Peaks and Pints Mountain Beer Fest: Grand Teton Brewing American Sour
Peaks and Pints we will host an all-day Mountain Beer Festival Saturday, June 3. Craft beers and ciders from mountain community breweries and cideries as well as mountain moniker brews will flow from our Western red cedar tap log and into keepsake Peaks and Pints Mountain Beer Festival glassware, for those who want to donate to Green Tacoma Partnership. At 8 p.m., Tacoma bluegrass band Barleywine Revue will perform their hits live inside our lodge, including “Peaks and Pints,” the song the band wrote specifically for us.
Let’s meet Mountain Beer Fest participant Grand Teton Brewing Company and its American Sour that will be on tap Saturday, June 3.
The Craft: Grand Teton Brewing Company American Sour
Where in the World: 430 Old Jackson Hwy., Victor, Idaho
Mountain Cred: Grand Teton Brewing is 6,214 feet above sea level in the valley below Big Hole Mountain range between Piney Peak and Housetop Mountain on the Idaho/Wyoming border.
A Family Affair: You can raise a pint to thank the Otto brothers for both Grand Teton Brewing Company and the modern glass growler, which they introduced in 1989. Originally located in Wilson, Wyoming, as Otto Brothers’ Brewing Company the brewery moved the 25 winding miles over Teton Pass into Victor, Idaho, in 1998, two years before changing the name to a more regional and recognizable marketing approach.
American Sour Power: Grand Teton’s American Sour bathes in 300-500-year-old-glacial run-off powered by Southern Idaho hops and Teton Valley malt and oats for a base pale wheat ale soured with Lactobacillus and fermented with the brewery’s house Hefeweizen yeast, which provides green apple and banana esters and clove and black pepper flavors. It is conditioned in four oak barrels that have housed Brettanomyces bruxellensis for several years. As part of the brewery’s “Brewers’ Series,” American Sour is a medium bodied, funky sour with flavors of mandarin orange lemon and tart pear. Finish continues an aggressive tartness, with a continued tart orange and tropical fruit aftertaste. The extra two years of aging did well.
PEAKS AND PINTS MOUNTAIN BEER FEST, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, June 3, Peaks and Pints, 3816 N. 26th St., Basecamp Proctor, Tacoma, no cover
