Jazz, that most American of musical form, is also the unofficial music of crime. Between 1945 and 1960, Hollywood married then-new jazz styles with the gritty, black-and-white mystery film and linked them forever in popular consciousness. It was an era of unparalleled stylistic experimentation in jazz — when it was still the coolest thing around, full of blaring horns, brushes on snare drums, wicked and suspicious-sounding reeds, and perhaps the coolest basslines of the 20th century. It would be a crime to miss the coolest cat in Tacoma, saxophonist Kareem Kandi, and his World Orchestra at Peaks & Pints tonight. Kandi is a versatile musician with strong roots in the traditions of jazz, blues, classical, and funk, and has been performing throughout the U.S. and abroad for years, gaining attention from critics and audiences alike.  While staying true to the musical styles of the past, he also keeps an eye toward the future by composing original music and new arrangements of timeless songs from the great American songbook. Peaks & Pints hosts the Kareem Kandi World Orchestra in our Fireplace Room from 6-8 p.m. Sunday, March 2. In conjunction, Peaks & Pints offers a cool, all-day Sunday beer flight to sip on while chilling with Kandi and crew called Peaks & Pints Beer Flight: Kareem Kandi and Krieks. Historically, krieks, a Flemish word, were made in Belgium by adding whole or macerated cherries (significantly, though the pits were intact) to a lambic beer base and letting the beer refer to the fruit. After sitting for a few months, one blended the beer with fresh lambic and bottled.

Peaks & Pints Beer Flight: Kareem Kandi and Krieks

Lindemans Kriek

3.5% ABV

Lambics are sharp, acidic, and fruity. They can be compared to yogurt or vinegar but with hints of sweetness. There are also several sub-styles of lambics. Lindemans was the first to introduce lambics to the American market (in 1979) and has remained the most popular brand. While they also make peach, raspberry, and pear lambic, the cherry is their most traditional flavor. Whole fresh cherries are added to the casks, triggering a third fermentation and promoting a spritz-y carbonation that gives the finished beer a champagne-like character with excellent mouthfeel. The flavor resembles a natural black cherry soda with a dark sweetness and a flash of malty bitterness.

Drie Fonteinen Aardbei Kriek Blend No. 1 21/22

6.2% ABV

Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, or Drie Fonteinen, focuses on aging and blending the beers of other lambic brewers. It’s a mainly Belgian concept that the creative process in producing a beer comes not when its ingredients are combined and fermented but in how the resulting beer is aged and blended with other vintages to create a new transcendent concoction. In this case, Aardbei/Kriek is a blend of a strawberry lambic and a sour cherry lambic, in a proportion of 65/35. The lambikken originates from five different barrels and nine different brews. Most of them were 2-year-old lambikken, and almost 10 percent were 3-year-old. One-third of the lambic volume is brewed with Pajot-grown cereals. The final fruit concentration is 516 grams of strawberries and sour cherries per liter of finished Aardbei/Kriek.

3 Fonteinen Schaarbeekse Kriek Blend No. 73

7.7% ABV

Schaarbeekse Kriek Blend No. 73 (Season 19/20) has been conditioned on 1- and 2-year-old lambics in barrels for 14 months with locally grown Schaarbeekse cherries. The sour fruits come from a community of families near the brewery, most with just a few heirloom Schaarbeekse trees in their yards. These neighbors hand harvest the cherries, ensuring each one is picked at its ideal ripeness. Finally, the Belgian brewers blend the barrels to achieve an average age of over 2.5 years and 7.7 percent alcohol by volume.

Drie Fonteinen Druif/Kriek Blend No. 26 20/21

8.3% ABV

This Druif/Kriek is a blend of Belgian dornfelder druivenlambik and a kriekenlambik in a 50/50 proportion. Drie Fonteinen uses young and 2-year-old lambikken from nine different barrels and brews. The combined maceration took eight months, and the final fruit intensity was 510 grams per liter of sour cherries and freshly pressed, skin-macerated grape juice.

LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory