Double Mountain Brewery 18th Anniversary Party Recap

Your parents’ anniversary has nothing on Double Mountain Brewery & Cidery’s 18th Anniversary Party. You could celebrate with the ’rents with a nice meal and a card, OR you could celebrate 18 years of delicious beer, kickass music, and comradery. We did Saturday. There’s still time for you to join the fun. Double Mountain, as they do, celebrates its anniversary over three days before its actual anniversary, St. Patrick’s Day, at its world headquarters in Hood River, Oregon. And we think we saw your parents. They’re no dummies.

We love this excuse for a road trip every March, and this party is the perfect reason to hit the road. As mentioned, the Double Mountain celebration runs Saturday, March 15th, through Monday, March 17, with live music, specialty beers, and festive food specials. Anniversary beers from years past flowed in the Brewer’s Lounge, aka the brewhouse’s cellar. We couldn’t miss the highly anticipated return of Pale Death Belgian IPA, one of its most sought-after beers because the staff donned Pale Death anniversary shirts, which are available for purchase. When having a delicious beer, we want to pair it with delicious food. Irish-inspired food specials, including corned beef sandwiches and Paddy’s Pie pizza, reminded us of another celebration this weekend. For us, it’s their fantastic truffle pizza to the end of time.

Double Mountain digs music. Before the pandemic, the Double Mountain anniversary music was legendary, with a stellar lineup of bands such as Cracker and Supersuckers hosted along 4th Street in front of the brewery with multiple bars and a 100-foot tent. Like last year, the party has retreated inside the multiple-room brewery. Unlike last year, the rain prevented pavement overflow partying. Double Mountain founder Matt Swihart’s love for music transgresses into his craft, naming his craft beer after songs and artists with chalk beer nameplates to prove it. Swihart’s band, The Greenneck Daredevils, formed when his buddies decided to jam at the brewery’s anniversary party in March 2013. His lead brewer, former Tacoman Matt Coughlin, performed as Matt Coughlin & the Growlers in the 2000s before he left Tacoma to brew at Double Mountain. The Brewery rocks, proven, once again, by a three-day music bill as part of their 18th Anniversary: Dumpster Joe Trio w/ Ben Bonham, Billy and the Box Kid, and the large, costumed crew Funkship funkify-ing their favorite music Saturday night. Biddy on the Bench and Eel Sallad performed Sunday afternoon. The celebration concludes with a live performance from Bennett Matteo on St. Patrick’s Day night.

The road to Double Mountain’s founding was also a party. Matt Swihart and Charlie Devereaux crossed paths while working at Full Sail Brewing in Hood River, Oregon. In February 2006, Swihart saw a “For Lease” sign in one of the few light-industrial-zoned storefronts in downtown Hood River. St. Patrick’s Day 2007, Swihart and Devereaux opened Double Mountain Brewery & Taproom in said spot, named after their orchard, Double Mountain Orchards — where one can look in one direction and see Mt. Adams and then look in the other direction and see Mt. Hood. With a mash tun paddle in one hand and a banjo in the other, Swihart ran the brewery while Devereaux ran the pub, creating a pizza that draws as well as their Belgian-inspired yet Northwest-centric craft beer. Eventually, Swihart, a musician himself, became the sole owner, celebrating the brewery’s anniversary annually around St. Patrick’s Day with notable bands and delicious beer and cider.

Here’s a photo recap of this year’s shindig. …