Warning! Long post about beer, (with pictures)!

When my husband, Mikey, and I bought Plateau Wines in August of 2019, one of my conditions was that we “add more beer” eventually. Beer is my beverage of choice, and I knew it wouldn’t be the same for me without a substantial beer presence in a business that I owned. The year 2020 and its drama aside, it would have been a challenge anyway to shift some of the focus to my favorite sudsy stuff, (being as how the shop was so focused on wine) but building a beer program was still high on my priority list.

Flash forward to last week where we kicked almost all ten kegs we had on tap and sold through A LOT of cans and bottles. Our tap list was so sad by Sunday that I turned the beer menu off in the shop. It’s a good problem to have, and gave me the opportunity to clean out and organize our cooler, reset our taps and put on eight fresh new beers. Plus, I’ve ordered cases of six new beers to fill up the hole in our to-go cooler in the back.

Craft beer is important to me; it’s been a part of my identity for over half of my life now. I started drinking it at a brewery in Everett on my 21st birthday and since then it’s never been far from my reach. I’ve seen breweries and beers come and go, and watched the Washington craft beer scene grow at a frantic pace over the last 20+ years. Ever fonder of the quality and diversity of these new ales and lagers now available to me, I kicked it into high gear when I heard about an, at the time, only five-year old organization founded on the premise of educating and training people in all things beer-y: the Cicerone Certification Program.

In 2013, after a year of intense, self-guided study, I became the 13th person and the third woman in Washington state to pass the Certified Cicerone exam; an intense, four-hour, in-person exam that tests your beer knowledge in many different areas: service, storage, food-pairing, brewing, off-flavors, styles and history. This was after passing the Beer Judge Certification exam, an online test I fondly call the “Mensa of beer tests” as a way to study for the bigger Cicerone exam. Passing these and becoming an official member of the beer community were the proudest moments in my life. Accomplishments always seem to come with some struggles, though, and just a few weeks after I found out I passed, I was fired from the brewery job I’d had for three years for reasons still unknown to me. Around the same time, a person in the beer industry whom I admired and respected shot me down for only “passing a test” and not having any real, long-term experience. These experiences caused my confidence to backslide and, coupled with moving to south King County where the craft beer presence back then was sad at best, sent me into the shadows for many years. It seemed the universe was reminding me to be humble, by teaching me the exact meaning of, “I know what I don’t know and I think I know what I know”.

This is perhaps a great example of how the less-than-awesome stuff of the past has a tendency to cloud our memories with its negativity. There were many positive things holding me up back then, too. During that time I met Mikey, (the day after I took my exam, actually) I had the respect and admiration of many of my friends, family and customers. I consulted on a project that has gone gangbusters since then, pandemic notwithstanding, and I gained a new kind of independence and perspective that only comes from being knocked down a couple of times. It’s led me to this moment, here and now, and this moment is pretty $%(^&@ awesome.

Passing the Cicerone exam is still my proudest accomplishment and, although it’s taken some time to find my confidence again, I’m back at it and will always love craft beer and its community. I hope that we can show people through what we offer at the shop how diverse and fun it can be, and I’m happy to geek out over it with anyone who’s interested. I also understand completely that it's great to just roll into a bar, order a drink and get to enjoying it with your friends.

In a few weeks we’ll be offering a monthly beer club designed to expand your palate and introduce you to others with the same goal in mind.

If you’ve stayed with me for this long, maybe you’ll appreciate a quick rundown of what’s on tap starting today! I’ll put my beer judge cap on:

1. Monkless Brother Bier

Curious about Belgian beer? This is your gateway Belgian. All the flavor of the region’s brews, without the high alcohol. Super-drinkable. Open your mind and try it!

2. Old Stove Helles Lager

This is the light lager you’ve been waiting for. Can’t beat it with our heat waves the last few weeks.

3. Paradise Creek Huckleberry Shandy

What can I say? This huckleberry sour/lemon soda combo is happiness in a glass. I love that the white wheat still shows up at the end, even with the soda diluting it.

4. Urban Family Apricot Sour

So tart, with the unmistakable nose of fresh apricots. There’s a reason Urban Family is one of the best sour brewers in Washington. Absolutely delightful.

5. Single Hill Sightglass Pale

Tropical and balanced. Super-satisfying for those who don’t like a lot of IBUs but still want that fruity hop flavor.

6. Stoup Robust Porter

Toasty coffee on the nose with a backbone of dark cocoa. Same palate with a lightly roasted nuttiness. Very well done.

7. Old Stove Hell Hawk Stout

Fruity, dense, iced-cake on the nose, palate is surprisingly lighter in body, but with all the flavor of a higher-alcohol stout. Smooth and lovely with a bit of roast and bitterness at the end.

8. Stoup In the Meantime IPA

A medium-bodied NW IPA with a herbal and woody hop note, clean with a firm bitterness to balance everything out. Will make NW IPA drinkers pretty happy!

9. Wander Clouds of Saturn IPA

Tropical fruit, coconut and orange, smooth and juicy. An awesome lower-alcohol juicy IPA.

10. Alter Ego Nocino Nonna Walnut Cider

This cider reminds me of all the things I love about fall: warm spices and warm sweaters, a pumpkin patch on a crisp morning and buttered rum in the evenings.

For sticking with me, and all of your incredible support over the last two years, I am incredibly grateful. It's been a journey. Cheers to many more. Thank you, friends.

Lyra