30-day countdown, day 25: The official beer of the UW football season 2021

Needless to say, football and beer are a fantastic couple. Whether you’re watching a game on your couch, at a sports bar, or going back outside the stadium, there’s a pretty good chance of preparing for the game with a cold beer or an ice-cold beer in your hand. In recent years, we at UWDP have researched the beer landscape to select the official beer of the season and returned again to help you with this important task.

Since I’ve tried every beer to prepare for this post *, I had to narrow down the list a bit. Naturally, beer must be local. While Oregon has some great hops and great breweries, they definitely don’t show up on this list. I also tried to choose different beer forms for different taste profiles and needs. Not all times are suitable for heavy IPA, and not all microdrinks are available in all locations. With that in mind, let’s go for beers.

* This statement is not true. I didn’t try every beer.

Dru Bru Kolsch, Snoqualmie Pass

If you’ve never visited Dru Bru, you might want to visit the Snoqualmie Pass, one of the most beautiful places to drink beer in the universe. I’m not a skier, but there are some great hikes nearby and there’s a great pie for people (pizza) across the street. Kolsch is from Cologne, Germany (Cologne from Germany, hence the name). CraftBeer.com describes Kolsch as follows, fresh, delicate and drinkable, the German-style Kolsch is a beer hybrid, which means that its production and subsequent beer drinking get a saddle from both lager beers and ales. These light and refreshing ale-lager hybrids are perfect for warm summer days and have become a favorite style for American artisans and beer lovers. With a small child at home, Ive been researching lower ABV beers for the past couple of years, and this has been a winner. Its light but also tasty. You may have more than one crash, but it doesn’t seem to drink water. As a bonus, many local Kroger stores steal this beer and other Dru Bru options, so it’s not hard to find. If you’re further south, Tacoma has a Dru Bru tasting room, though I can’t guarantee it like I did for the Snoqualm vintage.

Bodhizafa IPA, Georgetown Brewery

I am constantly amazed at the greater consistency and breadth of Georgetown Brewing as a larger local brewery. Rogers Pilsner, Johnny Utah Pale and Lucille IPA are excellent and deserve a place in the beer fridge. None of them are as good as Bodhi, one of the freshest and tastiest of all Washington IPAs. I’m not the only one who’s a fan of this beer; it won the American Style IPA Gold Medal at the 2016 Great American Beer Festival. I give the brewery bonus points for making a Point Break theme (Bodhizafa, Johnny Utah) in the name of beer.

Mosaic Pale Ale, Stoup Brewing

There are enough small breweries around Seattle, so it would be really hard to try them all. Still, Stoup stands out above most and is well worth a visit. Ballard’s brewing flagship is a kind of dirty, industrial charm that draws people into the neighborhood. Stoup opened another, more spectacular spot in Kenmore, which a friend described as original [expletive deleted] red Robin. Whatever, I don’t care about things that aren’t dirty. One of Stoup’s virtues is that they have a huge menu and almost everything is very good. From the more traditional to the adventurous, they really know how to make beer. If Stoup has a distinctive beer, it’s probably Mosaic, which you get from tap or cans at the brewery and a handful of local grocery stores. The taste contains an excellent balance with hops and malt. If you can’t find it at your nearest beer store, make a trip to the brewery.

Judgment

I’m not sure there’s the right answer to this question, but I’ll pick Dru Bru Kolsch and probably bring it to most of the tailgates I’ll be attending this year. If you want to get one for each, I don’t blame you for it.