You know the story. In April 2011, Wingman Brewers opened for business with a one-barrel batch of beer on tap at The Red Hot. Friends and Tacoma natives Ken Thoburn, Derrick Moyer, Daniel Heath and Jason Sabol launched the brewery paying homage to Thoburn’s grandfather, an artist who served in World War II in the Pacific, and painted the sides of fighter planes when he could. April 22, 2017, Thoburn, Moyer and Heath, Wingman’s remaining founders, will celebrate the Tacoma Dome District brewery’s sixth anniversary with birthday cake.

Birthday Cake IPA, that is.

“The Birthday Cake IPA idea came from seeing a few other breweries around the country doing similar things,” explains Thoburn. “We don’t know that we are the first brewery to throw a whole cake into the mash tun … but we might be.”

Wingman Brewers Birthday Cake IPA will be served with a low bitterness for an IPA, but according to Thoburn, it will have plenty of citrus and berry hop aromas and flavors.

“The beer is being brewed with one full sprinkle party birthday cake and three boxes of cake mix in the mash,” explains Thoburn. “The aroma of the mash was great to begin with. Then after boiling we added in a bourbon Madagascar vanilla bean, Graham Crackers and Citra and Mosaic hops. As the beer goes through the fermentation process we will also be adding in more of the same hops and depending on our best judgment we may also add in some blueberry puree. This is a fun beer that we are excited to be making.”

The ingredients may sound odd and photos may look a bit gimmicky (see below), but Thoburn says the deliciousness of the beer doesn’t lie.

“We hope everyone will come out and try the beer at our anniversary party,” he adds.

The Wingman Brewers Sixth Anniversary Party will also include favorite Wingman craft beers with South Beach Cuisine food truck parked out front.

WINGMAN BREWERS SIXTH ANNIVERSARY PARTY, 2 p.m., Saturday, April 22, Dome District Taproom 509 1/2 Puyallup Ave, Tacoma