#aslan brewing

[borrowedplanetblog]

Photo: Washington Environmental Women’s Alliance.

Sharing from the Washington Environmental Women’s Alliance.

*** Action Item - Public Hearings on Grizzly Recovery Plan ***

There are less than 10 grizzly bears left in the North Cascades - without a recovery plan, the North Cascades grizzlies are on a clear path to extinction.

The National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have announced a series of public hearings in WA beginning THIS WEEK to solicit public input on a potential recovery plan.

Can you attend the Bellingham public hearing on Feb. 21? I will be there and I hope you will come too!

5:00 – 6:00 p.m. – Happy hour at Aslan Brewing Company, hosted by Conservation Northwest and Defenders of Wildlife, 1330 N Forest St, Bellingham, WA 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Agency open house at Oxford Suites Bellingham, 4051 Meridian Street, Bellingham, WA

The Park Service and USFWS need to hear strong public support for saving these iconic predators! Please post a reply if you can attend a hearing.

Here’s a great fact sheet to print out with suggested comments for the hearings - http://bit.ly/2lgNTAP

There are more hearings around the state starting this week -

Winthrop on Wednesday, February 15 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. – Happy hour at Old Schoolhouse Brewery, hosted by Conservation Northwest and Defenders of Wildlife, 155 Riverside Ave, Winthrop, WA 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Agency open house at the Winthrop Red Barn, 51 WA-20, Winthrop, WA

Omak on Thursday, February 16 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Agency open house at Annex Facility at Okanogan County Fairgrounds, 175 Rodeo Trail, Okanogan, WA

Mount Vernon on Wednesday morning, February 22* 9:00 a.m. – Skagit County Board of Commissioners Hearing Room 1800 Continental Place, Mount Vernon, WA *Note: This is a special meeting of the Skagit County Board of Commissioners regarding grizzly bear restoration. It’s important for Skagit County grizzly bear supporters to attend and speak up on behalf of grizzly bear restoration!

Darrington on Wednesday evening February 22 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. – Happy hour at The Hawks Nest, hosted by Defenders of Wildlife. 1215 State Route 530 NE, Darrington, WA 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Agency open house at Darrington Community Center, 570 Sauk Avenue, Darrington, WA 98241

Sultan on Thursday, February 23 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. – Happy hour at Sahara Pizza, hosted by National Parks Conservation Association and Defenders of Wildlife. 613 West Stevens Avenue, Sultan, WA 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Agency open house at Sultan High School, 13715 310th Avenue SE, Sultan, WA

Renton on Friday, February 24 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. – Happy hour at The Berliner Pub, hosted by National Parks Conservation Association and Defenders of Wildlife. 221 Main Ave S, Renton, WA 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Agency open house at Renton Community Center, 1715 Maple Valley Highway, Renton, WA

Thank you!

#SavetheCascadesGrizzly

[bearded12thman]

Boy it's good to be home.

[thepourfool]

Another Butt-Stupid List...And the REAL "Hidden Gem" Beer Towns

Another Butt-Stupid List…And the REAL “Hidden Gem” Beer Towns

Just today, a list of “Best Beer____” was circulating around the ‘net, this one from seattlerefined.com, in which a staff journalism student, whose bio has not one word in it about beer or brewing experience, compiled a post by simply pasting a highly suspect list from something called infogroup.com, which claimed to enumerate America’s “Hidden Gem” beer towns.

Bluntly put, the entire list is…

View On WordPress

[thepourfool]

Another Butt-Stupid List...And the REAL "Hidden Gem" Beer Towns

Another Butt-Stupid List…And the REAL “Hidden Gem” Beer Towns

Just today, a list of “Best Beer____” was circulating around the ‘net, this one from seattlerefined.com, in which a staff journalism student, whose bio has not one word in it about beer or brewing experience, compiled a post by simply pasting a highly suspect list from something called infogroup.com, which claimed to enumerate America’s “Hidden Gem” beer towns.

Bluntly put, the entire list is…

View On WordPress

[whatchudrinkin]

Pride of Lions

You’d think Aslan Brewing was named after the lion from C.S. Lewis novels. Apparently, Lewis just aped the Turkish word for lion for his anthropomorphic king of Narnia. Aslan the brewery is located in Bellingham, Washington and specializes in organic brewing. I saw a couple cans on the shelf and thought I’d give them a chance.

First up was the Dawn Patrol “Pacific Ale,” a designation invented out of whole cloth because no one likes a plain pale ale anymore. Want to know a secret? Dawn Patrol is a pale ale. A really good pale ale, but it’s nothing particularly new or exciting. Nice citrus notes, perfect balance, a bit of grapefruit pith in the finish, very easy to drink.

Batch 15 is Aslan’s IPA. It’s bolder than Dawn Patrol with big lemongrass notes. It’s more earthy than fruity with a firm bitterness. I only got a few sips before I handed the can back to Sarah. She shrugged. It’s fine, she says.

[sierraoutside]

Here’s Part 2 of my Weekend in Bellingham recap!

Saturday:  We woke up after our night out ready for breakfast. Bellingham has a ton of great breakfast options. I love the Little Cheerful and Old Town Cafe, and HomeSkillet was highly recommended by local friends. After debating all of the options, we decided on the newly remodeled Horseshoe Cafe.

Stacey, Jodi and I at the Horseshoe Cafe.

The Horseshoe has been around since 1886, it’s open late, and it’s attached to the Ranch Room, another great Bellingham dive. I remembered the Horseshoe being great for greasy, cheese covered potatoes and other classic hangover food. With the new remodel, it has classed up its menu a little. Don’t worry – you can still get cheese covered hash browns and black coffee if you want them! I tried chicken and waffles and a bloody Mary. They were both delicious.

It was a gorgeous sunny (!) day, and we wanted to be outside. After breakfast, Jodi, Greyson and I took Jodi’s dog for a walk on the South Bay Trail from Boulevard Park to Fairhaven and back. One of the coolest things that happened while I was living in Bellingham was the conversion of an underused building at Boulevard Park to an awesome, waterfront coffee shop. We didn’t stop at The Woods Coffee Boulevard Park this time, but it’s one of my favorite places to hang out, drink good coffee and watch the sunset.

Looking at Bellingham Bay from Boulevard Park.

I really  wanted to take Greyson to Chuckanut Drive and Larrabee State Park. I was so excited that we got a sunny day to do so. One of my favorite things about the Pacific Northwest and Bellingham is that people tend to enjoy the outdoors rain or shine, but, there is something special about that first sunny day after a long stretch of winter rain. This Saturday was definitely one of those sunny days!

The drive out Chuckanut was gorgeous, and I let Greyson be the passenger so he could stare out the windows at the San Juan Islands. We arrived at Larrabee State Park, paid our $10 parking fee, and headed towards the water. While the parking lot wasn’t full, there were A TON of people enjoying the sun warmed rocks and water views. The tide was also fairly high, so no tide pooling for us this time.

I tried to find the spot where I had done some climbing in college, but I was unsuccessful. We scrambled around on the sandstone and I wished I had worn my approach shoes instead of trail runners. We explored the social trails along the water, sat in the sunshine and soaked up the gorgeous views until we got hungry enough to head back into town. We decided on a snack and some beers at Aslan Brewing Company. I’ll do a full review of this brewery later, but, spoiler alert, it was amazing!

Before our dinner plans, Jodi, Greyson and I headed to the Up & Up Tavern (fun fact: the first bar I went to on my 21st birthday). It was remodeled and gussied up while I still lived in Bellingham, but now it’s even nicer. With the nicer atmosphere comes higher (though still way cheaper than California) prices. While I was in college, we were so mad when the happy hour PBR pitchers went from $2 to $3. Now a pint of PBR is $3! It’s still a great bar, but much less dive-y than it used to be.

We had plans to eat dinner at La Fiamma, but, apparently, so did half of Bellingham. The restaurant was so packed we didn’t even bother putting our name on the list. We headed over to Casa Que Pasa for their famous potato burritos (hint: get extra sauce). I’m guessing their other food is good, but, honestly, I’ve only ever ordered the potato burrito. Most of the smaller one is enough to fill up beyond full, and they make great margaritas. We basically rolled ourselves home after dinner.

Sunday: So I didn’t actually take any pictures on Sunday – oops! I had brunch with my best girlfriends from the college dorms – Jodi, Morgan, Becca, and Becky (and Greyson, ha!) at Becca’s new house. It was a little gray and rainy out again, but that didn’t stop us from taking a walk around her new neighborhood and enjoying the gorgeous view. After hanging out and chatting for hours, Greyson and I headed over to Fanatik Bike Co so he could he see some Evil Bikes in person. Despite the fact that we walked in 10 minutes before closing on a Sunday (sorry!), the Fanatik Bike Co staff were all great, answering all of our questions, letting me throw my leg over a couple of bikes and telling us about their bike rental program.

Photo from Edible Seattle.

We finished out our trip with a visit to BelleWood Distilling. BelleWood Acres honey crisp apples are my absolute favorite, and I was very intrigued to try alcohol made from apples. We tried their regular and honey crisp vodka, regular and reserve brandy, gin, and pumpkin spice liqueur. I loved the gin and honey crisp vodka, and I wish I could have figured out a way to take them home with me on the plane.

Boulevard Park at Sunset

I had an amazing time visiting Bellingham last weekend! While a lot of things have changed since I moved away in 2008, many of my old favorites remain. I’m glad Don and the Beaver are still there, but I’m even more glad that the wonderful outdoor opportunities have been protected. Each year, new college students and Bellingham residents get to explore Lake Padden, Larrabbee State Park, the trails on Galbraith Mountain, Whatcom Falls, Mount Baker and more! I can’t wait for my next visit back, and I have Greyson convinced that a summer visit is essential.

Do you miss your college town? Was it a great place to live?

Weekend in Bellingham Part 2: Beer and Sunshine Here's Part 2 of my Weekend in Bellingham recap! Saturday:  We woke up after our night out ready for breakfast.

[crepestimestwo]

Another recent little adventure we went on was to Bellingham, WA in the United States of America. While we were there we visited two breweries, Boundary Bay and Aslan. I really, really loved Aslan Brewing. So much that I even bought a hoodie from them - not something I’m very likely to do. The beer was all organic, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before, and it tasted awesome. Each was different, all were very drinkable. The food was also great. We stumbled in at happy hour, so had a mac and cheese, as well as some tacos for a very good price. I loved the decor, and the staff were very nice. It had communal tables and a great patio in the front.

We also hit up Boundary Bay Brewing, and the beers there were okay. I enjoyed their outside seating area and they even had a picnic tabled with a crib board built right in!