Drink Socially? Try Locally! by Andrea Wilhelm

If you live in or around Seattle, I urge you to consider the glass half full…especially if that glass is half filled with beer. In addition to its toast-worthy mountains, beaches and neighborhoods, the Seattle area is home to more than 30 of the state’s 82 breweries. The Pacific Northwest consumes more beer than anywhere in the United States and no city in the western hemisphere brews more barrels than Seattle, making it a beer enthusiast’s haven- or heaven, if you will.

Aside from serving as an enjoyable pastime, beer drinking is also economically vital to Washington, which has the third most breweries of any state. According to the Washington Beer Commission, the beer industry in Washington accounts for over $25 million in wages and makes an overall contribution of more than $200 million to the state economy. The beer industry, along with affiliated wholesale and retail businesses, generates over 18,000 jobs in Washington.

Brewers here enjoy close proximity to some of the most prolific malt and hop growing regions in the country. This, along with a ready supply of pure mountain spring water, ensures that beer brewed in Washington contains only the freshest local ingredients. But to understand the importance of wholesome ingredients, one must first grasp the concept that is beer brewing. Keep in mind, many of the words used to describe the brewing process sound as though they were created by drunks. Coincidence?

Beer is produced by the fermentation of sugars derived from starch-based material- commonly malted barley, wheat, corn, and rice. There are several essential stages of brewing. Mashing controls temperature in order to convert starches to fermentable sugars.Sparging (or lautering) extracts the fermentable liquid, known as wort, from the mash. Boiling sterilizes the wort and increases its sugar concentration. Hops are then added to extract bitterness, flavor and aroma. Fermentation uses yeast to turn the sugars in wort to alcohol and carbon dioxide. During fermentation, the wort becomes beer.

Once cooled, yeast is distributed in the wort and left to ferment, which requires a week to months depending on the type of yeast and strength of the beer. Finally, the beer is packaged into the container from which it will be served, be that a keg, cask, can or bottle. Whew! Beer’s a lot easier to drink than it is to make, huh?

Beer brewing began in the area in 1854 with the establishment of the Denlin Brewery in Steilacoom (now Tacoma) of the Washington Territory. In 1893, three Seattle breweries combined to form Rainier Brewery, which eventually became Seattle Malting and Brewing, the world’s sixth largest brewery at that time.

The 1982 opening of the Yakima Brewing and Malting Company marked the first time since prohibition that a brewery sold its own beer on its own premises. Ta-da! Washington’s first brewpub and America’s first microbrewery were born. Redhook followed later that same year, as did Hale’s Brewing and Pyramid Brewery in the next two years. The late ‘80s brought us Big Time Brewery and Pike Brewery, and the ‘90s blessed us with the Maritime Pacific Brewing Company and the Elysian brewpub.

Seattle beer enthusiasts can tour local breweries to witness the making of their favorite beers. For the sake of quality journalism (I assure you), I decided to take myself on a few of these brewery tours to give you an idea of what to expect.

First on my list was Redhook Ale Brewery in Woodinville. Just one dollar admits you to a 40-minute tour that is both informative and- if you’re lucky enough to have Patrick as your guide- entertaining! There’s no shortage of drinking opportunities here. After surrendering your dollar, you are immediately handed a glass of beer. This half-pint glass (the perfect size for double shots) is embossed with the brewery logo and is yours to keep. The tour begins with a brief history of the brewery and then, in case all that listening made you thirsty, it’s time for another beer. Next, your guide explains the beer-making process while, through a sheet of glass, you watch the tanks in the adjoining room chug away at their various stages of brewing. Then, for being such a good group, it’s time for another beer.

You are then led into the fermentation cellar - where Patrick informed us that he and his colleagues had determined it would take someone 33 years at four pints a day to drink the contents of just one of the brewery’s 56 fermenters. Then, just for being you, it’s time for another beer. Lastly, you’re led to a balcony that overlooks the bottling line (which operates only on Mondays and Tuesdays), where it takes two men and an armada of machinery only one hour to bottle 24,000 beers. Then, you guessed it, time for another beer! By the end of the tour, you leave not only having tasted every in-season beer that Redhook brews, but also with the best $1 buzz you’ve had since…ever.