I’m just gonna share this announcement from the Downtown Bellingham Partnership, who have done a wonderful thing in putting this together:
“$6 craft cocktails! | $5 wines! | $4 beers! | 1/2 off apps! Every Thursday in March from 4:00pm-7:00pm. Simple as that!
Join us for Downtown Bellingham’s first-ever Happy Hour Thursdays, a full month of amazing happy hour specials at some of Bellingham’s best bars and restaurants.
The Washington Beer Open House is a chance meet local brewers, get a peek at the means of production, and sample some tasty brews.
Yes, it’s cold and crappy out, but if you get your crew together and trade off Uber fares, you can spend your whole day in a succession of toasty pubs. Participating breweries are listed below.
Aslan Brewing: Self guided tours with the owners and head brewer available to answer any questions you might have. Check out the newly upgraded brewhouse, and take home an exclusive Aslan Brew Process sheet.
Chuckanut Brewery: Tours will be held at 12 noon and 1:30 pm. All ages are welcome; kitchen will be serving food starting at 11 am. Meet the brewers and learn more about award winning Chuckanut beers.
Illuminati Brewing Company: Tours of brewery/winery facility at noon, 2pm, and 4pm Release of “Hammer of the Gods” Scotch Ale aged in Highland Scotch Whisky barrels.
Stones Throw Brewery:Tours of the brewery, which has been built in shipping containers, at noon, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, and 5pm . The owners will tell of the disreputable history of the property, the sustainable building process, and, of course, how they make their beer. Tours will end with tastes straight from the tanks for those who purchased $2 tasters. Family-friendly, dog-friendly.
Wander Brewing:Brewery and Barrel Den tour at 2pm (shown in the pic up top).
For most responsible adults, you’re a loser if you party all night on a Tuesday. On Mardi Gras, you’re a loser if you don’t.
Fat Tuesday is all about too much fun, so get out there and do stuff that’ll hurt in the morning. Here are a few ideas to get those good times rolling.
As I go through the sad business of deleting all the Green Frog’s recurring events from the Bellingham on Tap calendar, I’m moved to run through the notable openings and closings in town this past year (and a couple coming up).
For the past few years bingo games have been popping up, generally as monthly or one-off events. Now Glow Nightclub’s bingo is a weekly event – you can get you dabber on every Wednesday.
Each drink purchase gets you one free bingo card (with three grids); you can nab more for $1 each. The proceedings are made a little weirder with “bingo lingo,” nicknames for numbers that traditionally mixes British rhyming slang and military jargon. The Glow crew’s own contributions to the lexicon include “69, dinner for two.” Alas, 68 is “dinner for one.”
Host Aireekah Laudert lovingly bundles themed prizes from sponsor merch and, in one recent game, props left behind by a bachelorette party. Past prizes have included a Hecka Goth bag –“Quoth the Raven” incense, krampus soap, and a sweet Sailor Jerry’s tee — and the Stay at Home basket that included a leopard print onesie and a microwave egg cooker.
Fancy dress is welcome but not required – Aireekah and her accomplice Jackie Kersten (who ran bingo at the old Cabin Tavern) are fancy enough to carry the whole room.
This week’s game includes a cheap beer tasting to determine which mass-market swill is the finest. I got in touch with Aireekah to learn more.
BoT: Is this a blind tasting?
Aireekah: It’s a blind tasting! There will be seven different beers along with a sheet that tells you what beers are being served, but not in order. Then you guess which beer is which! Whoever gets the most correct wins a big prize at the end of the night, which they don’t need to be present for to win.
Also, there will be a special prize for the best description of a beer! And lots of swishing of cheap ass brews in mouths, talks of nuances, head, and legs.
BoT: Will there be palate cleansers? I read somewhere that they are an important part of a serious beer tasting.
Aireekah: We will have Glow’s regular array of tapas including cheeseballs, cotton candy, gummy worms, pretzels, and more! Did you know that Glow is Bellingham’s premier tapas bar?
BoT: Tell me why Fancy Bingo is a thing I should do.
Aireekah: Fancy Bingo is an amazing thing to do because bingo rules. We feature the best Bingo Lingo brought to you from the UK, the USA, and Glow. Also it’s an excuse to dress up like you’re going to the Golden Globes or a brunch with the Golden Girls!
And we have SO MANY PRIZES! Our sponsors include Sea Witch Botanicals, La Fiamma Woodfire Pizza, Red Boots Design, The Pickford Film Center, Comics Place, Shrimp Whisperer AK, and Glitt3r Lyfe! There’s even opportunities to win things without getting a bingo! It’s a blingo miracle every single frakin’ Wednesday.
Franzia Refreshing White is light and sweet, almost syrupy but not quite. It tastes like the liquid in juice pack peaches, and honestly, kind of delicious.
This would go down easy on a hot Indian Summer day. Better yet, throw it in the blender with some frozen peaches for a delicious wine smoothie. And since the box yields 6.66 bottles of wine, have some friends over.
So I went to the Gross Out to buy dish soap and coffee and came home with two bottles of this zinfandel. At 2/$6, how could I not?
After an epic struggle with the cork (seriously, it’s not supposed to be this hard) I was rewarded with a dry-but-not-tannic, round and oaky red with a pronounced woody aftertaste.
Not as big as I would expect from a zinfandel but definitely richer than other wines at this price point, and tastes delicious with a Criminal Minds marathon. It ain’t five tons – more like twelve ounces – but I recommend you buy some before it all gets scooped up.
Started my Sunday with breakfast at Rook and Rogue, the new board game pub in the old Port of Subs space at 206 Magnolia. They have approximately 700 board games on hand, covering all skill levels. Most are free to play, but R&R does have memberships that grant access to the super-fancy games.
Check out the nerdy-ass menu, ogle my Muggle Breakfast and Cyborg Mimosa, and admire our charming server Cassie. Rook and Rogue is soft open now, so they’re still tweaking things. They will be holding a grand opening celebration on May 27th.
Muggle breakfast
Cupholders swing out from under the table
Cassie showed us games appropriate for small children
Having a clean house is awesome. But cleaning your house sucks. Morning After Cleaning is the cure for busy – follow the link to get your free online quote today.
Here are some intriguing entries from the Liquor Control Board’s new applications for January. So many questions. What is Captain Bellingham? Is AB Crepes getting booze? How is Best Buds not a weed store? Continue reading LCB application highlights→
