Santa’s not real — but the beer is. So ho, ho hoist one.
The Washington Beer Commission’s third annual Winter Beer Fest happens Friday and Saturday at Hales Ales in Seattle.
More than 30 breweries will pour their bold cold-weather beers. Some will pour Christmas beers past — so beer-tasters can see how the same beers brewed in different years evolve.
Tickets — on sale online and at select outlets — are $23 in advance, $25 at the door. Designated driver admissions cost $8.
Meanwhile, Doyle’s Public House in Tacoma celebrates the 74th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition on Wednesday.
Honoring Dec. 5, 1933 – Repeal Day, "presents a wonderful occasion to get together with friends and pay tribute to our constitutional rights," said Doyle’s publican Russ Heaton. "Unlike St. Patrick’s Day or Cinco de Mayo, Repeal Day is a day that all Americans have a part in observing, because it’s written in our Constitution. No other holiday celebrates the laws that guarantee our rights, and Repeal Day has everything to do with our personal pleasures."
Doyle’s pleasures will include Jack Daniels whiskey and Miller High Life beer – "two brands that are true examples of American drink," according to Heaton.
"There are no outfits to buy, costumes to rent, rivers to dye green," Heaton said. "Simply celebrate the day … Split a bottle of wine with a loved one. Buy a shot for a stranger. Just do it because you can."
Here’s the official government language that once told us we couldn’t:
The 18th Amendment
Ratified January 16, 1919
Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.
Here are the government’s glorious words that say we can:
The 21st Amendment
Ratified December 5, 1933
Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
Washington state residents still can’t buy liquor at supermarkets like consumers in civilized states are able to do, but that’s another battle for another blog.
On the subject of Prohibition and Tacoma, here’s a story I wrote a couple of years ago about Tacoma’s glory days of brewing. Things were never the same after Prohibition.
A piece of Tacoma’s pre-Prohibition past.
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