Two local techies, Chris Castillo and Joe Valvo, owners of the new Laughing Buddha brewery, follow the market price of hops with rapt attention. Five bucks a pound six months ago, a spike at $50, now settling down at a relatively affordable $20. Galena and Northern Brewer they buy for the bitterness in the brown ale, a Czech variety for the lager. So far, they've been getting what they need from other breweries. The grain......

The big news today in the brewing world is that northwest staple Pyramid Brewing will be bought by a Burlington, VT brewery. The deal should not have much of an effect on the consumer here in Seattle, but we will hopefully start getting Magic Hat brews sometime soon. Magic Hat #9 has been a popular pale ale in the Northeast for quite a few years, and it would be a welcome addition to the......

The recent demise of Seattle's Pacific Rim Brewing comes with a happy ending, at least for Seattle beer drinkers. Local home brewer Alejandro Brown (known as Big Al) is putting the finishing touches on purchasing what remains of Pacific Rim, and plans to have beer rolling out sometime this summer. While Pacific Rim will be missed by many (mainly Rat City IPA for us), it's great to see an avid homebrewer getting a chance......

We know what some of you are thinking: "Rock Bottom? Really? Isn't that a corporate chain that makes all the same typical beers at their locations?" Well, yeah, that's pretty much them. But, each location has its own brewer that gets to experiment and brew their own seasonals and special release beers. In other words, it's in these beers that the brewer really gets to shine. Think of it as that special project you......

Here is a statement overheard when a local brewer was talking to Ralph Olson, owner of Hopunion (A Yakima located supplier of hops to world-wide brewers), as he was getting off a phone call: That's just another person trying to get me to shit hops. Beautiful. Something really has to be up in the world of hops when the man who should have them falling out of every nook and cranny in his house......