THURSDAY, SEPT. 22 2016: South Sound events + craft beer …
Olympia Film Society + Growler Garage = Nuts and Bloops
The Swiss + Pint Defiance = Echo and the homebrewing men
NUTS!
Generations before Viagra, John Romulus Brinkley said he had the fix for a certain male problem. The answer to impotence, said Brinkley (1885-1942), was goats. Specifically, an operation grafting goat testicles to human anatomy. The “goat gland” procedure was a breakthrough, a miracle — and, not incidentally, the ticket to tycoon-dom for the man. In the process of pretending to pioneer an absurd remedy, Brinkley actually pioneered border-blaster radio, infomercials, the sound truck, and some other stuff. He nearly became governor. Oh, and he set the stage for early rock ’n roll. The film Nuts! recounts the mostly-true story of Brinkley at 4 and 9 p.m. at the Capitol Theater in Olympia.
PREFUNK: Let’s talk barrels. A craft brewery is defined by its number of barrels. Each barrel contains 31 gallons, which fills two kegs or 330 12-ounce bottles of beer. Earlier this year, Ordnance Brewing — located on the Columbia Plateau in Boardman, Oregon — expanded from a 7-barrel system to 50, which means head brewer Logan Mayfield can brew the brewery’s mainstays (Rivercrest Kolsch, Full Metal Jacket IPA, EOD IPA, rye-spiced RX Pale Ale and Bloops Blueberry Wheat) in higher volume — and distribute his beers in the South Sound. Growler Garage hosts the Eastern Oregon brewery at 6 p.m.
SKA PUNK
Strike up a conversation with 70 percent of the south Sound’s 20- to 30-something punk rockers, and they’ll probably tell you they grew up with hardcore or emo. Talk to the other 30 percent, and they’ll say it was ska. Most folks probably remember ska from the brief time when trumpet-toting dudes in plaid suits and pork-pie hats briefly dominated MTV—the days of Reel Big Fish and Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ peak fame in the 1990s. Spanaway trio Echo Shot keeps the ska punk alive as you may witness at 9 p.m. in The Swiss Restaurant and Pub. Sacramento’s acoustic punk duo Are They Brothers join the fun.
PREFUNK: We had front-row seats to Ballast Point Brewing’s Q&A at the 2015 California Craft Beer Summit in Sacramento. Yuseff Cherney, chief operating officer and head brewer, and Colby Chandler, vice president and specialty brewer, chatted with the crowd at the first annual event. Also paying respect from the back row were Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman, Stone Brewing founder Greg Koch, Russian River Brewing founder Vinnie Cilurzo, Lagunitas Brewing founder Tony Magee and on and on. Cherney and Chandler traded stories of homebrewing beginnings, strip mall origins, an employee-only homebrew contest that launched Grunion pale ale and another recipe that turned into a little beer called Grapefruit Sculpin IPA. It was a million dollar presentation, which rang more true several months later when it was announced Constellation Brands bought Ballast Point for a whopping $1 billion. It’s quite the trajectory for Ballast Point, started by a small group of homebrewers nearly 20 years ago. Chandler will be at Pint Defiance beginning at 5 p.m. It’s an outstanding opportunity to talk to a craft beer pioneer and drink delicious Ballast beers such as Raspberry Sour Wench, Vanilla Orange Fathom India Pale Lager, Dead Ringer Oktoberfest, and a special keg of Rum Barrel-Aged Victory at Sea Imperial Porter.
