Latona Times. March, 2019
Elliott Ryan
March 2019 Latona Times
Whoa! I know what you’re thinking—“a Latona email? I didn’t know they still did that!”
Well, there are a lot of things going on at the Latona and we want to fill you in.
First and foremost, we’ve got a new chef! James Erickson has worked in our kitchen for the last eight months or so, and has taken over the reigns as of the last few weeks. He’s talented and creative, so I think you’ll enjoy the energy he brings to the place. Already, he’s had a noticeable effect on the quality of the specials board and we’ve got a menu change right around the corner at the end of this month.
Also, it’s March, and you know what that means—March IPA Madness is coming. This year’s brackets will be available starting Sunday, March 10th, and you’ll be able to turn them in up until a winner is called for the first bracket.
Whereas in the past, winners have been decided based on how fast their keg disappeared, the rules are a little different this year. We’ll tap four IPAs at the same time, as usual, and you’ll be able to get a tasting tray of all four of them. The beers will be numbered one through four, you’ll rank them based purely on flavor and quality and then turn in your ballot to the server/bartender. Then, a few days later, we’ll tap four more IPAs, and you can do it all over again. We’ve never done a blind tasting event before, so I’m pretty excited to see how this goes.
This year’s IPA lineup is looking pretty awesome, with a lot of new breweries involved, so it ought to be fun to see what they bring to the table.
Aside from that, the Washington Cask Festival is coming up on March 23rd. We’re celebrating its 20th anniversary on Wednesday, March 20th, with the release of Bert Grant’s Legendary Cask Ale, brewed this year at Anacortes Brewing. We’ll be tapping the hoppy red ale at 5:30pm, and pouring it until it’s gone.
Then, on Saturday, March 30th, we’re hosting Chainline and Urban Family for the release of their collaboration Steinbier. Brewed with hot lava rock in the boil, the Steinbier is a rarely-seen style of beer that dates back millennia. When asked why they decided to resurrect this oddball beer, the brewers collectively answered, "Because we could." So, if you want to come experience one of the oldest beer styles in the world, come by and check it out!
And of course, we’ve got live music. You can catch Phil Sparks every Friday from 5pm-7pm for our Jazz Happy Hour, and then we’ll have our bluegrass nights from 7pm on Sunday March 10th (with the Wildfires) and March 24th (with the Highball String Band).
Cheers!
Matt