I love that the Central District has two very worthy places to report beer news on these days.

Chuck’s Hop Shop opened up at 20th and Union back in January, and since then business has been booming. I’ve been able to visit several times, and the neighborhood definitely seems to be excited to have them around. Just in time for summer, Chuck’s announced yesterday that their patio is now open for business. Situated on the north side of the building, this patio should get plenty of afternoon and evening sun. I can’t wait to make use of it. As you can see from the image, it looks to be a pretty decent size.

Standard Brewing has been open for business for just over a year now, and owner/brewer Justin Gerardy seems to be settling in quite nicely. Lately, he has been having fun experimenting with single hop pale ales. I loved the Nelson Sauvin single hop that I tried when I stopped by a few weeks ago. Yesterday, they released their new Falconer’s Flight single hop; get it while it lasts. More info on this beer:

Today we are releasing the latest variety of “Single Hop”. It gets quotes, because it isn’t really a single hop, but rather a proprietary blend called “Falconer’s Flight”. A combination of a whole bunch of Northwest grown hops put together by Hop Union in honor of Glen Hay Falconer, it includes Simcoe, Citra, and Sorachi Ace, as well as some experimental varieties. The blend is kind of a special thing, not just because proceeds from these hop sales go toward the Falconer Foundation, which supports the brewing industry, but because it really is a kind of perfect union of hops. It sits beautifully between all the pine, grapefruit, citrus and tropical fruit notes you’d expect from an IPA hop. Come refresh yourself with this highly quaffable 5.4% beer.

In other exciting news for Standard, they also now have their 2% ABV Bee’s Wine ginger beer available in 12oz bottles. Despite my love of all things low ABV and ginger beers, I haven’t tried this…but I certainly look forward to it! More info on Bee’s Wine:

It’s a big week for us here at Standard. We’ve been slaving for months to get the Bee’s Wine into 12 oz bottles. You’ve probably seen the brite tank sitting in the background, connected with tubing and a nifty silver jacket. I had to build a bottling line, a new walk in, and figure out infrastructure for handling pallets worth of bottles, labeling, etc … but today you can walk in and leave with a 6 pack of Bee’s Wine in bottles!! If you’re new to the Standard Brewing blog, Bee’s Wine is ginger beer as you won’t taste from anyone else. It is ginger beer as it originally was, fermented with a very specific culture that was originally required just to call it “ginger beer”. If you find another ginger beer on the market that uses fermentation at all, it is likely ale or champagne yeast, and not this special culture. It’s about 2% alcohol, extremely refreshing, and now you don’t have to drink 64 oz of it from your growler all at once, just to keep it from going flat! Mix cocktails with it, drink it straight from the bottle, take it camping and cure your hangover with this little number. Come and get it. $5/bottle, $28/six pack.