It’s been too long since my last blog and I’ll get right to it.  We’ll talk about beer first and then talk about a petition that floated around trying to eliminate our tasting room, but, you’ll be warned first so you have the choice of reading it.
     Beer.  We’ve had a few new varieties; Mammoth Jack, Off Kilter, and a hop-infused Jackass IPA that at this time we are down to only one keg of the Jackass.  We’ll be making them all again shortly.  We’ve made a spin-off of Off Kilter, Mini Kilt, changing the ABV and the mash temperature and hope it is as popular as Off Kilter and will be available around mid June.
     The local brew club, Stilly Mashers, gathered at the brewery along with a large donation to Kathy’s prosthetic fund.  The Stilly Mashers designed a 9+ barrel Belgian Blonde called Katspaw and will be on tap June 4.  Katspaw will be a regular tap with permission from the club-it already tastes great.  A saffron blonde and a spruce tip blonde were also derived from Katspaw.  Thank you Stilly Mashers.
Fathers Day Brewers Festival is June 18, 19, and 20th at St. Edwards Park.  We’ve rat-holed one keg of Mammoth Jack for Friday, three kegs of off Kilter, and will also have Olde Tom IPA and Katspaw. 
     It’s time to log off, or you can stay to read the petition that was circulated.  My intent is to not criticize or stop the petition but merely to make more clear what people signed.  First, I will type the petition as it was presented to the public:

PETITION CONCERNING TASTING ROOMS AS PART OF HOME OCCUPATIONS

To:  Snohomish County Council
AND To:  Aaron Reardon, Snohomish County Executive

THE UNDERSIGNED are neighbors and/or residents of property near to the tasting room operated by Skookum Brewery LLC located at 19529 17th Drive N.E., Arlington, Washington 98223 on property owed (sp) by Ronald Walcher and Jacalin Walcher, husband and wife.  Activities in the tasting room and surrounding property have become a nuisance and they have exceeded what should be allowed as a home occupation as defined by 30.28.050.The tasting room is located in a residential area and traffic has created a level of noise and dust that is unacceptable per SCC 30.28.050(1)(f).  In addition, the tasting room activity is being conducted outside the enclosed accessory building contrary to SCC 30.28.050(4) (g).  The high level of traffic on the private road also raises safety concerns because law enforcement has no authority to enforce rules of the road and the roadway is used by neighborhood children for riding bikes and walking to and from neighbors.

We petition the county to enforce its ordinances and  to extent that the ordinances are insufficient to regulate the activity, enact new ordinances.

The End.

     Its  come to my attention that  I haven’t  written anything on the Brewers Blog in some time (two years?). I’ve been getting threats that somebody is going to ghost write the blog, using erroneous information, facts, and rumors if I don’t get to work on it.  Well here’s the latest skinny in no particular order.

      Do you remember that test batch of Belgian style Grendel months ago?  And just recently  reformulated to a 5.5% from 7% experimental batch at your request?  Not to mention we changed its name to Gone Monk. It was a hit and we will be brewing 10 barrel batches by May 1.  Also, between you, me and the gate post, we are experimenting with a 10%  +/- Belgian  Trippel.

      That’s enough for Belgium, lets pick on the Brits.  We’ve altered Jackass IPA- but still intact- with new hops  and generous dry hopping.  Ready shortly.  Mammoth Jack IPA is in the works with a 10 gallon batch, but, still waiting for final gravity to calculate alcohol content.  Should be 8.2 to 8.6% abv with way too much hops.

     As many of the people who come to our tasting room know, we’re becoming a bit popular.  We’re combating this popularity by looking for a new facility that might be even harder to find then this one.  Trying to find a place with similar surroundings, atmosphere, better zoning, will be difficult.  The brewery has been invited into the old Country Charm barn in Arlington, but development has been slowed for obvious reasons and looks like that could be years.  We have been talking to people in the planning dept. for the city of Arlington who seem happy to help us find a spot.  There are other locations in Arlington that are promising but require a lot of development and more research.  If you know of a location in Arlington that has all the right attributes  i.e. zoning, power, water, parking, etc.  please email us.

     Did you know that a homebrew club might be forming in the Arlington/Smokey Pt. area?  Yeah, contact Brian at brian.vanornam@gmail.com.

I promise the next blog will not take 2 years.

Cheers
Ron

Wow!!  What a great event this was.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the Skookum table and sampled our beers. 

Thanks to the Lisa, the Washington Brewers Guild and the whole festival staff.  This was a great event!

And a special thanks to everyone who helped out; Karla, Vickie, Pam, Lauri, Dave, Steve, and of course Jackie.

Here are a couple of pictures.

Today we had the pleasure of meeting one of the worlds greatest lovers of beer, Klaus Degen.

"I have had this hobby of visiting all the breweries of the world for the past 45 years."

Nothing like a challenge!!

To date, Klaus has visited over 2,200 breweries in over 120 countries.  Including EVERY brewery in Germany.

Cheers Klaus!

Keep Cold  Carbonation stays in beer longer when kept cold.

Keep Cap on Tight   Every time you open your growler, carbonation is released (CO2) and cannot be regained.  Cap tightly after each use.

Serving Suggestions:  Serve at your preferred temperature, withing 2 days of purchase.  A growler is best consumed among friends/family in one sitting to maintain carbonation levels since carbonation levels will keep lowering as pressure is released.

Cheers! 
Skookum Brewery

Check out the Tap Map.  This is a map of establishments that are currently serving Skookum Brewery beers.