By MICHAEL WHITNEY
Published Aug. 15, 2012
Everett Craft Beer Festival is Saturday, Aug. 18
EVERETT - Beer fans rejoice: At the Everett Craft Beer Festival Saturday, Aug. 18 downtown, a cornucopia of local brews will be available for tasting.
The festival features 26 Washington breweries bringing 60 different beers.
The event is noon to 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug., 18 on Hoyt Avenue between Hewitt and Pacific avenues. The last pour will be at 7:30 p.m., Washington Beer Commission director Eric Radovich said.
Local brewers include Everett’s Scuttlebutt Brewing Co. and Lazy Boy Brewing Co. and Mukilteo’s Diamond Knot Brewery.
People can try five 5-ounce tastes for the admission price; additional tasting tokens will be available for $1.50 each, or $5 for four tokens. The festival includes live bands and free water and food.
Free parking is available at the Everpark Garage, which is accessible near the intersection of Everett Avenue and California Street.
Local brewers say the festival will fill a hole north of Seattle.
Scuttlebutt’s head brewer Matt Stromberg said he’s been trying to see an Everett beer festival happen again for years.
“Everett has been a vacuum for these,” Stromberg said.
Scuttlebutt will debut its Silvertips Powerplay Pale Ale, which Stromberg calls “aggressively hopped but still drinkable.”
They also are bringing their Hoptopia Imperial IPA, Tripel 7 Belgian Ale and a special jalapeno-flavored Tripel 7 variant.
Shawn Loring, Lazy Boy’s owner and head brewer, is bringing his Double Trouble IPA and award-winning Belgian Golden Ale and hefeweizen.
Loring’s been a brewmaster for almost 20 years. He opened Lazy Boy in south Everett in 2006.
“There’s been nothing but growth in the industry,” Loring said.
The festival’s groundwork started a dozen years ago when the state Brewer’s Guild was formed, Stromberg said. He has 17 years in the brewing business.
The guild ran popular festivals for years, including in Everett, until state liquor laws prevented them. The state beer commission was formed two years later and now puts on festivals at six different sites.
The state’s craft beer industry is thriving today since its genesis in the 1970s.
“I would argue this is the most mature craft beer market nationally,” Stromberg said.
There are 153 breweries in this state, Radovich said.
Washington state has more breweries than any other state except California, Stromberg said. Washington’s beer market is so diverse, “there’s room for everybody,” he said.
Radovich expects 3,000 people to show up to the Everett event, but brewers said there will be a lot more.
“I think Eric can expect a lot more than that,” Loring said.
The commission formed in 2007 as a state-organized body to promote Washington beers. It’s been working to put together the Everett event for two years now, Radovich said.
“Everett’s a city on the rise,” Radovich said. “We expect it to be an annual event.”
Tickets to the Everett Craft Beer Festival cost $15 in advance through www.brownpapertickets.com or $20 at the door. Tickets for designated drivers are $5. Tickets can be bought at Diamond Knot’s and at Scuttlebutt.
Other brewers on the roster include the Roslyn Brewing Co., Bremerton’s Silver City Brewery and Odin Brewing of Seattle.
