NW Thank You thread

Wow, what a GREAT beer PERIOD!!!!!!!! Happy Birthday @beertunes and enjoy that wonderful de Garde Flanders

 

Happy Birthday @beertunes! I'm thankful for being old. Not everyone gets to be old

 

I'm thankful I'm not as old as @NWer, but even more thankful he's as old as he is, and that I got to meet him for the first time at the bottleshare back in June. He's an awfully nice guy, but a fair number of you, I think, already knew that. I'm also thankful for all the other folks in this forum I was finally able to meet this year, and whether by happenstance or design. You know whom you are. I already liked everyone here, but now I'm able to like those I met that much more having encountered you in the flesh and seen you, to some extent, for what you really are.

I'm further thankful that those who had health scares this year, like @beertunes and @distantmantra, and anyone else who had to endure some hardship without public notice or knowledge, are still here. We've all lost people, and virtually every day brings a new reminder of just how precious and fleeting life, including our own, is. We're only here by a miracle in the first place, and every minute of existence is a gift. I'm thankful that anyone reading this is still drawing a breath. I hope you all draw many, many more.

There's lots of personal stuff I'm thankful for, particularly in a year which started so poorly and is ending so well, but that's the subject for other pairs of ears and eyes. Right now, to this audience, I'll just say I'm thankful for the fact that we all live in the best region for beer on the planet. Even accounting for homer bias, I don't believe this is heresy or fake news. Just the facts, diligently researched and honestly reported. You're welcome to prove me wrong, but you better bring a surfeit of data.

At last, I'm grateful for the Peated Brew 2000, which I saved for this night, and which co-authored this post. Fremont may be my personal favorite, but they are honestly just one of so many outstanding local breweries which spoil us with their passion, dedication, hard work, and mastery. What did we ever do to deserve this? Whatever the answer, we better keep trying to earn it...

 

Thanks to family, friends, and you guys, who, on most days, are somewhere between the two, in a beery sort of way.

Thanks to Fremont for the bottle of 2014 KDS Spice Wars, which went really well with both of tonight’s pecan and pumpkin pies.

 

I am thankful for the NW forum, by far the friendliest section of BeerAdvocate.

This year I have had the good fortune to put quite a few faces and real names to the familiar avatars and nicknames of the Northwest regulars. Without fail, they have turned out to be fine human beings. All of them. And still my list of "Northwest BAs I want to have a beer with" only gets longer.

I am thankful that I live so close to the region which grows 75% of the hops in the US. I am especially thankful during fresh hop season.

I am thankful to live in the best region for beer in the world. A place so rich with readily available excellent beers that I have neither the interest nor the need to trade for out-of-state beers. (This is not a dig at beer traders! It is more a statement that my beer habits have changed. While I occasionally miss the joy of opening a big box of beer from a good trading partner, I don't miss the work or the expense.)

 

I know it's a day late, but hopefully not a dollar short. I'm thankful for relocating up here 3 months ago.... finally!!! So happy to be close to my sister again and my wife's extended family, to be able to host and share with them already, and to have moved into a great and friendly neighborhood. I'm most thankful to now be able to raise my two little children in the greatest area in the country, as far as I'm concerned. I'm also thankful for my brother in law for bringing over some stellar Wolves And People over last night. Cheers!

 

I'm also a couple of days late, but hey, it's still Thanksgiving weekend.

I'm thankful for the two BA NW Forum bottleshares this year, where both the beer and the people were equally interesting and enjoyable. I'm thankful for the online interaction with all the NW Forum contributors all year long.

I'm of course thankful for the standout high profile breweries that have given me so many good things this year: Fremont, Reuben's, Deschutes, Holy Mountain, Bale Breaker, pFriem, Georgetown (Bhodi in cans!) and the list goes on. And I'm thankful for my standby spots: Beveridge Place, the Beer Junction, the Pine Box, and the Masonry.

But I want to throw some extra thanks towards the smaller less high profile outfits that I've been happy about this year. Bainbridge Brewing - my beer with turkey on Thursday was their Res Judicata, a sour that's just excellent. And they are doing some other small release barrel aged beers as well. Silver City, whose Old Scrooge I enjoyed again yesterday. Perihelion, on Beacon Hill, one of the few breweries in Seattle with a real kitchen, and whose food and beer are both worth the trip. The Dane, a really good Crown Hill coffeehouse with a really great tap list. And Uber Tavern, still as good as ever after a lot of years, it's smaller and less hyped than a bunch of spots, but I always enjoy stopping in there, and I always find several interesting beers.

I'd be curious to hear about small unhyped spots that you're thankful for.

 

Not on here much lately, due to phone issues and weird schedules, but I'm grateful for all the BA friendships I've made, especially on the NBS thread, it's associated BIFs, and, especially, this forum. Whole lotta great folks here.

 

My favorite underrated locales that I don’t see mentioned much include The Beer Authority in Lake City and Flatstick Pub.

The Beer Authority is my local bottle shop and is really what started me down the rabbit hole of beers beyond IPAs to the wider range of strong ales, stouts and barrel aged wonders. Burc has a larger cut of my annual income than i’d ever admit to.

Flatstick is a bit of a guilty pleasure as it always feels like it should be filled with frat broz but the all local tap list consistently has beers that broaden my horizons and the table games are a fun way to play hookie from work from time to time.

 

It's an angry duck or goose in Riverfront Park in Spokane. I didn't take the pic, but for whatever bizarre reason, it cracks me up. Possibly, I identify with it's orneriness.

 

Kinda impressed how I said especially twice. I may have been drinking.