Upcoming Event: 2nd Annual BREW Seattle - October 10th - Fremont Foundry

 It’s no secret that Seattle has become quite the beer focused city. The number of breweries located within Seattle city limits has exploded to a staggering 43 (according to a list put together by the Washington Beer Commission) and many of those have appeared just within the past few years. As more and more people “think local”, they look to local breweries for variations of their favorite microbrews and shun the big name beers found on supermarket shelves. Well, Seattle Magazine’s BREW Seattle on October 10^th, 2014 brings local to the masses. This 2^nd annual event presented by BevMo (@BevMo) showcases Seattle beer and only Seattle beer. The event is the largest tasting that honors Seattle beer history and only breweries that brew within the city are invited. There are even a few cideries thrown into the mix since, as we know, the term “gluten-free” is quite popular in our fine city. Included in your ticket price is delicious tastes from over 20 local breweries and unlimited BBQ (yes, I said unlimited and BBQ in the same sentence. Commence happy dance!) provided by Pinky’s Kitchen (@pinkyskitchen). No picked over finger foods here folks. This event provides beer AND tons of BBQ in one happy package. Where else can you get that? This year’s event is also being held at the new Fremont Foundry (@fremontfoundry), a beautiful new venue that I know I’ve been eager to check out. Tickets are just $40 and can be purchased here. Want to follow details about the event on the Twitter? Check out hashtag #BREWSeattle for the latest news and info.

But WAIT, there’s more! Everyone knows free is the best price, so Sips & The City is giving away a pair of tickets to this beer-tastic event! Feeling lucky? Just leave a comment to this post and tell me what your favorite Seattle brewery is. Easy as that. Make sure to leave your email address so I can contact you with details on how to claim your prize if you win! A random drawing from all comments received will be done Thursday October 2^nd. Good luck!

A glimpse of the fun from last year's BREW Seattle!

Spring Barrel Weekend 2014 - Yakima Valley

I had the opportunity to do some tasting over on Red Mountain and Yakima Valley for Spring Barrel Weekend back at the end of April. I was lucky enough to win a contest on the Twitter put on by the Rattlesnake Hills Wine Trail (@wine_rhwt) and received a “Wine Trail Passport” good for free tasting at 13 of the area’s wineries! I also scored some sweet new glasses, two box lunches and a gas card, what a great little prize package! Over the weekend I was able to hit a few of the wineries, plus a stop on Red Mountain.

Upcoming Event: Wine Rocks 2014 - July 10th - Elliott Hall at Bell Harbor (Pier 66)

The Seattle days are heating up once again (what’s that bright giant orb in the sky?!), and with warm weather comes one of my favorite summer time events. Wine Rocks (@WineRocksSEA) is back for the 7^th year in a row, held again this year down on the Pier at Elliott Hall at Pier 66 on Thursday July 10^th, 2014. With over 40 wineries, food trucks, live music and amazing waterfront views of Puget Sound, how can you possibly pass this up? (Answer: You can’t. So don’t)

Sips on the Road: Volcano Winery - Volcano, Hawai'i

 

In another exciting edition of “Sips on the Road”, I visited America’s Southernmost Winery, Volcano Winery (@VolcanoWinery), on the Big Island of Hawai'i! I had done my research in advance of my trip to the island and knew that our road trip from Kailua-Kona around to Hilo and back would take us directly through the small town of Volcano, Hawai'i where the winery is located. While we had a bit of a trouble with where to turn (i.e. we were farther east than we thought when we exited Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and had to double back) we made it up to the winery and were delighted to find that there weren’t many people already there (my favorite types of visits, I love chatting with tasting room staff when they are available!). 

Upcoming Event: Bacon and Beer Classic- May 17th- Safeco Field- America's Nostalgia of Baseball, Meets it's Love for Bacon & Beer

I don’t know about you, reader but I LOVE Bacon and Beer and could not be more excited for this first ever event brought to Seattle by Cannonball Productions.  The Bacon and Beer classic will be held in two sessions at Safeco Field May 17^th.  If the name of this event alone hasn’t convinced you to buy your tickets right now, continue reading the details below!

The Tantalizing Tastes of Taste Washington 2014

Once again, Taste Washington lived up to its name as the biggest and best single region wine tasting event by bringing in 225+ wineries, 65+ restaurants and a whole lot of delicious fun down at CenturyLink FieldEvent Center. As I did last year, I mapped out my plan in advance. I went through the great event guide and picked out my “must get to” stops for both wineries and restaurants. Of course there were the big names like Betz and Doubleback on my list, but my main mission (as it was last year) was to try new things. When faced with an expansive room containing more wine choices than I would ever be able to try in a week let alone the short time I had that afternoon, I chose to seek out a few wineries I had never even heard of. I really love this approach, as it helps me expand my knowledge of Washington wines, AVAs and wineries and I don’t keep going back to what I know (disclaimer: of course I still had several from ones I already know and love, but that’s beside the point…). So I perused the event guide and picked out wineries that I had either A. heard of but never tried or B. never heard of and never tried. This proved to work out well for me, as I discovered a few gems throughout the afternoon that made me excited to see more from these wineries.

Upcoming Event: Seattle Weekly's 5th Annual Voracious Tasting & Food Awards - April 24th, 2014 - Paramount Theatre

Seattle is a wonderful place for food & wine events and there is another coming up that should not be missed. The Seattle Weekly's 5th Voracious Tasting & Food Awards is an annual event that I have had to miss for one reason or another the past few years. And I’m always seriously disappointed that I’m not there once I start reading all of the tweets and seeing the photos posted by attendees. Well, no more! This year I will be front and center at the tasting tables on Thursday April 24^th and you should be too! Come and indulge in an evening of unlimited bites and booze from some of Seattle's best restaurants, food trucks, specialty food artisans and mixologists while taking in the sights of the historic Paramount Theatre. This year's participants include Shanik, Tanaka San, Sky City, Collections Café, Pinxto, Rob Roy, Skillet, Blind Pig Bistro, Prima Bistro, La Bête, Poquitos, Plaka Estiatorio, Veraci Pizza, Contigo, Snout & Co., Jemil's Big Easy, Los Chilangos, Pie and more to be announced as the event nears.

Tickets are $50 for general admission (7:30pm) or go all out and spring for a $90 VIP ticket that gets you exclusive early 6pm access to the Paramount Theatre, private bar in the VIP Lounge and a VIP Swag bag. Tickets can be purchased here. This year’s event is sponsored by the Washington Beef Commission and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Beef Counts at Food Lifeline.

Feeling lucky? You can enter to win a pair of VIP tickets to this year’s event from Seattle Weekly here! 

So get your tickets today and I’ll enjoy some sips and samples with you at the 2014 Seattle Weekly Voracious Tasting & Food Awards on April 24^th!

Upcoming Event: Taste Washington 2014 - March 29th & 30th - CenturyLink Field Event Center

It’s Washington wine month once again (or #WAWineMonth to those of us Twitter savvy folk) and you know what that means: TASTE WASHINGTON IS NEAR! Every year, the month of March gives us a month-long celebration of Washington’s award winning wine industry. The month ends with the biggest and baddest wine event of the year. The 17^th annual Taste Washington (@TasteWashington) is the largest single-region wine and food event in the United States, featuring more than 225 Washington State wineries and more than 65 Pacific Northwest restaurants. There are, in fact, so many wineries and restaurants at this event that if you don’t go in with a game plan you’re going to be wide eyed and overwhelmed trying to decide what to try next (trust me on this, map it out in advance, CenturyLink Field Event Center is a large facility!).

Another Winner in the Books: The 2014 Seattle Wine & Food Experience Had Something for Everyone

This year’s Seattle Wine & Food Experience (@seattlewinefood) was nothing short of DELICIOUS. To re-cap: Meat wins, Skittles pair well with riesling, cheese lounges are my happy place, I’m so happy it’s rosé season, and the new signs led the way! What does all that mean? Well, read on…

2014 Seattle Wine & Food Experience Wine Awards Results Announced!

While the Seattle Wine & Food Experience (@SeattleWineFood) is still a few (very short) days away, the first annual Wine Awards for the event were announced today! Though not all wineries pouring at the event chose to enter their wines in the inaugural Seattle Wine and Food Experience wine competition, more than 60 wineries submitted 150+ wines for the awards in a variety of styles from red and white to sparkling and dessert. The wines were tasted and awarded medals by Great Northwest Wine’s (@GreatNWWine) tasting panel, led by longtime Northwest wine journalists Andy Perdue and Eric Degerman. The judges conducted the tasting under blind conditions. "The awards program was created to give wineries an opportunity to have their wines tasted by top wine professionals on the West Coast,” said Jamie Peha, president of Peha Promotions, TableTalk Northwest and producer of SWFE. "Because Seattle Wine and Food Experience is open to all wine regions it gives wineries an opportunity to be tasted on a broader scale.”

Upcoming Event: 2014 Seattle Wine & Food Experience - 2/23/14 - Seattle Center Exhibition Hall

The spring event season is upon us once again, with some of Washington’s best tasting events coming up over the next few months. Prime your pallet and work juuuust a little harder at the gym the next few weeks, because you will not want to miss the 2014 edition of the Seattle Wine & Food Experience (@SeattleWineFood), happening on Sunday February 23rd (12-5pm VIP, 1-5pm General Admission). The event is back in action at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, which has been its home for several years.

Woodinville Wine Tasting Day - November 2013

Wine tasting: it’s what we do here. And thus that quest took us up to Woodinville for a long overdue tasting day with a few girlfriends. While I was on an ultimate mission to show a newbie to the Woodinville scene some great wineries, I also had a personal goal of getting to some tasting rooms I hadn’t yet visited (or visited in awhile). Did pretty well, hitting two that I had never stepped foot in previously and visiting a few of the old favorites

Sips and the whaaaa? Where'd you go Taryn?

Ok, sorry for the unintended hiatus. I have been a horrible blogger and I'm going to change that right here and now. Life has been in the way of my writing, that whole day job and a boyfriend thing seems to take up so much time! But I enjoy writing so much so it's my mission to get back in the saddle and finally produce the posts I have been meaning to do for so long. Look for new content on a much more regular basis from here forward! Thanks for the support from the (probably about 5? Ok maybe 6...and my mom) people that follow Sips & The City!

Cheers!

Taryn