Gig Harbor's 7 Seas Brewing celebrates its five-year anniversary Saturday with a huge bash. Shockingly, I can't find a promotional video pumping the party. If I were to create a video promotion for 7 Seas Brewing's 5th Annual Anniversary Bash, this is how it would go down. ...

("Rambo" by Ben Union plays.)

7 SEAS BREWING'S CO-OWNER MIKE RUNION: (Floating on a raft in the middle of Gig Harbor) You ever get the feeling you could just ... I don't know ... brew something incredible?

(Cut to a sinking yacht.)

AIRLINE PILOT: That yacht is going to sink!

7 SEAS BALLZ DEEP DOUBLE IPA: I'm on it! (The 7 Seas Brewing beer dives off the Jerisich Dock, using all of its 8.4 percent ABV and 82 IBUs, it pulls the yacht to shore.)

BEAUTIFUL REAL ESTATE BROKER: Look at the ballz on that beer; his malt is so firm!

MIKE RUNION: It's Ballz Deep ... (Cut music. Blackout.) And it will be at our 5th Anniversary Bash Saturday, July 12.

("Can't Get That Low" by C-Leb & The Kettle Black plays)

7 SEAS BREWING CO-OWNER TRAVIS GUTERSON: (Standing on top of Peacock Hill) You ever feel like drinking a beer can make you fly?

HARBORVIEW DRIVE WALKER ONE: I don't know why I feel so depressed.

HARBORVIEW DRIVE WALKER TWO: Maybe it's your beer? You got to get off the Blue Ribbon, girl. You're bringing all of us down.

7 SEAS RUDE PARROT IPA: What you need is a big juicy, tropical fruit hop nose girlfriend. Grab ahold of my can and let me show you what Simcoe and Citra hops can do to your attitude ... and altitude. (The Rude Parrot IPA and Walker One fly toward Fox Island.)

TRAVIS GUTERSON: That beer can fly! And so can you from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday at our brewery on Judson Street. But flying is for adults only, so leave the little birds in the nest.

("6 AM" by Perry Acker plays.)

MIKE RUNION: (Lying in Semel Homestead Park's meadow, long blades of grass between his teeth) We work to minimize our carbon footprint through efficient operations, responsible packaging and recycling programs. We also recycle our spent grain to local farmers as livestock feed. ... (Cutt's Ale cuts him off.)

7 SEAS CUTT'S ALE: Memo to Mother Nature: Don't think, even for a minute, that just because you've scheduled 80-degree weather Saturday, that I'm going to stay holed up inside the can cooler. I'm busting out my brilliantly clear reddish hue, intense nose of pine and citrus and pleasant lingering hop bitterness on 7 Seas' patio, kicking back with the musical styling of Ben Union, C-Leb & The Kettle Black, Perry Acker, Four On The Floor and Red Stone Sinners.

MIKE RUNION: Pack it in; pack it out!

("Resurrection River" by Red Stone Sinners plays)

TRAVIS GUTERSON: (Standing next to Mike Runion in their taproom, both wearing orange life jackets): Our brewery rose from ashes in 2008 after a fire tore through our first location, and in late 2012, we moved our entire operation to a 3,000 square foot brewing facility in downtown Gig Harbor. (They both extend their outer arms toward opposite walls.)

MIKE RUNION: This is our annual opportunity to say thanks to all those who have supported us and made this company what it is. And we are extremely thankful. A day of beer, food and music in our beautiful downtown waterfront. (They both extend both arms forward toward the outdoor patio.)

TRAVIS GUTERSON: Buck-B-Q will be serving up favorites off the grill and lighter salads, and Tizley's Euro Pub, serving up some vegetarian options and ratatoulle

(All the 7 Seas beers gather around their two creators.)

TRAVIS GUTERSON: And, of course, our beers will be front and center.

MIKE RUNION: Hope to see you all here.

(Cut music, fade to black. Cut to title screen with "7 Seas Brewing 5th Annual Anniversary Bash" floating in the middle of Gig Harbor.)

VOICE-OVER: 7 Seas Brewing is at 3006 Judson Street in Gig Harbor. The party is a 21 and older event. The cost is just $3 per person, 100 percent of which goes to the bands. Credit/debit cards will only be accepted for merchandise purchases, so bring cash for entry, beers and food. The Tap Room will be open for growler fills and merchandise only. Of course, good dogs on leash are welcome with their humans. Lifestyle Valet has graciously offered its shuttle service free of charge during the party. Walk, bike, designate a driver - just be sure to be safe!

Last Wednesday during the Narrows Brewing brewer's night at Puyallup River Alehouse, Narrows head brewer Joe Walts told me he was excited to celebrate the brewery's first year, how much he's enjoyed living in our region and Stephanie Anne Johnson was scheduled to perform at his one-year anniversary party Saturday, July 19. The press release for the anniversary party dropped today. ...

This July marks the one year anniversary for one of Tacoma's newest craft beer breweries, Narrows Brewing Company. Located in the restored Mill Building in Narrows Marina at the bottom of 19th Street, it enjoys a waterfront setting that takes full advantage of the view of its name sake waters, the Narrows Bridge, and local boating activity.

The one year anniversary will be celebrated with a craft beer style party Saturday, July 19th from 6:00 - 11:00 and will be held not only in the taproom, but also the brew house, a portion of the adjoining warehouse, and an outdoor deck. Tickets are $10 and a limited number are being sold in the taproom. The party is being dubbed "Breakers Ball", a fishing community reference to a favorite location off Pt. Richmond, where local fishermen have great success fishing in the breakers created by prevailing winds.

Read more...

Comment On This Post

Every Friday after 2:45 p.m., when workday decorum is thrown out, Weekly Volcano publisher Pappi Swarner pops open a local brew, tilts back in his rickety office chair and cranks his Frazier Model Seven speakers. And as interns inappropriately learn from Pappi during their orientation, nothing tastes better than pairing local music with local beer. Pappi picks one song and repeats it until he can see the bottom of his glass. When the music stops, we know he has left the building.

Today, Pappi has paired China Davis' "Anjilla" off their new Arctic Days album with Harmon Brewing's drINK THIS White IPA.

Singer and principal songwriter Ben Fuller and his musical mate and brother, guitarist Ted Fuller, have been making music since their junior high days in Gig Harbor. They're both music freaks, but Ben takes it one step higher. He'll chat music for hours on end, and he can pull it off. He hears every note, and remembers every note he hears. The Fullers' band, China Davis, is firmly rooted in the foundation of Americana and singer/songwriter tropes with the ability to bring the rock. They recently released Arctic Days, their Dark Side of the Moon, but haven't officially released it to the public. How about that release show, guys?!

"I think ‘Anjilla' sums up the feeling and the theme of the Arctic Days album," explains Ben. "That's the reason it's the first song because it sets the tone of the whole thing. I'm a huge music fan and I love most of the music that has come out of our region that has become really big, I'm just not sure that I look at any of it and say, ‘that feels like Washington to me.' That was a real goal of mine in making this album. What does it sound like here? I can hear England in The Beatles and The Who. I can hear California in the Beach Boys and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Jamaica in Bob Marley, Minnesota in Bob Dylan, New York in Lou Reed and Oklahoma in Woody Guthrie. What sounds like the Northwest? I wanted the land and the water in these songs - my grandparents' struggles as commercial fishermen. The connectedness of family and being connected with our past in the present. I've been working at this idea for a long time, but it's quite the task because this group of songs is a lot more revealing than anything we've ever done as a band.

"When we put out Shadowdancing I was in a really tough place in my life, mostly in the relationship sense. It's kinda hard to get into but my personal life was feeling like a ship that was going down slowly. I kept on patching the leaks and finally the bottom of the boat broke open. I decided to just let the damn thing go down and let go for a while. I actually didn't date for a couple years and got myself on track. Then I met Faye out of nowhere. 'Anjilla' is a song about that I suppose — I needed to look at things differently and see things about life that were always there but were being ignored. I named the song 'Anjilla' after my grandfather's fishing boat. The real boat was called Angilla after my sister Jill and cousin Angela. I thought if I made it 'Anjilla' it would be pronounced more like it is intended to sound and maybe even make my sister a little bit uncomfortable, which I think would be funny.

"('Anjilla') is really about a dream of a shipwreck rescue, about hitting the restart button and pulling yourself out of the muddy shore. I think the line 'All the singers you used to love, all dead men' says it all — just being OK with yourself to move on and start over. Our band has been around for quite a while right now and we needed to really look at what is important for us artistically as opposed to trying to make it. So, this song leads us as a band into the first chapter of our Great American Novel, the one about the Northwest. Each song is a small piece of a bigger story; 'Anjilla' is the welcoming to that world."

Since Ben is a fan of IPAs, we're pairing "Anjilla" with Harmon Brewing's drINK THIS White IPA, which was brewed in conjunction with the "Ink This" contemporary print arts exhibition at the Tacoma Art Museum.

"I am not only a singer-songwriter but I am also a guy who drives a beer truck for a living," says Ben. "Laugh all you want but Elvis Presley was also a trucker! Lately, I would say that I have to go with IPA as my ‘go to' beer."

drINK THIS is a medium-bodied IPA brewed with three different malted barleys that make up 60 percent of the grain bill. White wheat makes up the other 40, with five different hop varieties - Simcoe, Centennial, Cascade, Amarillo and Citra - used in the kettle. It rings in at 7.6 percent ABV and 65 IBUs.

"The Harmon also makes a pretty good Vanilla Porter," says Ben.

LINK: China Davis on SoundCloud

Every Friday after 2:45 p.m., when workday decorum is thrown out, Weekly Volcano publisher Pappi Swarner pops open a local brew, tilts back in his rickety office chair and cranks his Frazier Model Seven speakers. And as interns inappropriately learn from Pappi during their orientation, nothing tastes better than pairing local music with local beer. Pappi picks one song and repeats it until he can see the bottom of his glass. When the music stops, we know he has left the building.

Today, Pappi has paired SweetKiss Momma's "Dirty Uncle Deezer" with 7 Seas Brewing's Ballz Deep Double IPA.

"The song was inspired by a buddy of mine named Deezer Hooch, who is the front-man for the band Martha Dumptruck out of Seattle," explains Jeff Hamel, lead singer and guitarist with SweetKiss Momma, the rebel country-fried rock band from Puyallup. "He is a great performer, and I wanted to try and convey the swagger and sheer badass-ness that he emits on stage. It is somewhat biographical, in that he really is "half a gangster, half a pimp, three-fourths lover and all band news" and his wife's name really is Hannah, but I'm not certain if she was ever into Roller Derby, as the song suggests. She really is a sweetheart, completely the opposite of her portrayal in the song."

Musically, it started with a great riff from guitarist Aaron Arnold that initially sounded like a "Master of Puppets"-era Metallica rip-off until drummer Jimmy Hughs and bassist Jeremy Hamel helped slow it down and move it a bit more to the pocket.

"Really, the song is a warning about making room for love in your life, because you're going to need it when things get difficult, and it's going to find you whether you like it or not, so you may as well make a place for it," says Jeff Hamel.

"As we were recording the solo at the end, our producer Ken Coomer (Wilco, Uncle Tupelo) kept asking Aaron to make it more "rough" and "sloppy" - terms not oft associated with Arnold's near virtuosic playing," continues Jeff Hamel, and since those are two extremely accurate descriptions of MY guitar playing, I got the ‘opportunity' to jump in and lay that sucker down. My first, and probably last, recorded guitar solo - though it was pretty awesome to use a POG pedal on it that once belonged to Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls."

SweetKiss Momma will tour Europe early next year.

Saturday, June 21, you can hear the band's dirty guitars, down-home lyrics and whiskey-licks for free at Doyle's Public House, beginning at 9:30 p.m.

Since Jeff Hamel is a fan of 7 Seas Brewing, Pappi is pairing "Dirty Uncle Deezer" with the Gig Harbor brewery's delicous Balls Deep IPA, a massive double version with resiny Yakima Valley hops, hard-hitting malt, leafy bitterness and caramel flavor. It rings in at 8.4 percent, right in Pappi's wheelhouse.