With more than 500 beers pouring from 130 Washington breweries, it’s the largest beer festival in the state — and it starts today.
The Washington Brewer’s Festival, or as it’s unofficially known, The Father’s Day Festival, runs through Sunday at Marymoor Park in Redmond. The festival is a chance to wander around with fellow craft beer lovers, small tasting glass in hand, and chat with brewers from Vancouver to Bellingham, Spokane to Seaview. It’s also an opportunity to discover that new favorite ale or stand in a long line to get that last pour of the hard-to-find barrel-aged dark beer.
“No other festival we’ve attended has both the breadth of beer with the same local focus,” said Evan Watts, co-owner and head brewer of Bothell’s Watts Brewing, which will be pouring its beers at the annual festival for the first time.
This will also be the first year pouring for Bothell’s Decibel Brewing and Snohomish’s Scrappy Punk Brewing. Corey Cook, co-owner of Decibel Brewing, is looking forward to trying beers from some of the new breweries that have opened in the same timeframe that Decibel opened.
“Everyone brings so much great beer to the festival. It’s fun to try all the new, innovative beers people have come up with,” Cook said. “As well as trying lots of beers that don’t see a lot of distribution in our area.”
Decibel Brewing and Watts Brewing are two of 17 Snohomish County breweries pouring at this year’s festival, the most ever. The two breweries are part of a collection of five Bothell breweries at the festival, putting the city in the top five of cities represented. Seattle, which has an astonishing 31 breweries at the festival, Spokane (7), Tacoma (7) and Bellingham (6) are the only ones with more.
So grab Dad and some friends, head to Redmond and enjoy a day wandering around trying some of the best beers Washington has to offer. Heck, wander over to Wander Brewing. You won’t be disappointed.
Washington Brewer’s Festival
The Washington Beer Commission presents the 12th annual Washington Brewer’s Festival June 16-18 at Marymoor Park, 6046 W. Lake Sammamish Pkwy. NE, Redmond. There will be more than 500 beers from 130 Washington breweries, food trucks, all-age activities and more. Advance tickets are $30 and can be purchased at www.washingtonbeer.com or for $35 at the door.
Local breweries at the festival: At Large Brewing (Everett), Beardslee Public House (Bothell), Circle 7 Brew Works (Monroe), Crucible Brewing (Everett), Decibel Brewing (Bothell), Diamond Knot Brewing (Mukilteo), Foggy Noggin Brewing (Bothell), Haywire Brewing (Snohomish), McMenamins-Anderson School (Bothell), Prison Break Brewing (Snohomish), River Time Brewing (Darrington), Scrappy Punk Brewing (Snohomish), Skookum Brewing (Arlington), Sount to Summit Brewing (Snohomish), Watts Brewing (Bothell), Whitewall Brewing (Marysville).
For a full list of the beers pouring at this year’s festival, visit http://tinyurl.com/edh-washingtonbeer.
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