I admit we talk about The Red Hot on Spew more than any South Sound business. Maybe too much. The reason is two-fold. One, owner Chris "Trashcan" Miller promotes the hell out of it. He's a smart business owner. And two, well, Weekly Volcano restaurant critic Jake de Paul said it best in our Best of Tacoma 2009 issue:

What’s left to say about The Red Hot (that we don’t say every freakin’ day on this blog)? The best spot for the biggest variety of ultimate mystery meat presentations — damn straight. The best place to drink pitchers of unheard of beer on a boring Sunday afternoon - not a question for debate. The best place to watch the game and get clipped by a piercing — true dat. Everyone knows all of this. If you want to be an urban legend, you’ll have to visit The Red Hot. Because if you haven’t been, you’re nobody. Well, nobody special, anyway.

The Red Hot marketing machine hit us again recently with news of its second anniversary party Sunday, Aug. 16 from 1-10 p.m. Their backyard beer garden will be hopping with a pub-only keg from Elysian called Elysian Koolsch; a cask of Big Al's Hop Soup will pump through their new beer engine; a firkin cask of Schooner Exact 3-Grid IPA will flow at 5 p.m. after someone hammers the tap in (old school!); the Randall will be in operation; the beer floats will be lined up; and The Red Hot will also tip local Pont 21 wine.

Also returning from their first year anniversary will be the hot dog eating contest. Instead of stuffing 50 or so — or whatever ungodly amount it was — hot dogs down, this year's contest winner will be the fastest to pound three hot dogs including the buns. The contest begins at 6 p.m.

I fired up a Q&A with Mr. Trashcan for his thoughts on the business after two years.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: First of all, what the hell is a Randall?

CHRIS TRASHCAN: To get down to brass tacks, a Randall is a filter device filled with whole leaf hops that instantly dry-hops beer at the serving point. DogFish Head Brewing out east came up with it years ago.        

VOLCANO: What was your favorite Red Hot moment from the past two years?

TRASHCAN: Every time I could bring a new beer to the area, or turned someone on to a new beer — especially someone who "doesn't like that kind of beer" when they come in, and leaves loving at least two craft beers.

VOLCANO: What was your least favorite Red Hot moment from the past two years?

TRASHCAN: Sorry to be vague again, but it's every time a jerk who did not see the "No Jerks" on the sign on their way in, comes in.  We are a tavern/taphouse/beer parlor/what have you.  Happy people belong here.  Jerks do not.

VOLCANO:  What would be your desert island tap lineup if you could only have 10?

TRASHCAN: It changes daily, but tap lineup, not including bottles, as I write this, assuming proper refrigeration is there, in no order, and to keep a good selection:

1. a dry-hopped cask of Schooner Exact 3 Grid IPA
2. Hales American Pale Ale
3. Victory Prima Pilsner
4. Thomas Kemper Helles Lager from the mid-90s when it was in Poulsbo, Wash.
5. Pike XXXXX Stout
6. Baron Hefe-Weisse
7. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
8. Port Townsend Hop Diggidy IPA
9. Anchor Steam
10. Rainier

That gives me two kinds of IPA to choose from, some easier drinking stuff, some lighter stuff for the desert island sun, a dark one for cold nights, and good ol' Rainier to keep me humble. I would, however, want to rotate handles again in a few days, so. …

VOLCANO: What's the top selling hot dog at The Red Hot?

TRASHCAN: Switches between The Chicago, The 6th Ave Strut, and The Hilltop Strangler

VOLCANO: What will year three hold for The Red Hot?

TRASHCAN: Since our party is day one of our third year, our new cask beer engine will have its debut outside pouring (Big Al's Hop Soup). We got the beer engine from Jack at The Swiss, so I am honored to have a little piece of Tacoma pub history now being used in my place. It was totally rebuilt by Shane at Good Turns Draft Service, and I've been holding off on unleashing it for some time now. 
Other goals are to reduce waste. We currently recycle 60 percent of our total waste we generate (glass, paper, metals).  We're trying to get that figure up to 75 percent, and find some other options for stuff we have to dump in the trash. 

We'll also have the first New Belgium Brewing Bike-In Movie in Washington State on Saturday Sept. 12. 

We've been trying to get the Man Vs. Food guy in here to do the Gauntlet Challenge, but still no luck. 

So, to tie it up: more cask stuff, a larger bottle selection with more bottle conditioned stuff, more cellared kegs showing up, more beer-centered events, trying to buck the trend and operate "greener" I suppose, and keep on working to bring in more unique craft beers to Tacoma. And, of course, other cool surprises.

VOLCANO: Thanks Chris.

The Red Hot second anniversary party is this Sunday afternoon. The party actually begins Saturday at 7 p.m. with a Randall Battle with Schooner Exact Brewing. They're using two Randalls on the same beer, but using a different hop variety in each Randall.  That's so Red Hot.

[The Red Hot, Sunday, Aug. 16, 1-10 p.m., no cover, 2914 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.779.0229]