At the AHA Rally this Saturday, from 3pm to 7pm at Elysian Capitol Hill, you’ll have an exclusive chance to taste quite a few (more than 10) of the homebrews scaled up by local breweries for submission at the Great American Beer Festival’s Pro-Am competition. These homebrews were selected by the professional brewers themselves, and the homebrewers had the opportunity to go brew their recipe on a big system. In addition to being sent to GABF, most of these beers have been available at the individual breweries as well. Many of the brewers will be attendance, there will be brewery tours, and this is a great chance to try most of the beers being sent to Denver. In order to attend, you have to be a member of AHA. If you aren’t already a member, you’ll be able to sign up at Elysian.

It’s not too late to get out to one of the particpating local pubs and support Session Fest. Whether it’s Beveridge Place Pub, Naked City Taphouse, Shultzy’s, Collins Pub, or one of the other great pubs, you’ll find some low ABV offerings that don’t skimp on taste. Last night found me grabbing a Stone Levitation (4.4% ABV, and full of flavor) and North Coast Scrimshaw (4.4% ABV) down at Collins Pub. Even with mixing in an Alaskan Smoked Porter, I walked away with nary a buzz. Booya.

Naked City Taphouse can now officially be called Naked City Brewery& Taphouse!!! Congrats to “The Dons” for getting up and running on their system and brewing their first batch yesterday.  They are starting off with a light golden ale to calibrate the system. I’m looking forward to them adding a variety of house brewed beers to their already stellar lineup of local beers.

While Seattle offers a robust supply of amazing, locally-made craft beer, consumers here are also lucky enough to have access to some of the best beers made around the country and the rest of the world. The market is set to gain a few more well-regarded brewers when Laurelwood Brewery (Portland, OR), Green Flash Brewing (Vista, CA) and The Bruery (Placentia, CA) all start distributing their beers to the Seattle market for the first time. Seattle stores started stocking select offerings from the Bruery this week, and Laurelwood and Green Flash should be here soon (If they aren’t already). According to Laurelwood Head Brewer Chad Kennedy, their limited capacity has previously kept them from delivering to Seattle. “We’re just on a 15 bbl brewhouse here and we’ve had trouble keeping up. But, we’ve added 2 new fermenters that should give us the ability to keep Seattle supplied. We’re just doing 22 oz bottles right now. Free Range Red is available year round and Prevale and Wry Pale will be sent there too. Then, in November you’ll see our Vinter Varmer and in January it’s Organic Espresso Stout.”