This afternoon I met up with Vik & Vrithi from Bothell and Epicurious Passport, and Sabrina & Crystal from Chicago. First stop for our Central Ballard Tour was at the Urban Family Brewing Company,

On our stop at Stoup Brewing Crystal and Sabrina examine the BW Red Ale and realize how it got its name.

At Stoup Brewing the brewers emptied the mash tun. We tasted a bit of the mash. Kind of like a warm oatmeal. They also showed us some of the hop pellets. PRO TIP: Unless you really, really want to know what bitter tastes like, just smell the hops, don't put them in your mouth.

At the end of our tour, I ended up with Vrithi and Vik of Epicurious Passport at ObecBrewing.

The only thing better than going to a Seattle Sounders FC game is a brewery tour first like David & Ann here at Elysian Brewing. Now the Georgetown breweries: Jellyfish Brewing Lowercase Brewing and Machine House Brewery are giving discounts on pints if you take a selfie drinking at one of them.

Cheers David and Ann at Jellyfish Brewing Company. This is a great time to visit Georgetown because breweries like Jellyfish Brewing, Elysian Brewing Lowercase Brewing and Machine House Brewery are giving discounts on pints if you take a selfie drinking at one of them.

Now is a great time to visit the Georgetown breweries because Jellyfish Brewing is giving discounts on pints if you take a selfie drinking at.Lowercase Brewing Elysian Brewing or Machine House Brewery. On our tour we enjoyed Brown Ale and cask conditioned ESB at Lowercase

On his way home to Delaware from a trip to Alaska, Brian joined me on a walking tour and we visited @urbanfambrewing

Small world story, on our tour, Brian from Delaware, far right, taught Jr. High Science to Joe, 2nd from left, from Philly, with his wife Alison. They had not seen each other all these years. Beer does have the power to unite people. Our group enjoyed the beers at Stoup Brewing

Big fun on our tour at Obec Brewing with Damir, Joseph, our guide, Brian, Joe, Alison, Eric and Leslie. Obec means community and we found it in a glass of beer. ObecBrewing

New brewery opens this weekend in Seattle - Bickersons Brewhouse second location, Grand Opening Sat. & Sun. BickersonsBrewhouse washingtonbeerblog.com/new-brewery-op…

It is Fresh Hop Season and a great time to be drinking beer in the Great Pacific Northwest. Everyone is brewing and pouring some great, fragrant and hoppy beers. Last week my tour stopped at BickersonsBrewhouse right when they got a load of fresh HBC 586 hops from Loftus Ranches

A rare treat for my beer tasting tour last week. We arrived just as owner and head brewer Frank Castro of BickersonsBrewhouse was adding fresh hops from Loftus Ranches into the Mash Tun. Frank gave my guests an impromptu lecture on the fine art of fresh hopping.

Last week my tour was lucky enough to catch BickersonsBrewhouse head brewer and owner, Frank Castro, in the act of Fresh Hopping, curtesy of Loftus Ranches After the wort was filtered through the fresh hops and moved to the fermenters it was time to clean out the mash tun.

A day of beer tasting, for a group of old friends, including a lot of Fresh Hopped IPAs, ends at Lagunitas Seattle TapRoom & Beer Sanctuary. Hanging with old friends is always better with a beer. LAGUNITAS BREWING CO

While staying in Westport, Ireland, I visited Mescan Brewery. About 17 km, 11 miles west, a bit hard without a car, I had a great taxi. On the side of Croagh Patrick the brewery is named after St. Pat's brewer. Mescan specializes in Belgian beers, a bit more ABV then Irish ales.

Founded in 2010 by two veterinarians, Cillian and Bart, who built a 1000 liter Mescan Brewery from scratch. Many of the pubs will have local craft beers in bottles behind the bar, and most Off Licence (aka liquor stores for Americans) will have a craft beer section.

I'm looking forward to visiting my first craft beer festival in Ireland, the Grainne Ale Festival at Gracy’s Pizzeria and Bistro @WestportHouse with my new favorite Irish craft beer, Mescan Brewery this Saturday and Sunday with food and music.

Linda and I had a great time at the Grainne Ale Craft Beer Festival @WestportHouse. It was a great day for a beer festival, with four breweries from northwestern Ireland present. Mescan Brewery, ReelDeelBrewery, Lough Gill Brewery and Black Donkey Brewing

Grainne Ale Craft Beer Festival @WestportHouse I tried some great beers from James at Lough Gill Brewery, Conor at ReelDeelBrewery and Cillian from Mescan Brewery