Super Deli Mart Celebrates 3 Great Years

Super Deli Mart, the best little mini-mart in the World, is celebrating their 3rd Anniversary this Sunday, June 24th from noon to 4:00PM with another customer appreciation BBQ.  Can you believe it?  Three years already, and Super Deli Mart has attained quite the reputation and quite a following. 

If you've never been there, you're missing out. With 5 taps and hundreds of bottle choices, Super Deli Mart rivals most Puget Sound area bottle shops and even a few taprooms.  And with everyday prices of $3 pints (or schooners, depending on the style/strength of the beers on tap) and $10 growler fills (though, no growler fills are allowed for certain specialty beers), it's a craft beer bargain-hunter's dream.

Seattle Beer Week 2012 - Days 7 & 8

I started out day 7 of Seattle Beer Week 2012 by heading up to Cooper's Alehouse for the start of their IPA Championships - the conclusion of the blind tastings they held during their 10th Annual IPA Fest in April.  

Wait - That Sign Says Thursday & It's Only Wednesday.  D'oh!

Seattle Beer Week 2012 - Day 4

Your Iron Brewer Host & Sensei - Gary Sink

Quite a few events during day 4 of Seattle Beer Week 2012 were about Moms - for obvious reasons.  Since my Mom is several states away, I had no opportunity to take her out to any of the Mother's Day-themed events around the city. 

Rob With An Iron Brewer Taster Tray

Instead, I played it low-key and hit just two events.  The first was Iron Brewer at Beveridge Place Pub.  This annual event is a challenge for the brewers, who must use the ingredients Beveridge Place specifies, and then be judged by the masses to see who comes out as champion. 

Beer Monger's Picks For Seattle Beer Week 2012

Seattle Beer Week 2012 kicks off tomorrow!  Are you ready?  There are well over 150 events listed at various locations throughout Seattle and the Puget Sound, but you'll need a plan of attack if you want to keep them all straight and hit the events you really want.

Here are my picks for Seattle Beer Week 2012, and the events I plan on attending myself:

Thursday, May 10, 2012:


5:00PM

 Seattle Beer Week Kickoff Part 1 at Elysian Brewing Company on Capitol Hill (1221 E Pike St., Seattle, WA).  Join everyone at Elysian for the tappling of the Official Seattle Beer Week Beer, Split Shot, which will be tapped at 6:00PM.  Let the festivities begin!

Super Deli Mart's Full List Of Seattle Beer Week Events

We're less than one month from the kickoff of Seattle Beer Week 2012, and one of my favorite little beer shops in Seattle, Super Deli Mart, has provided me with a full list of their Seattle Beer Week event list. 

Super Deli Beer Week Events:

Russian River Event Tomorrow At Super Deli Mart

Coming up tomorrow, March 20th, at Super Deli Mart in West Seattle is a great Russian River Brewing Company tasting event.  This will also likely be one of  the last times you'll be able to find Russian River Brewing's Pliny The Younger in Seattle this year. 

Starting at around 5:00PM, Super Deli Mart will have available the Russian River Brewing beers either on tap and/or in the bottle:

• Temptatation
• Supplication
• Consecration
• Redemption
• Salvation
• Collaboration Not Litigation
• Damnation
• Pliny The Elder
• Pliny The Younger

Tickets for this tasting event went on sale back on March 13th but sold out in minutes.  A few additional tasting tickets went on sale yesterday, March 18th, but were sold out, according to Super Deli Mart, in less than a minute!

Don't worry if you didn't get a ticket, however, because while a ticket will guarantee you a 7oz pour of Pliny The Younger and three other Russian River beers, tickets are not required - but you'd better get in line early.  Those with tickets are guaranteed schooners of Pliny The Elder, Pliny The Younger, Damnation & Sour (Temptation or Supplication). 

So if you missed Pliny The Elder during any of it's other appearances around Seattle this year, or if you're just a fan of Russian River Brewing beers, get down to Super Deli Mart tomorrow and get your fill.  I might try to stop by, but I already have two other events planned for tomorrow (overbooking myself again!), so I may not make it. 

Super Deli Mart will also have a discount on all Russian River bottles during this event, from 5:00PM - 8:00PM, so get down there and stock up!

Drink responsibly and stay safe out there.

Barleywine, Barleywine Everywhere, So Let's All Have A Drink

It's barleywine season - one of my favorite beer times of year.  I've always been a fan of good barleywines, so I'm really looking forward to both the 10th Annual 'Barleywine Bacchanal' at Beveridge Place Pub, and the 10th Annual 'Hard Liver Festival' at Brouwer's Cafe. 

First up is the 10th Annual Barleywine Bacchanal at Beveridge Place Pub in West Seattle.  This is a popular beer destination in the Seattle area, so if you've never been there I urge you to head on over to West Seattle and check them out.  It's well worth the trip across the West Seattle bridge. 

Don't Think I Can Last The Month

Back in mid-December, I posted that I was going to attempt to make it the entire month of January without any alcohol whatsoever.  I was going 'on the wagon'.  This was a personal choice, and to be honest it hasn't really been all that bad.  I went the entire first week without any serious cravings or any slip-ups.  I switched to drinking more water, cranberry juice, limeade, etc. 

During that first week, however, I missed a few things I would have preferred to be able to take part in.  The first 'challenge' to my month of sobriety was a really enticing sounding keg from Black Raven Brewing, put on tap January 4th at Brouwer's Cafe.  From Brouwer's description: " It's a Stout with Oak, Theo's Chocolate Nibs, Coffee, and Pecans Soaked in Kahlua and Rum."  OK.  You've gotta admit, that sounds incredible!  It was the first time I really asked myself why I was doing this(?)  Why deny myself just for the heck of it?  But I stayed away. 

International Stout Day & IPA Cask-O-Rama - UPDATED!

Today I attended the 6th Annual IPA Cask-O-Rama at Beveridge Place Pub, but not until after I celebrated International Stout Day at Brouwer's Cafe. 

My Schooner of Old Rasputin Stout on Nitro

I kicked things off at Brouwer's Cafe with a North Coast Brewing Old Rasputin Stout on Nitro.  Yum, yum!  I followed that up with a Left Coast Brewing Voodoo American Stout, which was also quite good.  I had lunch at Brouwer's too, but didn't have much else to drink there, since I knew I'd be heading for the Cask-O-Rama in a few hours. 

The casks all lined up on the bar

I arrived at Beveridge Place Pub rather early, since I know how crowded the place can get during this event.  I was glad I arrived early too.  By 5:00, a full hour before the Cask-O-Rama kick off, Bev. Place was getting pretty full.

The choices for this year's Cask-O-Rama

Everyone was looking over the selections, which had been placed out along with the taster trays for everyone to mark their selections for the servers.  And speaking of that, I'd like to give the servers at Beveridge Place a big thank you.  The place was, literally, packed; and with everyone ordering taster trays of 6 beers at a time, the servers were kept extremely busy, but they kept up and did a great job.  Thanks guys! 

My Cask-O-Rama taster tray

My taster tray consisted of the following choices:

• Airways Steel Drum IPA
• Elliott Bay Lake City Way IPA
• Iron Horse Imperial IPA
• North Sound Hop Chop IPA
• Port Townsend Hop Diggity IPA
• Sound Humulo Nimbus IPA

They all had their particular charms, but my favorite of the choices on my tray was the Humulo Nimbus IPA by Sound Brewery.  It's the lower-right glass (#19) on the photo above of my taster tray.  It had a prominent hop nose and pleasantly assertive hop flavor with just enough malt and carbonation to back it up.  My #2 was the Iron Horse Imperial IPA and #3 was the Port Townsend Hop Diggity. 

Cask beers are generally served warmer and less-carbonated than usual.  In fact the Humulo Nimbus was fairly low on carbonation, as you can see by it's lack of head in the above photo.  But it had just enough carbonation to carry the aromas and flavors.  Unfortunately, there was one selection on my tray where the carbonation level was just too low.  The Lake City Way IPA from Elliott Bay might have been a good IPA, but its almost total lack of any carbonation provided no effervescence to carry the hop flavors or aromas well.  I usually like most Elliott Bay beers and I believe I know the brewer who created this batch, so I'm hoping it was just a packaging issue or a problem with this particular cask. 

Tonight was also the night that Beveridge Place announced the results of their 'Hoptoberfest' competition.  The winning beer will become their house IPA for the next year.  And the winning beer this year was....... (Drum roll, please!): Lucille IPA by Georgetown Brewing Company.  Congratulations to Georgetown Brewing! 

It was nice to start the day off rather quietly with a couple of stouts at Brouwer's for International Stout Day, where they hadn't gotten crowded at all yet, and then to finish things off at Beveridge Place, which was absolutely packed by the time I was getting ready to head home. 

I had a great day and I'm already looking forward to my next event, which will mostly likely be the arrival of Firestone Walker's XVth Anniversary Ale on November 14th.  It will be on tap at Brouwer's Cafe (which is rare - I'm really looking forward to it), and it should be available in bottle shops around the puget sound also starting on November 14th. 

 (Original post is below.)