, “Hop Viviant”.

The Festival. I have to start by giving a shout out to our volunteers at the festival. They worked really hard and stayed upbeat and enthusiastic. They made working the festival less like work and more like, well, partying with a chicken hat on your head. I set up a little area with a portfolio of our beer & event posters. I did get a lot of positive feedback on the designs and was even asked to sign a couple of posters I brought to give away. Thanks for making me feel like a rock star! Most often, people told me they were happy that someone from the brewery was there. Often the booths are only staffed with volunteers that don’t know much about the beer or the brewery. They wanted to voice their appreciation of the beer to someone who’d hear it. My dad met me midway through the session and we spent some time seeking out sour beers. Some of our favorites were from New Glarus, Lost Abbey, Russian River and New Belgium. Cheers to all that came to our booth to try Boundary Bay beer and thanks for the feedback!

Saturday—Judgement day. I have to come straight out and say it. I was disappointed when Boundary Bay didn’t win any awards at the festival. The competition gets tougher every year as more and more breweries enter beers into the festival. The categories we typically enter our beer into are categories with a large number of entries. Some of the beers that tend to do better in award competitions are more unique and rare. If we should judge ourselves on anything, it should be the fact that we sell out of our beer, every time, everything we brew and we brew at capacity. There were a lot of other great WA beers at the festival that were shut out as well, but none of us are about to stop drinking their beer. A big congratulations to Chuckanut Brewery on winning Small Brew Pub of the year. This award is given to a brewery that wins the most medals compared to how many beers entered. Congratulations to all the other Washington State winners too. You can download a list of the GABF winners here.

Time to go fishing. After the festival, my dad and I headed out to the Blue River, near Silverthorne to do some fly fishing and camping. The weather was perfect. The fly fishing, it was pretty flat. But the saying is true, I’d rather have a bad day fly fishing than, well, just about anything.

Boundary Bay Brewery Father’s Day Contest!

Boundary Bay Brewery wants you to take your Dad to the Mother of All Father’s Day Festivals, so we want to give you a chance to win a ticket to the festival AND a WABL membership for your Dad.

If you live in the Seattle area and if you are a beer enthusiast, you’ve probably heard of The Mother of All Father’s Day Festivals put on by the Washington Beer Commission. The festival is held during the Fathers Day Weekend- June 19th – 21st, 2009.  The festival which takes place at Saint Edward State Park in Kenmore, WA is family friendly (on Sat. + Sun.) and there will be plenty to keep the whole family entertained…from live music, craft booths, kid crafts, and lots and lots of beer.  In addition to the great selection of beer there will be a small Wine and Cider Tasting area featuring Washington wines and ciders. For those who are not old enough to drink and designated drivers the Rootbeer Garden will be serving premium craft rootbeer and other soda drinks by Washington breweries. WABL is the WAshington Beer Lovers Club and the members will receive many exclusive offers throughout the year, including an extra taste and special WABL tasting glass (GLASS, not plastic cup!) at the Washington Brewers Festival, plus the privilege to try a WABL Beer, a special beer brewed by Washington brewers for each Washington Beer Commission festival that is available EXCLUSIVELY to the WABL members.

So, here’s what you have to do:  head to our Facebook Fan Page and post your response to the question below on our discussion board.  Then, we’ll choose our favorite response by June 12th and notify the winner.

CONTEST QUESTION:  “My Dad is most like [insert Boundary Bay beer here] because he’s….”

Example:  My Dad is most like a Boundary Bay Brewery Scotch Ale because he puts great importance on tradition, but still values his individuality.  And, like the Scotch Ale, he is very strong yet somehow still sweet and gentle.

And if you need inspiration check out our beer page on the official Boundary Bay Brewery website!

Beer…and Beer festivals

So, if you’ve been following the blog you’ll have been anxiously awaiting September 25th when our Traverse Ale was supposed to be released.  Well, we’ve got great news for you!  We were over eager and jumped the gun…we released our Traverse Ale on Friday, September 12th so we could revel in it’s rich, full body, lively hops, and deep red color just a little longer!  Come on in and try this great seasonal ale that will only be with us for a short time.  And don’t forget to check out the Bellingham Traverse (the actual race the beer was brewed in honor of) happening on Saturday, September 27th.

The Great Canadian Beer Festival took place last weekend in Victoria, B.C.  So, we went to Canada and spent September 5th and 6th with over 45 craft beer brewers and about 700 participants who come from all over the world to enjoy samples of internationally acclaimed craft beer.  One fun-filled participant sent our brewery photos she took at the event and proclaimed our booth the winners of the “spirit award!”

Boundary Bay Employees with Spriit!

Yesterday, we were representin’ at the WABL (Washington Association of Beer Lovers) Oktoberfest in Seattle.  The event was held in the Pyramid Alehouse parking lot and was the 2nd Annual Oktoberfest presented by the Washington Beer Commission.  The festival was packed with heartily enthusiastic supporters of both beer and Oktoberfest culture.  There were the usual faves…like the chicken dance (check out the video below from yesterday’s beer lovers!) which has become an Oktoberfest tradition, men in Lederhosen, and even an accordion jam session.  =)

I came across a group of soldiers who were due to be shipped out to Afghanistan soon (details were not forthcoming as it would, apparently, be a breach of confidential troop movements…boy did I feel dumb for asking!) and were using their last days in the United States drinking as much locally made Washington craft beer as possible.  But, I think my favorite part of the event was the loose interpretation of the keg toss that is also tradition at Oktoberfest events.  In the interest of safety and the lack of coordination in the severely inebriated, this festival opted to toss full cans of Rainier Beer toward a keg (sawed in half) and surrounded by a bed of nails.  I missed the exact details of the competition, but basically, you got 2 points if your can made it into the keg, 1 point if you stuck the can onto the bed of nails (hopefully spraying the crowd in the process) and 5 points if you could slice your can in half by landing it directly on the edge of the sawed off keg.

Check out our website for a slideshow of all the great pictures from the WABL Oktoberfest…and don’t miss this Washingon Beer Lovers Oktoberfest next year!