Peaks and Pints: Rainy Daze Only The Tip and Olympic Discovery Trail
Rainy Daze Brewing Only The Tip was nominated as a 12th seed in the Northern Washington Region in the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs, which will begin April 2, 2021. The tournament bracket will be released soon. In the meantime, we suggest you enjoy Peaks and Pints: Rainy Daze Only The Tip and Olympic Discovery Trail combo with your friends.
Hops: Rainy Daze Only The Tip
“This is my prized beer to date,” Rainy Daze Brewing Co. founder and head brewer Mike Montoney stated in 2014 when he emerged from his then small Kitsap County brewery holding high his Only The Tip double IPA. Montoney dumps spruce tips from Sitka, Alaska into each batch, giving the IPA fruity and piney characteristics of the spruce. It’s dank, for sure. Heavy and thick, too. Seven years later from its first release the 9.9 percent ABV is still well hidden.
Let’s Break It Down: 9.9% ABV • 95 IBU • After 20 years homebrewing Mike Montoney opened Rainy Daze Brewing in Poulsbo in 2012 • Rainy Daze Goat Boater IPA won the inaugural Tournament of Beer, which featured Washington State IPAs in 2017.
Hike: Olympic Discovery Trail
Olympic Discovery Trail is a 130.3 mile moderately trafficked point-to-point trail through farms, fields, and historic towns with views of the snowcapped Olympic Mountains, the Strait of Juan de Fuca shoreline, peaceful lakes and forested foothills. Sequim is situated right in the center of the Trail that stretches from Port Townsend to Port Angeles. Currently, 40 miles of the trail are paved connecting the path from just east of Sequim to Port Angeles, which crosses the Dungeness River over the Railroad Bridge trestle at Railroad Bridge Park.
Let’s Break It Down: 130.3 miles point-to-point • highest point 1,000 feet • elevation gain 6,167 feet, moderate difficulty, Olympic Peninsula – Northern Coast
Haps: Post-hike Celebration
Whatever section you hike along the Olympia Discovery Trail, be sure to divvy up Rainy Daze Only The Tip double IPA after and discuss all the discoveries. Discuss how the Milwaukee Railroad transported timber and passengers between Port Townsend, Port Angeles, and towns and logging railways further west over the Railroad Bridge from 1915 through 1980. Discuss how the Olympia Discovery Trail tends to offer cooler hikes in the summer than heading east from Seattle. Express concern about the dickhead Golden Retriever in the Piedmont area of the trail. Ponder if Rainy Daze Brewmaster Montoney still works 16 hours days.
Highway: Getting There
The official eastern terminus of the trail is at the ferry dock in the town of Port Townsend. At its western terminus the trailhead is officially located at the beach in La Push. There are many access points of the Olympic Discovery Trail; visit olympicdiscoverytrail.com for more details.
Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs
OK, Covid, we’ll just take the Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer into the woods. …
The public nominated 64 Northwest double IPAs for the Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs in February. Beginning April 2, through online voting on this website, Washington and Oregon double IPA drinkers will pick daily winners until the best double IPA in the Northwest is crowned April 24.
Our pre-Tournament hype will be different this year. No brewery research tour. No candid photos of bartenders pouring double IPAs for review. No hotel parties.
Instead, Peaks & Pints will preview the Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs by taking the 64 nominated double IPAs on hikes relatively close to where they were brewed. After all, a post-hike double IPA can quench your thirst and begin to rehydrate you, lubricate your senses and, like the act of hiking, help maintain sanity, balance and perspective. Oh, believe us when we say the hike is still paramount to the experience. If it wasn’t, we’d skip the hike and just head to the taproom. Rather, Peaks & Pints is a big believer in hanging at the trailhead with our fellow hikers, divvying up a beer and discussing the hike, or whatever subjects, as we store away our gear.
Join us. Take the nominated double IPAs on hikes. Then, look for the first round of Tournament of Beer: NW Double IPAs voting April 2 at tournamentofbeer.com or this website.
