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It’s summer! For those under 21, that means summer camp. For diehard homebrewers and devout bloggers, that might mean Beer Camp (looking at you, Sierra Nevada and Baird Brewing!). However, for everyone else, summer is the season of choice for outdoor revelry at any number of beer festivals around the world.
One of the breweries making the rounds to more than 40 events this summer is Diamond Knot Brewing. Located in Mukilteo, Washington, Diamond Knot is now in their 20th year. Founded by homebrewers Brian Sollenberger and Bob Maphet back in 1994, Diamond Knot describes itself as “a hobby gone wild.” Their empire now consists of two restaurants and three breweries, and Brewmaster Pat Ringe is producing just under 6,000 barrels a year. Their name comes from a famous cargo ship of the same name that shipwrecked off the Washington coastline in 1947. According to their website, “it is a story of perseverance, tenacity, and being resourceful in the face of adversity. Bob and Brian named the brewery Diamond Knot to honor the hard-working and innovative participants of the shipwreck and its salvage, and as a reminder of what is possible when you have dreams and ambition.” Cheers to that, or as we say in Japan, where Diamond Knot is also available, “kempai!”
So, just what makes festivals so much damn fun aside from the beer? According to Diamond Knot, the benefit of going to so many events is that they get the opportunity to meet their fans in person and interact with a variety of people in the craft beer community. In Japan, some of our annual craft beer events include Craft Beer Live in Osaka; the Great Japan Beer Festival in Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, and Nagoya; Snow Monkey Live in Nagano; World Craft Beer Tasting in Osaka; and the Japan Brewers Cup Festival in Yokohama (Yokohama shout out for everyone that includes Yokohama as part of Tokyo!).
While these types of events are fun on any continent or island, there are some key differences. Since craft beer is well established in the US now, Washington beer drinkers know their beer and enjoy talking about it. In Japan, people just don’t have as much experience with craft beer, so they aren’t so concerned with what kind of hop goes into a beer or what malt a brewery chooses. This may allow Japanese to be a bit more open to new styles of beer, if you can get them to the festivals to venture away from what they are overly familiar with on the supermarket shelves. Stateside, people know what they want to drink, for the most part, these days. They are looking for a new interpretation of their favorite style that will blow them away. The great thing about festivals is that you can spend the day exploring new beer with friends (or in some cases, when you have had too much beer, you can spend the day looking for your friends!).
September 5-7: Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival (beer garden is 5th and 6th only).
September 10: Bellingham Bay BREWers Cruise
September 20: Purrfect Pals Fundraiser (Production Brewery & Taproom)
September 17-21: DjangoFest Northwest (Whidbey Island Center for the Arts)
September 26-27: Inland NW Brewfest (Spokane)
September 27:Washington Artisan Cheesemakers Festival (Seattle Design Center)
Check out the Diamond Knot homepage for a Calendar of Festivals and Events in the Washington area.
