The long-standing rivalry game between the University of Washington Huskies and Washington State University Cougars kicks off for the 115th time at 1 p.m. today. It’s a year of lasts for the two teams, as UW prepares to leave the Pac-12 for a higher profile, although Washington State and Washington agreed in principle to a five-year continuation of the storied Apple Cup football series through at least 2028. Next year’s match-up will take place on September 14, 2024 at Lumen Field in Seattle, with the following four games alternating between the school’s campuses: 2025 (Pullman), 2026 (Seattle), 2027 (Pullman) and 2028 (Seattle). Terms of the agreement are still being finalized. This year, the Huskies (11-0, 8-0 Pac-12) — ranked No. 4 in the AP Top 25 and No. 5 in the coaches poll — have already clinched a spot in the 2023 Pac-12 Football Championship Game, Dec. 1 in Las Vegas, where the Huskies will face either Oregon. Th Cougars enter the game with a 5-6 record including a 2-6 mark in Pac-12 Conference play after beating Colorado 56-14 in Pullman last Friday. Following tradition since 1963, the winner of the game is awarded the Apple Cup Trophy by the governor of the state of Washington. UW leads the all-time series 75-33-8 after posting a 51-33 win in Pullman last season but the Cougars won the 2021 matchup 40-13 in Seattle. That’s all fine and dandy, but let’s get to drinking. Watch the Apple Cup at peaks & Pints while enjoying our in-house beer flight: Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: 2023 Apple Cup.
Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: 2023 Apple Cup
Block 15 College
4.5% ABV
National Lampoon’s Animal House is the ultimate college party movie. It put fraternity houses, college parties, “Shout”, and chugging straight from the bottle on the map. In the movie, John “Bluto” Blutarsky played by John Belushi is in his 7th year at Faber College and a member of the legendary Delta House fraternity, wears a “College” sweatshirt that, no doubt, inspired Block 15 Brewing to name their cream ale, College. Cream in name only, this bright, refreshing ale is the perfect crusher on game days or anytime in between. Crisp and malt-driven, with extended cold conditioning, it offers a clean finish.
Brothers Cascadia Tailgate Lager
5.3% ABV
More than 35 million football fans fire up their grills in stadium parking lots from coast to coast — according to the American Tailgaters Association — and mix their gridiron enthusiasm with a hankering for friendly, casual beer. Brothers Cascadia Brewing knows it, too. They brewed Tailgate Lager, a crisp and dry easy drinking pilsner-based lager with nuanced zesty and fruity southern hemisphere hop character. Brewed and dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin and Rakau hops, this lager appropriately parties in our 2023 Apple Cup beer flight.
E9 Puppies Vs. Kittens
6.5% ABV
E9 Brewing brews an annual IPA celebrating the Washington Huskies and WSU Cougars annual match-up. This double dry hopped IPA is enhanced with Citra Cryo, Simcoe Cryo, and Comet, plus 2-row malted barley and German pilsners malt with a small amount of golden naked oats and torrified wheat, plus fermented with E9’s Barbarian Yeast to produce juicy stone fruit, apricot, and peach flavors. When the final whistle sounds, expect characteristics of lime and grapefruit citrus, apricot, stone fruit, and tropical melon.
Great Notion Sports
7% ABV
Halloween October 1981, Tacoma native Robb Weller, the yell leader for the Huskies, invented “The Wave” during their game with Stanford led by Port Angeles native John Elway. Weller ran from the end zone … to the 50-yeard line and watched as the student section undulated as he passed. To his surprise, the movement didn’t stop with the undergrads; alums picked up the cadence and sent it around the rest of the stadium. The wave, as we know it, was born. Great Notion brewed Sports with Citra, Mosaic, and Galaxy hops paying homage to the ongoing college football rivals in Oregon, Washington, and California. Waves of Citra, Mosaic, and Galaxy Hops will flood your palate with enough lupulin-laced fruitiness to send the wave around multiple times. Expect notes of fresh orange juice, grapefruit, and tangy passionfruit with a piney finish.
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
6.8% ABV
Sierra Nevada Brewing remains one of the best-selling, popular and prolific craft breweries in the United States. By volume, the company was the third-largest U.S. craft brewery in 2021. Created in 1980 in Chico, California, by co-founder Ken Grossman, Sierra Nevada was a pioneer in the hop-forward style, and while its mainstay Pale Ale was the gateway beer for many, it is Celebration that has maintained an enduring critical and commercial appeal. Amid the many big and malty winter ales, Celebration Ale provides a comfortable winter home for the season’s displaced hops. A little darker than the average American IPA, this ale has a citrusy, piney, and resinous hop character and a medium body. Save this beer for the final buzzer.
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