Keys To Success

A common misconception about drinking beer is that you should only do it on Friday and Saturday nights. However, after being in college for four years I can attest that some of my best nights out were in fact mid week! Just because you have an 8am class or work at 6 doesn't mean you have to forfeit a good time until the weekend my friends. There are a few helpful hints into getting out of bed and ready to start your day off right. My first piece of advice, start early, start often. Don't wait until 10pm to start your drinking! Science proves that alcohol will still be in your system in the morning if you begin your night a little too late. Next, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! I can't over emphasize the importance of starting your night out well hydrated. This alone can make or break your morning. The famous saying rings true, you have to rehydrate, before you can dehydrate. If your really on a bender, make sure to drink a Gatorade before bed and try to mix in a few glasses of water throughout the night. Drinking a sports drink before drinking beer can also prove to combat hangovers. On a side note, try to give yourself a solid 6-8 hours to sleep off the booze and you'll be ready to hit it hard in the morning. A few common strategies in the morning I have learned is to make sure the night before that you set out everything you need in the morning. Set the coffee maker so that you'll be able to wake up to a nice hot brew. Make sure that in the morning you take a shower and alternate from hot to cold water and back. This should help wake you up and get you ready to go. Finally, avoid sugary drinks. They may be fun, cute, tasty, and also the prime cause of massive hang overs. Follow these steps and your mornings will be a breeze! Drink more beer, reduce hangovers, and get more done the next day! 

-Justin Whitman 

Ninkasi, Rogue, & Falling Sky; The Triple Threat

Last weekend I decided to make my way down to Oregon to visit some friends at U of O and OSU... It was a very eventful weekend to say the least. This trip presented a great opportunity to try some of the delicious Oregon micro brews in the name of research for this blog of course. I figured my first experience would come once I got to Eugene, but I was informed by the friend I was staying with that if I did not stop at a Rogue Brewery (http://www.rogue.com/) in Portland and pick up their newest concoction then I would not be welcome (this was in a mostly joking manner... I think).

To avoid any risk of sleeping outside I figured the best course of action was to pick up Rogue's Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale. Just like breakfast, this beer is good at any time of day; with the smell of maple and a hint of bacon when you take a sip, it is absolutely a one of a kind treat.

The first Eugene brewery we ventured to was Falling Sky Brewing (http://fallingskybrewing.com/) for dinner. They had just finished their first batch of beer and of course we needed to give all of them a try. We decided on a flight so we could sample all of the beers with our meals. The brews we had were: a Bare Hands Bitter, Persuasion, First Flight IPA, Pouring Porter, Irish Red, and a Blonde. My personal favorites were the Porter, which had full flavor, but wasn't too heavy and the IPA with a great hoppy taste with not too much bitterness and a hint of grapefruit.

The next day I had to check out Ninkasi Brewing Company (http://www.ninkasibrewing.com/). They are one of my favorite breweries, and fun fact, Ninkasi is the ancient Sumarian matron goddess of the intoxicating beverage, beer... who wouldn't want to drink with her?!

So my friends, Pierce and Megan and myself decided to walk since it was finally sunny and warm outside. We walk through the gates into a small, but very welcoming entrance to order our beer of choice. I decided on the

Tricerahops Double IPA which has double of everything from a regular IPA; it had fantastic full hoppy flavor that was still not overpowering. Not to mention it is about 8% so one pint was good for me in the middle of the day.


I would highly recommend going to all three of these breweries whenever possible or picking up their beers in the store if you are looking for something awesome to drink.

In the words of a very interesting man, "Stay thirsty my friends."

-Michael Warsaw

Nothing says Charmin’ like drinkin’ at the Harmon (Brewery)

Beer Me Bro’ ventured off to their first brewery on a journey to create the Northwest 12 Pack, a collection of 12 favorite bars and breweries.  The Harmon Brewery in Tacoma, WA was the first landmark of this expedition. The gang made sure to hop in during Happy Hour and was treated to friendly service and a delicious feast of NW food. 

Check out our Beer Me Bro’ Facebook page to see what we devoured and drank. Follow us on epic journey as we highlight the Check out our pictures on our Beer Me Bro’ Facebook page, post a comment on our blog and follow us as we continue our quest for the Northwest 12 Pack!

The Cold Hard Facts of the Harmon Brewery Co.

Established in 1997, this 15 barrel microbrewery and restaurant is the ideal place for parties and families. Conveniently located in the Tacoma's downtown University and Museum District, it's a hoppin’ spot for townies and tourists. With the ambiance of a mountain lodge, the Harmon Brewery features a feast of northwest food, and 5 distinct Harmon Ales, along with several seasonal ales, on tap for you to enjoy.

Happy Hour

7 days a week from 3-6PM, 10-Close and all night Mondays.
$3 Pints, $3 House Wine, $4 Well Drinks, $5 Food Menu

The Happy Hour menu consists of top-notch choices: Salmon Sliders, Harmon Wings, Calamari, Salmon Caesar Salad, Crab Wontons and the Mt. Rainier Nachos are only $7 and are a heap of cheese and salsa, voted Best in Tacoma! The burgers were mantastic and the fries were deserving of high-fives. If you are a true Pacific Northwest fan, you will need to indulge in the all you can eat fish and chips deal for $10.99 paired with $3 Harmon pints & half-priced wine ALL DAY LONG! Kids Eat Free - kids 12 and under receive one free kids meal per each adult meal purchased.

Mt. Rainier Nachos

       

                Harmon House Pints

              (Blonde, Pale Ale, IPA) 

Harmongous Burger & Pale Ale

Where can I tap that? (Apps that let you tap your next local beer.)

Just imagine: it’s a warm, sunny day in the Pacific NW and your palate is craving for a hoppy taste. Cheap beer is not going to satisfy your thirst my friend. Plus, why not shop local and support that microbrewery that is nestled around the corner, right? Your thirst needs help and aid is an   app on your phone.

Here is the Top 5 Best Apps for Local Beer that I recommend you download and try out yourself.

#1 “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere.”

I want to highlight “Happy Houred,” a free app that takes your current location and then locates surrounding bars to find the ultimate drink deals! Happy Houred encourages its users to add new bars, which means that deals are constantly being added to your radar once you punch the clock. With this app, over 700 cities in the U.S. are available for scouting out prime time Beer Me Bro’ bonding with your friends! Happy Houred is a top favorite and is a definite DOWNLOAD!

            

                                   Cost: FREE

#2 My mind is telling me I am thirsty, and my mouth wants a microbrew.

Just a horse needs to be led to the watering hole; a thirsty consumer needs their mouth led to a satisfying microbrew. This is the ideal app for the consumer who wants to venture out and find craft beer. Find Craft Beer relies on GPS tracking to locate pubs, breweries, bars, liquor stores and homebrew stores from the palm of your hand. For only $0.99, Find Craft Beer enables a user to customize their settings to select from all of these options and target the nearest destination to lead your mouth to a microbrew.

Cost: $0.99

 

#3 Three cheers for iBeers Pro!

As a kid did you enjoy “Where’s Waldo”? If not, that’s too bad, because this app is the same concept, but of course with beer. iBeers Pro earns their name by listing more than 2,700 hoppy varieties and profiling each beer as if it were a CIA agent. Each beer is categorized by the country of origin, brewer, type of beer and bottle size. In addition, users can rate various beers and the iBeers Pro app allows you to create a favorites list. Now all Apple has to do is introduce Beer Genius, a brew database that collects your favorites, creates drink lists and refers you to other brews. iBeers Pro is an essential app for the Indiana Jones of beer drinkers, the consumer who likes to branch out beyond their normal  beers. A Lite version is offered for $1.99 and the regular iBeers Pro version can be downloaded for $2.99.

  Cost: $2.99

#4 Beer me with that…..

Let’s say you’re out with some friends and you need to know how to pair the food with the booze beverage. How do you sync Cajun food with a beer? I want sushi, but how do I get my brew on? Beer Match is beer’s answer to Match.com by pairing 31 styles of beer with more than 500 different kinds of foods! Within seconds, Beer Match lets you promptly find out if the pale ale or the pilsner is the better choice when planning food for your palate. This app is on the value menu to be downloaded for only $0.99!

                                                        Cost: $0.99

#5 What would beer be without entertainment?

This next app places 5^th on our list and serves the purpose of showing off without attempting a keg stand. The iBeer app is a $0.99 gem that allows the user to choose between 5 different beers and moves as you tip your phone.  Realistic picture quality allows you to jostle the drink and make it disappear! The belch at the end can make any bystander think you are Homer Simpson.

                 Cost: $0.99

I encourage you to ask Siri about recommendations for local beer and share the responses and experiences by posting on our blog.

Stay tuned for more blog posts from Beer Me Bro’ and Like Us by “toasting this” and sharing it with your friends. 

Brandon

Brew it yourself...

Being from the NW and specifically from Bend, OR (where some of the greatest micro brews come from like Deschutes Brewery and Good Life Brewing) I have developed quite a taste for good beer; some may say a "beer snob" well I'll wear that title. I love a good beer with distinguishing flavors and depth. Not that I won't enjoy a cold Coors Light or even a Keystone, but there is something great about drinking a local beer with some personality.

Because of my love of micro brews, my good friend Pierce Kennedy decided it was time for me to try brewing a batch for myself. He had done it a few times before and got me my own beer making kit from the Brooklyn Brew Shop (http://brooklynbrewshop.com/). My one gallon kit came with everything you needed and the website provided instructional videos and information on how to go about brewing your own beer.

My kit was for a Bourbon Dubbel, a Belgian style ale. Even though I had never brewed beer before, the Brooklyn Brew Shop provided step-by-step instructions; however, this did not make the process less frustrating. Don't get me wrong, making your own beer is fun, you learn something new, and it is extremely satisfying to get drunk on the beer YOU produced, but it is a long process that must be closely monitored along the way.

After pre-soaking oak chips in bourbon, sanitizing everything (which is extremely important), creating the mash and the sparge, boiling, waiting two weeks for fermenting, bottling, and waiting another two weeks I finally had 2 growlers full of delicious Bourbon Dubbel. It had good flavor and made me want to try another batch down the road.

For anyone that is interested in brewing their own beer, I would highly suggest Brooklyn Brew Shop; I would also suggest to talk to someone who has done it before and to brew with a buddy, because no one likes to drink alone.
~Michael

Another Round...

Brandon deJong is a senior business major at Pacific Lutheran University. He is president of the cycling club and has been competing at the collegiate level for three years. He is an apiring “Mad Men” hoping to work for an ad agency once he graduates, like Weiden + Kennedy. Brandon’s favorite brewery is the Pyramid Brewing Company (http://www.pyramidbrew.com/) located across from Safeco Field. Brandon’s Beer Me Bro’ beer of choice is Spire Cider, which is proudly brewed in Olympia, WA.

Michael Warsaw: I am a senior business major at PLU and am a proud EMAL, playing football for four years. I am an aspiring entrepreneur and want to travel upon graduation. My favorite brewery is in my hometown of Bend, OR; Deschutes Brewery (http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/). My Beer Me Bro’ beer of choice is Deschutes Brewery’s Black Butte Porter; they describe it as a dark beer with a slight hop bitterness upfront and a distinct chocolate and roasted finish.

Justin Whitman: Is also a senior business major at Pacific Lutheran University. Justin’s favorite brewery is the Iron Horse Brewery (http://www.ironhorsebrewery.com/) located in his hometown of Ellensburg, Wa. His Beer Me Bro’ beer of choice at the Iron Horse is the ever famous Quilters Irish Death which is a dark, smooth ale that can only be described by trying it yourself. Justin participated in four years of football at PLU and is excited about pursuing a career in Eastern Washington upon graduation in May.

beermebro21@gmail.com

@capitalofpoland

@Bclutchtoday