After 11 days of fun, the 2013 edition of Seattle Beer Week came to a close on Sunday. As always, it was a hell of a fun week. I’m happy to slow down a bit this week, though.

Cheers to all the organizers, participating venues, and the hordes of people that enjoyed the events for making this another week to remember (even if it is a bit fuzzy).

I checked in last week with some of my 1st half SBW highlights, and following is a run down on what I enjoyed the rest of the week.

Wednesday – One of my favorite events every year is Firkin-Firkin at the Elysian Brewpub up on Capitol Hill, and this year was no exception. Each year, they have a selection of WA beers face off against a selection of special beers from a particular part of the country; this year they sourced some real gems from the Midwest. All beers are poured from casks, and there is voting for which beers are your favorites. The Midwest lineup won Best Regional Showing. The 1st place beer went to Brugge Brasserie Peony Kriek, while Elysian Space Dust tied with Three Floyd’s Zombie Dust for second. Cheers to Elysian for a fantastic event.

After Elysian, we headed over to Pine Box to see what special Firestone Walker beers we could snag. They were holding their Firestone Walker/Fran’s Chocolates pairing event, which was sold out, but they had special beers like Parabola and their XVI Anniversary Blend available to the public.

Thursday – Sour Fest. The lineup was as good as ever for the 5th year of this mouth-puckering event. Almost 60 sour/wild beers graced the taps of Brouwer’s Cafe, from the likes of Cantillon, Lost Abbey and Jolly Pumpkin, as well as local WA breweries like American and Big Al. Beer geeks lined up early for the 11am kick-off and stayed late to enjoy the impressive lineup. My favorites included the Freigeist Abraxxxas, which was lightly smoky combined with a mellow sourness; it is “inspired by an old style of smoked weisse beer known as Lichtenhainer which was popular in 19th century eastern Germany.” I also loved the balanced, refreshingly sour Struise Weltmerz Blonde Sour Ale. At just 3% ABV, this beer had a good body and packed plenty of flavor. It really impressed me while also helping to make my sobriety last a bit longer. This event is just another example of why I consider Brouwer’s Cafe one of the best beer bars in Seattle, and the entire country.

From there I bused it over to Capitol Hill to play some 9-ball for a bit in preparation for the tourney at the Taphouse Grill on the last day of SBW. Then we hit up Quinn’s for dinner and to see what they had pouring for their Stillwater brewers night. I somehow thought it was a good idea to get a glass of their Premium 45 “new world Scandinavian malt liquor.” I’m not telling you how much I had to pay for the 12oz glass (way too much), but it most definitely was not worth it. I sure did enjoy my boar sloppy joe with a pint of Georgetown Bob’s Brown after that, though.

I was ready to hoof it home after that stop, but it’s easy to get talked into doing stupid things during SBW. Hence, that’s how I ended up at the Hopvine for their Black Raven brewers night to finish the night. Some the Black Raven crew was on hand, as well as publican Bob Brenlin. I didn’t need them, but I sure enjoyed their Session IPA and then a glass of their Grandfather Raven Imperial Stout.

Friday – Couch. No beer. My liver needed a break, thank you.

Saturday – I had a beer judging commitment all day (more on that later this week), and then I hit up the Eastlake Zoo Tavern for some ping pong. They had some beers leftover from their Heavy Metal Bash SBW event, so this kind of counts. Not really.

Sunday – My last event for SBW was the 4th annual Brewers 9-Ball Tourney at the Taphouse Grill. 8 different breweries get together teams of 5 to compete in a double-elimination style tourney. I had the pleasure of playing for Firestone Walker, and while my awesome teammates carried us to a third place finish, I didn’t have much luck in my matches. It was definitely a fun way to finish an incredible week, though.

Cheers again to everyone involved in making this SBW another success. I’m glad it only comes once a year, though.