As another year winds down and we turn our sights (and calendars) to 2023, we want to pause and take a moment to reminisce on the past year. Each one seems to go faster and faster, but in looking back, we’re always impressed at all we packed in to those 12 months that flew by.
On the beer side of things, we amped up our Frenz collaboration series with three releases this year and brewed with our friends at Barley Brown’s in Oregon, Fremont Brewing in Seattle, and four of our best Yakima brewery buds on our most recent Frenzgiving release. Our Homegrown Beer series got a new seasonal look with Spring, Fresh Hop, and Winter releases but still showcases the same great homegrown hops and barley you know and love, and our Clarity Rarity Hazy IPA series transitioned into a year-round rotating can offering thanks to new statewide placements at Fred Meyer and QFC. In the Imagination Station, we brewed over 100 different beers this year, continuing to experiment with new ingredients and refine our brewing techniques while making sure our taprooms are always stocked with the freshest brews.
Speaking of our taprooms, this fall, we celebrated one full year in our Ballard taproom, and Yakima got a sweet outdoor facelift this spring with even more seating and three built-in firepits. We had such a blast at our annual Mango IPA party in May that we followed it up with a new Post Harvest celebration at the end of September to raise a glass to all the farmworkers who just finished another hop harvest. In June, Ales for ALS came back after a hiatus since 2019 with our largest turnout ever, and the Ales for ALS program surpassed a big milestone this year with over $5 million dollars raised for ALS research since its inception in 2013.