If you enjoy the outdoors, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that it’s becoming more expensive to visit one of Washington’s 124 state parks, or explore our three national parks: Mount Rainier, North Cascades, and Olympic National Park. It costs $10 a day or $30 a year to use Washington’s state parks. It costs $50 for a Mount Rainier Annual Pass. You probably can’t convince the state Legislature to cut the park fees right now. But there’s another way you can reduce what you potentially may pay to visit a national park in our state: Donate to Washington’s National Park Fund. Washington’s National Park Fund is the official philanthropic partner to Mount Rainer, North Cascades, and Olympic National Parks. The National Park Service’s budget is determined by Congress through the annual appropriations process. The budget given to Mount Rainier, North Cascades, and Olympic National Parks seldom keeps pace with the parks’ needs for maintaining infrastructure, providing for needed maintenance in the parks, salaries for park rangers, hiring personnel to make extra garbage container runs full of Peaks & Pints’ empty beer cans, and much more. Therefore the Washington’s National Park Fund exists. They fill gaps in much-needed funding to enhance visitors’ experiences, provide research dollars, rebuild trails, bring in volunteers, improve accessibility, and maintain reasonable park entrance fees. The Seattle-based organization supports 30-40 projects in our national parks every year. Today, Peaks & Pints dedicates our to-go beer flight to Washington’s National Park Fund. Until we can revert to our on-premise, crosscut beer flights and donate a percentage of each flight to the Fund, we hope you’ll stop by craft beer lodge, grab today’s to-go flight, Peaks and Pints Pilot Program: Washington’s National Park Fund On The Fly, then donate to the Fund while enjoying the beers. Cheers!

Peaks and Pints Pilot Program: Washington’s National Park Fund On The Fly

Kulshan Mossy Rock Dry Irish Stout

5% ABV, 30 IBU

Mossy Rock Falls is the final of the significant waterfalls along Twentytwo Creek as it exits Lake 22 on the north flank of Mount Pilchuck. The series of waterfalls along Twentytwo Creek have been collectively referred to as Twentytwo Creek Falls since the first edition of Greg Plumb’s Waterfalls of the Pacific Northwest, which later became the Waterfall Lover’s Guide series. Kulshan Brewing’s Mossy Rock is a dry Irish stout brewed with Golden Promise, roasted barley, Chocolate malt, flaked barley, and Cluster hops, boasting bready malt notes and coffee-like roasted malt notes, and a clean dry finish that is a bit surprising given its black color.

Barrel Mountain Backpacker Smoked Porter

9.3% ABV, 45 IBU

In Battle Ground, Washington, there’s a mountain cabin motif brewery with all that goodness, plus a chair made of ropes, metal siding and a bit of Kentucky shabby chic. Not only did Barrel Mountain Brewing owner Troy Steigman bring the outdoors indoors to a former laundromat, but he also added a scratch kitchen, well-equipped brewery and hired brewer Ryan Pearson, formerly of Green Flash and La Quinta in Southern California. His Backpacker Smoked Porter has a malt bill of 2-Row, Cherry Wood-Smoked, Black, Crystal and Biscuit with Willamette hops providing balance. Real vanilla beans add subtle sweetness to the smoky porter with additional flavors of chocolate and molasses. It’s a real treat.

Icicle Dragontail IPA

6.7% ABV, 60 IBU

Named after the beautiful Dragontail Peak above Colchuck Lake on the western slope of The Enchantments, in Chelan County, Washington, Icicle Brewing’s Dragontail is a modern take on the West Coast IPA, with a blend of hops that give bring out notes and aromas of juicy citrus, sweet peach, and honeydew melon. The malts provide a smooth mouthfeel while letting the character of the hops shine through.

Old Schoolhouse Between Peaks IPA

7% ABV

Peaks & Pints answered the morning School bell, traveled past 101 mountain peaks, and brewed our new house beer, Between Peaks IPA, at Old Schoolhouse Brewery in Winthrop, Washington. As we approached the town of Winthrop, Pinyon Pines, Bristlecone Pine, and Ponderosa Pine trees were swaying in the wind between the peaks. Between Peaks West Coast-style, old school IPA is aggressively hopped with Simcoe, Simcoe Cryo, Chinook, Cascade Cryo, and HBC 638 hops and bursting with flavors of pine and subtle citrus, loaded with mounds of hops, and balanced with a blend of four different malts. Like those welcoming pine trees, each pint of Between Peaks is like a pine bough swaying across your face.

LINK: Peaks & Pints cooler inventory