Beer and music have been two of my passions throughout my life. It doesn’t get much better than enjoying a great band while sipping on awesome beer. Sadly, the majority of music venues and festivals don’t put much of a focus on their beer selection. I’m not saying that you won’t find something worth drinking at shows, but even in beer-rich Seattle the selection is typically far from inspiring.

For at least one night on Saturday, March 16, the Penumbra Beer Bash will change all that. This event at King’s Hall, near the Mount Baker Light Rail station, aims to pair some great local bands with stellar beer from some of the NW’s best craft breweries. I’m not talking about a few taps of IPAs here. More than 25 breweries have signed up to pour at Penumbra, and the tap list will include beers like Silver City Fat Woody Scotch Ale, Boneyard Hop Venom and Suge Knite Imperial Stout, Fremont Dark Star Imperial Oatmeal Stout, Hale’s Bourbon Aged Russian Imperial Stout and much more. There will also be beers from new breweries like Bellevue Brewing, Machine House Brewery, and Urban Family Brewing. The lineup has some serious heavy-hitting beers, but it is well rounded with session ales like the Machine House Mild (3.6% ABV) and 7 Seas Rude Parrot IPA (5.9% ABV). You can see the list of brewers and beers here.

The Pine Box will be joining in on the fun by bringing their 12 Randalls out to play. 12 beers will pour through the Randalls with various specialty ingredients infusing unique flavors. I’m guessing that for many people at the event drawn by the music, this will be the first time they will have ever seen one of these contraptions, let alone 12. A panel of judges (including me!) will help to determine the best of the Randalls.

While I’m rightfully excited by the beer lineup, most people will be even more excited by the music. Penumbra features local bands Champagne Champagne, Pleasureboaters, Tacocat, Wimps, La Luz, Prism Tats and DJ sets by Peel Slowly. Of the bunch, I’ve only seen Champagne Champagne, and they alone should be enough to get a lot of people excited about this event. We saw their high-energy show at Bumbershoot a couple of years ago, and the crowd loved it. Get ready to yell “Champagne! Champagne!” a lot. You can read more about all the bands here.

The event will take place at King’s Hall, which is located close to the Mount Baker Light Rail station. It’s not exactly a central venue, but the proximity to the Light Rail makes getting there and then back downtown a snap.

Tickets are $25 and come with 7 tasting tokens and a commemorative 4oz tasting cup. More tasting tokens can be purchased for $1.50/EA, 4 for $5, or 10 for $10. There are also a limited number of VIP tickets for $40 that include 10 beer tokens plus the full flight of 12 Randall beers, as well as early entry to the event.

I love the idea of this, and I hope Penumbra is successful and inspires similar events in the future. Penumbra is also a fundraiser for The World is Fun, a non-profit organization that connects volunteers, corporations, and charities in need throughout Seattle.

Cheers to The Stranger for putting this on, as well as Mark Leavens of Schooner Exact, who is helping to drive the idea and curate the beer selection.