Eric Radovich Pours the WABL beer from Snipes Mountain at the 2010 Cask Fest.

One of my favorite beer festivals of the year rolls into Seattle Center’s Fisher Pavilion this Saturday. The 12th Annual Washington Cask Beer Festival will feature 37 Washington breweries pouring more than 75 cask beers. The afternoon session is already sold out, but as of yesterday there were still some tickets left for the evening session online.

This festival is all about letting the brewers have a little fun. Sure, there are many great everyday beers that will be pouring and tasting fantastic. But, many breweries use this festival as a chance to come up with some unique beers. As is typical for Seattle, you can count on lots of hops as a general theme. My buddy Dean, who doesn’t dig the hops, usually gets pissed off about halfway through once he’s knocked out most of the malt-focused beers he wanted. You can visit this link to see a full list of the beers that should be pouring, but following are a few of the beers I’ll be targeting.

Anacortes Ten IPA – This Imperial IPA from the makers of one of Washington’s best regular IPAs is sure to pack a punch at 10% ABV.

Big Al Hop Villain Black IPA – I love the Black IPAs, and I love what Big Al can do with both roasty and hoppy beers. They’ll also be pouring their impressive Sourlicious.

Fremont Brewing – I was going to try and highlight just one of the three beers they are slated to bring, but I want them all. BBomb with organic vanilla beans, Brother Double IPA, and Dark Star Imperial Oatmeal Stout aged in bourbon barrels with coffee. How do you choose?

Georgetown Brewing Lisa’s Chocolate Stout – This limited release chocolate stout from Georgetown is made with chocolate from Theo. Enough said.

Hale’s SuperGoose IPA – This IPA is regularly available, but the only time I’ve had it on cask I remember loving it. Count me in.

Maritime Pacific Jolly-Gator – A well-aged cask of the famous Jolly Roger blended with Navigator Dark Weizen Bock? Hell yeah.

Naked City Spark in the Dark Smoked Porter – The person in front of me grabbed the last taste of this at Cask Fest last year. I won’t be making that mistake again.

Ram Brewery CoCo Nut Porter – This won 1st place at cask fest a few years back. Hoping for a return to that form this year.

Schooner Exact Bravehorse IPA – Get a sneak-peak of the new IPA made for Tom Douglas’ yet-to-open Bravehorse Tavern.

Silver City Fat Woody Bourbon Oak Aged Scotch Ale – The “normal” Fat Woody uses straight oak chips. Can’t wait to see what some bourbon adds.

Sound Brewery Porter – I’ve enjoyed what I’ve tried from this new brewery so far, and I love a good porter. Looking forward to see what theirs is like.

Valholl Brewing Stouty McStouterson Imperial Oatmeal Stout – With a name like that how can you not try it?