Head Brewer Shane Johns has been making some of the best sours in the state for several years down at E9 Brewery in Tacoma. We see those beers sporadically up here in Seattle at festivals and special events. But, by adding a barrel-storage facility as part of a series of upgrades, Shane will be able to produce up to 10 times as much sour/wild beer as he does today. That is great news, people.

E9 will also be releasing their first bottled beers on March 7 at the brewery. 375ml bottles of Raspberry Wild Ale & Farmhouse Style Saison will be available for purchase.

More from E9:

Tacoma, WA — We are excited to announce that plans are in motion to expand the existing brewery fermentation capabilities, as well as the creation of a new barrel storage facility that will increase our current barrelage ten-fold. The existing 7 BBL brew house will remain in tact with a few needed upgrades in the original space at 609 Pine St., next to the historic Engine House Nine restaurant and brew pub. The first phase of the new Barrel House addition will be located in the Stadium District, closer to downtown. Tacoma’s first craft brewery will now have the first Barrel House in Tacoma, and possibly the state…

Increased product availability-
The increased stainless steel fermentation space will allow us to continue to keep up with the heavy demand of our brew pub next door, and increase the distribution of kegs throughout western Washington, which we began last year with Alpha Beer Distributing, based out of Kent, WA. The massive increase of oak barrels, combined with the purchase of a new bottling system, will allow us to start releasing some of (Head Brewer) Shane Johns’ award winning style beers, including American wilds, saisons, sour beers, and lambics. There will also be barrel space dedicated to higher gravity barrel-aged beers, like barley-wines and imperial stouts.

First-ever Bottle Release Saturday 3/7/2015
We will be releasing 375mL bottles of a raspberry wild ale and a farmhouse style saison. There is a very limited number of these first batches, and will be first come, first served. There will be a kegged version of the raspberry on tap at the brew pub, so you can try it before you buy. You will also be able to sign up for a new “Sour Club”, as well as a newsletter that will announce future bottle releases and events. This will be the beginning of hopefully a long line of bottle releases to come from one of the only true producers of wild ales in this state.

More event info here:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/1609958445891962/