West Pierce Fire and Rescue firefighters Bryan Copeland and Aaron Johnson are the brewers and co-owners behind Wet Coast Brewing, along with their wives Molly Copeland and April Johnson. They started planning their brewery for years but didn’t get serious until 2012. They opened in Gig Harbor in 2015 on a 3.5-barrel brewing system, with three 7-barrel bright tanks and four 7-barrel fermenters, which has since been replaced by a much larger system. The love affair with the Prohibition era is particularly evident at Wet Coast Brewing. In the 1932 presidential election, King, Pierce, and Spokane counties voted “wet,” meaning those citizens voted for Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt and his desire to bring back the drinkies, instead of Republican Pres. Herbert Hoover’s desire to keep “the noble experiment,” Prohibition. Today, Peaks & Pints presents a to-go flight of Wet Coast’s latest beers, including their newly canned, Hi Jack! Red Ale. Stop by our craft beer lodge, bottle shop and restaurant in Tacoma’s Proctor District and grab Peaks and Pints Pilot Program: Wet Coast On The Fly.
Peaks and Pints Pilot Program: Wet Coast On The Fly
Wet Coast Holiday Jeer!
6.5 % ABV, 30 IBU
Winter ale, although not technically a beer style per se, can certainly be considered a widespread brewing tradition. The custom of brewing a stronger-than-normal dark ale for drinking against the chills of the coldest months of the year is doubtless as old as brewing in Northern Europe itself. Wet Coast brewed their own winter ale, Holiday Jeer!, a full-bodied stout with big dose of molasses to provide notes of prunes and burnt sugar. They top it off with the addition of ginger, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
Wet Coast Hi Jack! Red Ale
5.5% ABV, 33 IBU
Wet Coast’s name is a triple entendre: 1. West Coast, 2. Northwest weather, 3. Prohibition, where citizens voted wet or dry. In 1920, the United States has just enacted the Volstead Act, prohibiting the production and consumption of intoxicating liquors. Bottles were smashed, babies cried, and Americans everywhere were forced to be “dry” and live a life without beer. That is, everywhere but Washington state. Lt. Roy Olmstead with the Seattle Police Department began smuggling alcohol from Canada and soon enough Washington wouldn’t just be a rainy state out west, it would become the Wet Coast. Many Wet Coast beers give a nod to Prohibition days, including Hi Jack!, which was used in speakeasies as a code word for law enforcement. Hi Jack!, the red ale, is brewed with Crystal and Black malts for a deep red hue and smooth body. Centennial hops provide floral and citrus notes with a small amount of bitterness to balance the beer.
Wet Coast On The Sly Cold IPA
6.9% ABV, 55 IBU
Cold IPAs are brewed with add adjuncts such as rice and corn in the mash, fermented with lager yeasts at higher temperatures than traditionally done with lager yeasts, and dosed with dry hops at the tail end of fermentation for biotransformation for a crispy, clean, and dry IPA with a wallop of forward hops. Wet Coast’s version is brewed with Pilsner malt, corn, and American hops, then warm fermented with lager yeast, for characteristics of a clean American lager and the boldness of a West Coast IPA.
Wet Coast Scofflaw CDA
7.1% ABV, 65 IBU
No American craft beer style has ever generated more contentious debate than black IPA, when it comes to nomenclature. From the moment that people began calling this style anything, there’s never been consensus on what exactly they should be called. Basically, it’s a hoppy IPA with mild to moderate roastiness that is sometimes derived via debittered black malts such as Carafa and dark wheat malt, lending a crisper edge and the type of dry, coffee-like flavor you find in the German black lager style, schwarzbier. Wet Coast’s Scofflaw CDA is absolutely an IPA — more so than many black IPAs. Columbus, Falconers Flight, Amarillo, and Simcoe hops provide a hit of citrus, resin and smooth bitterness. While dark wheat malt gives the beer its black color and just a hint of roast character, the beer leaves the palate slightly dry, accentuating its hop character.
Wet Coast Fixed the Newel Post
8.5% ABV, 70 IBU
The imperial red ale style (sometimes called a double red ale) is medium- to full-bodied and known for strong hop bitterness, aroma, and flavor. While the hoppiness can be intense, the bitterness and underlying malty tones blend with the alcoholic strength of the beer to lend a spicy complexity to the flavor profile. Wet Coast brews this imperial red ale with Caramel and Crystal Rye malts for sticky-red-sweetness with enough hops for resinous pine and juicy citrus flavors and aromas.
LINK: Peaks & Pints cooler inventory
