Events

Hardliver 2022— Lil liver ?  or another name here or nothing?

20 years?  What were you doing 20 years ago.  Was it even legal for you to drink?  Did you even know what Barleywine was?  Or were you at the Phinney Ridge Center for the inaugural year of this event.  20 years of flogging your livers, its time to celebrate, and we wish things were different and we could throw one giant party where everyone hung out all day, drank through the list of beers, and enjoyed the malty goodness.  But the pandemic has yet to release its grip on the day to day and to limit our close interactions.  We are sure there’s enough alcohol in Barleywine stop almost anything in its tracks, but it is not to be at this time.  The show must go on as it does and we would like to add a little familiarity and normalcy to all the chaos. 

Originally held in the Phinney Ridge Center as a Bottleworks festival early on before Brouwer’s Café was open, in 2005 when we opened it was with this festival, what a way to kick it all off.  In one way or another the festival has continued ever year since.  And it will continue.

Hardliver 2022 will take place.  The 20^th Anniversary of this great event. It is scheduled for Saturday, February 26 and Sunday, February 27^th.  Again, while we wish we could showcase 50 plus barleywines on this the 20^th year of the event we are going to have 25 plus this year.  Lets all hope that next year we can have a little more normalcy and a few more beers on tap for the event. 

Cheers to 20 years and heres to 20 more!

May your livers be strengthened by the merriment of consuming Barleywine!

Hop Mob 2022! – Happy Birthday Reubens Brews

We had high hopes for this year, thinking we might see a transition from pandemic to endemic, maybe getting back to a sense of normality! But no, not yet! By design, Hop Mob is a large gathering, and while we’d certainly enjoy seeing all of you, standing shoulder to shoulder, drinking great beers, we can’t in good conscience do that quite yet!

Hop Mob is about brewers brewing the beer they think has the best hop expression (yummy hops!), and we’ve decided to still host it, but in a much more subdued way. Brouwers will host Hop Mob on February 10^th with 13 event specific, deliciously hoppy beers on draft.

One of these beers will be Supreme Triumvirate! Many of you are familiar with our house IPA Triumvirate, brewed for us by Rueben’s Brews in Ballard. Well, this will be an Imperial version – think 9% Triumvirate. When Adam reached out to us about this idea, we were thrilled because Reubens will be turning 10 this year (wow where did the time go!), and we are proud to be one of their beer partners. Supreme Triumvirate will be available here and at Bottleworks on February 10^th, in cans and on draft. It will then be released at Reubens on Saturday, February 12^th, and elsewhere the following week. 

We will open at 4pm on February 10^th, and we welcome you to join us for a pint or two, and wish Reubens a happy 10^th. We’ll also have food specials and cans to go!

Last year we planned to blow the doors off any previous anniversaries.

Last year we wanted to celebrate fifteen f*ckin’ years of craft beer.

Last year we were going to run back some of our amazing birthday beers for the last time.

Last year we couldn’t wait to see hundreds of our friends at the biggest party we could throw.

All of that was so last year. This year, though? Well, we’re turning sixteen and given the difficulties of the previous year, we are pretty stoked to be doing so. Making it through all the gray and uncertain days has been a labor of love, but thankfully, a light at the end of this is starting to brighten. That being said, we’ll be celebrating our anniversary this year in a more subdued manner. We are still going to have some kick ass vintage pulls from our cellar, so no worries there. We will also be following the state mandates for capacity and party sizes, so those days of being shoulder to shoulder drinking, laughing, and celebrating will have to wait for another year. 

As is tradition though, we are going to have some kickass brews for you to celebrate with. First up will be Stationary Momentum IPA from Ravenna Brewing. Tommy, Audra, Alex, and the rest of the team over there are putting together a super refreshing, northwest style IPA that will pair well with the terrific weather we are having and hope to keep around for a while.

Our second beer will be coming from the wild beer minds of Paul and Eric, of The Ale Apothecary and The North Fork, respectively. Both brewed the same base beer at each of their spots and then Eric drove down to Bend to blend his version with Paul’s. The finished product is a spontaneous ale brewed with Aronia berries and then aged on Chardonnay Lees. If you know either of these two breweries or brewers, you know it won’t be a beer to be missed. 

As we get closer to the date, we’ll release the draftlist as well as the instructions on how to get these great beers out of our hands, and into yours. 

We feel incredible lucky to have had the support of the Seattle beer scene for sixteen years and we know with your support we’ll be here another sixteen. Cheers!

Wait, didn’t we just do this? Well yes, but also, no. Back in October several fine establishments
and patrons at home raised a glass and celebrated one of the finest Trappist beers in the world.
It was a make-up Orval Day, kind of like a snow day, except this snow was a global pandemic
and the day has now been a year.
As the world slowly crawls out of the fog, the fine people at Merchant du Vin, the importers of
Orval, wanted to get Orval Day back to rightful place in March. Brouwer’s Café, the fine people
who love Orval, don’t want to miss an opportunity to get an Orval into the hands of the 25%
masses.
While we wish the days were still here that we were opening up cases of Orval, filling the big
glass, and passing it all around, we still think it is a day worth celebrating. Whether you come in
and see us that day or add an Orval to your to-go order, everyone can safely celebrate this
wonderful brew together, separately.
Did we mention it is for a great cause? Each year Merchant du Vin makes a donation to charity
based on US sales of Orval on Orval Day. This year, their charitable contribution will go to
regional US hunger-relief organizations Houston Food Bank and our very own Northwest
Harvest. Charitable donations AND an Orval?! Sounds like a pretty good Saturday to us. Cheers!

Event: 19 th Annual Hard Liver Barleywine Festival
Date: February 25- 28th, 2021
Summary: Brouwer’s will be tapping 12-16 barleywines in celebration of Hard Liver this year. We will also be making a select number of beer packs to enjoy the festival at home. Last year if you would have told us that the next event we’d hold after Hard Liver would be Hard Liver again, we’d have to have cut you off from service. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened and soon after last year’s festival we all entered into a pandemic lifestyle that made such events impossible for us to host. Well, though things remain tentative, we can see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Should phase restrictions currently in place remain in place, we feel confident in being able to put on an abbreviated version of one of our most popular events. To spread out the seekers of “life”, we are going to hold this event over four days instead of two, meaning the beers will be tapped and ready to go on Thursday, February 25th. Remember, party sizes are limited to six people from a max of three households and our capacity is capped at 25%. As an extra
precaution, we are limiting indoor dining to parties of five (5). Parties of six will be seated
outside. We are placing an extra restriction this year as well – glass sharing between households will be prohibited. We know there is a lot of sharing that happens at our festivals as people aim to try as many of the offerings and this year. We simply cannot allow that to go on
this year; don’t hesitate to ask for an extra glass or two.
For those that will choose to fest at home, we will be offering limited mixed packs of 6-8 barleywines so you can play Hard Liver: The Home Game. That pack will be posted and put in our webstore for pre-order on Sunday, February 21st. Pickup will begin on Thursday the 25th.
We know it isn’t ideal and we wish we could burst open the doors like we used to, but this is the best we can offer right now. We hope to see some of you that weekend for one of our favorite events!

Hallo and Hello. Well, this year has been quite the ride. With perhaps the exception being the noticeable movement towards equality in this country, 2020 has been kind of a sham. We were supposed to roar into the 20s and distance ourselves from the last couple of years. It’s been disheartening to say the least.

What it’s meant for us at the restaurant and for the service industry at-large is we have had to take a giant leap back from the main function of why we stay dedicated to this life – hospitality. Not being able to see all of you and host awesome events for and with the community has taken a lot out of our collective sails. Not just ours, but we are sure yours as well. What is a beer drinker’s calendar without the barleywines at Hard Liver or at Bacchanal at Gary’s, the dark stuff at Stout Fest or the Festival or Dark Arts, tart treats at Sour Fest or Chuck’s, the expression of brewers’ imaginations at Strange Brew, fresh, hoppy delights at the hop harvest, or just going into the Monk (which always feels like a celebration to us)? Hell, GABF and Zwanze Day were supposed to be this weekend.

The truth of the matter is that we want to see all of you. We want to hold these events where we are packed with excited imbibers. We also know that cram-jamming people into spaces is counterintuitive to guidance for getting through this health crisis. We have been racking our brains trying to find a safe middle ground. Here is what we’ve come up with.

Of course, one of the biggest events on the docket is Fremont Oktoberfest and it certainly isn’t happening this year. This weekend we’ll be doing a small Oktoberfest celebration. We are going to have on a handful of German beers, about 4 or so, and put on a couple of our previous Oktoberfest specials. We are also going to have an online-order only special for some food and a crowler of Festbier if you want to fest at home. We aren’t taking reservations, there is no standing room at the bar, all of the restaurant-specific social distance guidelines we’ve dutifully followed to this point are still going to be followed.

Next weekend, we’ll be celebration Fresh Hop Fest. While we do have Fresh Hops is enjoy currently, we are going to try and have a full bank of freshies (8) for you to enjoy. We’ll have a food special as well for it that is still TBD. Crowlers will also be available.

Again, these aren’t the huge parties or yesteryear, but still a way to celebrate the time of year in the most responsible way we can manage right now.  We do hope to see some of you out over the next couple weekends to celebrate with but do understand many or you are still wary of dining out. In that case, we be happy to see your masked faces picking up some food and a crowler to enjoy in the comfort of your own home.

Either way, have a happy harvest season, support local businesses, and survive 2020 as best as you can so we can see more of you next years. Cheers from all of us.

Feel Free to order as many Triumvirate 4 packs as you see fit.

The following information applies to our anniversary beer Sleepers in the Cave:

https://brouwerscafe.square.site/s/order

Pickup Times and Important Information!

Thursday: 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Friday: 4:00 p.m. – 8: 00 p.m.
Saturday: 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.


*********PLEASE READ THIS SECTION*********
This pertains to our anniversary beer release

3 bottle limit per order. No duplicate orders. If you attempt to order more than 3 bottles, your order(s) will be canceled

NO PROXIES. At pickup, present your ID and the credit card used for payment. The name on your ID must match the name on the credit card processed for the order. No exceptions and no pickups for anyone but yourself.

Pick-Ups begin this weekend during our kitchen operating times Thursday-Saturday 4-8. Space in our restaurant is at a premium and we kindly ask that you pick up your bottles this weekend or next week. Orders may be cancelled if pickup is not completed. Please follow the rules. Please don’t be a dick. Beer is meant to be shared and consumed.

Well these sure are interesting times we’re living through! It was 1 week ago today that we had to temporarily close our doors, and when we’ll be able to open them again is a complete unknown. March 24th is Brouwer’s actual 15^th Anniversary, and our original plan was to open our cellar and have a big party, to celebrate the community of patrons, family and friends that have made this possible on March 28th this year. All that has changed ….

Well these sure are interesting times we’re living through! It was 1 week ago today that we had to temporarily close our doors, and when we’ll be able to open them again is a complete unknown. March 24th is Brouwer’s actual 15^th Anniversary, and our original plan was to open our cellar and have a big party, to celebrate the community of patrons, family and friends that have made this possible on March 28th this year. All that has changed ….

We also brewed two beers we had hoped to tap, a sour with E9 and Holy Mountain, which we will be holding onto and releasing at a later date. The other an IPA collaboration with Stoup, Cloudburst and Standard. Instead of tapping the IPA, we have asked for cans, lots of them!

So, 4-packs of our 15^th Anniversary IPA, “I Thought We Were Friends!” will be available at Stoup, Cloudburst and Standard for pick up, starting Wednesday, March 25^th at 12 noon.

We hope you grab yourself some and toast us on our special day! We’re sorry we can’t celebrate with you in person, but really look forward to doing so sometime soon!

Stay safe, stay healthy, and remember we’re in this together!

Thank you all and we appreciate each an everyone of you.

Here’s the original post:

Holy shit, we’re turning 15. While it could be warranted to talk about what we’ve strived to provide for the beer community and how, after 15 years, we are still committed to the mission of providing one of the very best venues in the Pacific Northwest to enjoy beer, it isn’t our style to sit back and rest on our laurels. It is a time to reflect and then look forward.

We want to say thank you.

Thank you to every person who has ever stepped foot into Brouwer’s to enjoy a craft we love so dearly. Thank you to every guest who’s asked a question, tried a new beer or style, made a bad joke, become a regular, pre-gamed for your flight, spent your lunch break here, etc. What we mean to say is this: we couldn’t and wouldn’t be here with each and every one of you. We’ve changed a little over the years as we’re tried to meet the needs of beer lovers, whiskey drinkers, quick lunch eaters, and people who just casually walked in. We’ve tried to always do our best. This anniversary is for you; all of you.

Thank you to our present and past employees. We can still open our doors because of your dedication to craft beer, Belgian cuisine, and customer service. Not all of our relationships ended amicably, but at least a story or two from each of your time here still gets passed on; you are still part of this place. This anniversary is for you; all of you.

Thank you to all the brewers, distillers, brand reps, purveyors, and distributors for keeping us in stock of all our favorite beers, spirits, and food items. Your tireless, and often overlooked, work makes our jobs here so much easier. Without your dedication to quality, this place wouldn’t be thought of in the same light. Not nearly. This anniversary is for you; all of you.

And maybe most importantly, thank you to Vern. For over 15 years, he has provided many of us with a place to call home. Never one to micro-manage and always one to praise, you will not find a better business owner to work for. The Seattle beer community is a stronger place thanks to you and Bonney’s vision to take a Belgian-style bier café and make it into a world-class beer destination. The lineage of some of the Northwest’s finest beer establishments can trace its path through these doors and our little community tucked in the rainy PNW is all the richer for it. This anniversary is for you; enjoy it.

This year, we will have two anniversary beers. The first is a collaborative effort between E9, of the Tacoma E9s, and Holy Mountain, two of the finest producers of craft beer the country has to offer. The beer will be a sour rosé-style beer that is sure to be a crowd-pleaser. The second is a west coast-style IPA from the trio of Stoup, Standard, and Cloudburst. Both beers will be available to purchase from Bottleworks on the morning of the 28th.

In addition to those beers, we’ll have a few beers from each of the breweries, some of our past anniversary beers, and some other deep cuts from our cellar. If you’ve been to one of our anniversaries before, you know we also break out some cool beers from yesteryear.

We hope to see you out on March 28th to celebrate this occasion with us. We are so excited to be able to have the good fortune to turn 15 and start to plan for the next 15 years. Cheers!

Well these sure are interesting times we’re living through! It was 1 week ago today that we had to temporarily close our doors, and when we’ll be able to open them again is a complete unknown. March 24th is Brouwer’s actual 15^th Anniversary, and our original plan was to open our cellar and have a big party, to celebrate the community of patrons, family and friends that have made this possible on March 28th this year. All that has changed ….

We also brewed two beers we had hoped to tap, a sour with E9 and Holy Mountain, which we will be holding onto and releasing at a later date. The other an IPA collaboration with Stoup, Cloudburst and Standard. Instead of tapping the IPA, we have asked for cans, lots of them!

So, 4-packs of our 15^th Anniversary IPA, “I Thought We Were Friends!” will be available at Stoup, Cloudburst and Standard for pick up, starting Wednesday, March 25^th at 12 noon.

We hope you grab yourself some and toast us on our special day! We’re sorry we can’t celebrate with you in person, but really look forward to doing so sometime soon!

Stay safe, stay healthy, and remember we’re in this together!

Thank you all and we appreciate each an everyone of you.

Here’s the original post:

Holy shit, we’re turning 15. While it could be warranted to talk about what we’ve strived to provide for the beer community and how, after 15 years, we are still committed to the mission of providing one of the very best venues in the Pacific Northwest to enjoy beer, it isn’t our style to sit back and rest on our laurels. It is a time to reflect and then look forward.

We want to say thank you.

Thank you to every person who has ever stepped foot into Brouwer’s to enjoy a craft we love so dearly. Thank you to every guest who’s asked a question, tried a new beer or style, made a bad joke, become a regular, pre-gamed for your flight, spent your lunch break here, etc. What we mean to say is this: we couldn’t and wouldn’t be here with each and every one of you. We’ve changed a little over the years as we’re tried to meet the needs of beer lovers, whiskey drinkers, quick lunch eaters, and people who just casually walked in. We’ve tried to always do our best. This anniversary is for you; all of you.

Thank you to our present and past employees. We can still open our doors because of your dedication to craft beer, Belgian cuisine, and customer service. Not all of our relationships ended amicably, but at least a story or two from each of your time here still gets passed on; you are still part of this place. This anniversary is for you; all of you.

Thank you to all the brewers, distillers, brand reps, purveyors, and distributors for keeping us in stock of all our favorite beers, spirits, and food items. Your tireless, and often overlooked, work makes our jobs here so much easier. Without your dedication to quality, this place wouldn’t be thought of in the same light. Not nearly. This anniversary is for you; all of you.

And maybe most importantly, thank you to Vern. For over 15 years, he has provided many of us with a place to call home. Never one to micro-manage and always one to praise, you will not find a better business owner to work for. The Seattle beer community is a stronger place thanks to you and Bonney’s vision to take a Belgian-style bier café and make it into a world-class beer destination. The lineage of some of the Northwest’s finest beer establishments can trace its path through these doors and our little community tucked in the rainy PNW is all the richer for it. This anniversary is for you; enjoy it.

This year, we will have two anniversary beers. The first is a collaborative effort between E9, of the Tacoma E9s, and Holy Mountain, two of the finest producers of craft beer the country has to offer. The beer will be a sour rosé-style beer that is sure to be a crowd-pleaser. The second is a west coast-style IPA from the trio of Stoup, Standard, and Cloudburst. Both beers will be available to purchase from Bottleworks on the morning of the 28th.

In addition to those beers, we’ll have a few beers from each of the breweries, some of our past anniversary beers, and some other deep cuts from our cellar. If you’ve been to one of our anniversaries before, you know we also break out some cool beers from yesteryear.

We hope to see you out on March 28th to celebrate this occasion with us. We are so excited to be able to have the good fortune to turn 15 and start to plan for the next 15 years. Cheers!

Loam – a fertile soil of clay and sand containing humus. 

Temple- a building devoted to worship. aka a place where people worship

Last year it was “Dirt Church”, this year “Loam Temple”, but had we known how wet this winter would be, we might have dubbed it “Mud Shrine”! Why the nods to religion you ask?  Well, we all worship something (to some degree or another!), and for some of us it’s riding the dirt. I said just the other day “I don’t know where I’d be without mountain biking”, and the same holds true for the craft beer industry. Where these two communities intersect is where I live, breathe, drink and celebrate, and I’ve got lots of fantastic company!

Loam Temple is a way to say thanks, bring two passions together, and honor the folks that build and maintain mountain bike trails here in Washington (Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance and WMBC), as well as make awesome beer (Structures Brewing).

How can you get involved?

Seattle Release/Events:

Friday, March 13^th Bottleworks, located in Wallingford will be selling 4 packs to go.  $2 from every 4 pack will be donated to Evergreen, they will also donate a $1 a pint.  From March 13- March 23 Brouwer’s will donate the proceeds from all pint sales of Loam Church to Evergreen, so stop in for a pint or 3.

Saturday, March 14—There will be a trial dig/shred day in the I-90 corridor, probably in the Raging River trail system.  Details are still being worked out.  The plan is to dig for a bit, then get some shredding in.  Stay tuned for more details. Here and on the Evergreen site.

Bellingham Release/

Saturday, March 21^st Sturctures will release cans at the brewery when they open at noon and donated a portion of the sales to WMBC.  Kona and WMBC will host a trail day on Galby.  More Details to come.  We will all meet up at the brewery around 4 pm to have a few pints.