Festival Preview: WA: 12/6 & 12/7 Washington Beer Commission presents Winter Fest at Magnuson Park

Starting on Friday December 6th (5pm – 9pm) and running thru Saturday December 7th (12pm – 4pm & 5:30pm – 9:30pm), the WABC Winter Fest returns to Seattle.

WABC Winter Fest departs Hale's Ales' Palladium

Unlike previous years, where Hale's Ales' Palladium played host, this year's festival has been relocated to the formal Naval base known as Magnuson Park. The basis behind this decision has more to do with providing a comfortable, festival, experience, while allowing for a greater number of breweries to contribute.

Discover a great urban park which includes pieces of Seattle’s military past and eco-friendly future! Warren G. Magnuson Park sits on a splendid mile-long stretch of Lake Washington’s shoreline in northeast Seattle. At 350 acres, it is Seattle’s second largest park.

This former Navy airfield has transformed into a unique combination of features and activities for you to enjoy: recreation and leisure—boating, tennis, swimming, walks, kite flying, to name a few; sports fields; natural areas; and a historic campus.

For a look at the history of military base reuse in Seattle, please see Military Base Reuse.

Loyalists to Winter Fest will recognize this as the 3rd location since Winter Fest was inaugurated. In fact the first location was held at Pyramid Alehouse's Brewery - which back then was not in use. Which puts into scale how far along the festival has come since when one compares the Palladium’s accommodations against Pyramid's brewhouse.

But much like those size 3 sneakers you once wore, Hale's Palladium has outgrown it's capacity to host a beer festival. All the more reason to move to a larger location. And a new location isn't the only change coming to Winter Fest. This year the festival will be broken into two sessions on Saturday and one session on Friday.

This change might be unwelcome for some - but it will hopefully minimize over-imbibing - while allowing more unique festival-goers a chance to sample beers that are usually gone later on. Plus if you require a nudge, we have included a list below. Or if you like you can read the Washington Beer Commission's article, which features the breweries and beers included at this year's festival.

Winter Fest 2013 Beer Checklist - it's only a suggestion.

As you will notice there aren't many beers or breweries listed below. We figured that with over 50 breweries and over 150 possible beers to choose from, it wouldn't make sense to just "copy & paste" the entire list. Instead we wanted to focus on new breweries, traditional (Winter-like) or hard to get beers. Bear in mind there are many, award-winning, breweries that are omitted from this list. In fact if you ever were a guest in our home, you would see we support many local breweries.

Enjoy!

• 7 Seas Imperial Oatmeal Raisin Stout
• Airways Snow Pilot Winter Beer Old Ale
• American Brewing Winter Classic Strong Ale
• Anacortes Locomotive Breath Imperial Stout and Noel Winter Ale
• Bainbridge Island Wing Point Winter Ale
• Black Raven Festivus Pale Ale
• Brickyward Masonry Oatmeal Stout
• Diamond Knot 2010 Ho! Ho! Winter Ale
• Elysian The Griswold Family Secret "cream ale blended with eggnog"
• Foggy Noggin Christmas Duck Porter
• Fremont 2013 Bourbon Abominable Winter Ale & Abominable Winter Ale *comparison
• Georgetown Russian Imperial Stout
• Hi-Fi Little Czar "Russian “seshperial” stout"
• Kulshan Kitten Mittons Winter Warmer
• Machine House Winter Ale
• Maritime Vintage 2010 Rum Aged Cask Jolly Roger
• Redhook Naughty Reindeer Spiced Brown Ale
• Silver City Bourbon Barrel Aged Old Scrooge Christmas Ale
• Snipes Mountain Terror in the Rye
• Sound Entendez Noel Belgian Quadrupel
• Stoup Winter Warmer
• Strong Arm Cincinnatus Imperial Brown Ale
• Urban Family Revel Yell Belgian Dubbel *brewed with Italian plums

Tickets are still on sale for each of the session, with Saturday's morning session sure to sell out before the others. Click on the Brown Paper Tickets link and purchase a Friday, Saturday Afternoon, or Saturday Evening Ticket.

For tickets, a list of beers, and other festival details; visit the Washington Beer Commission's Festival page.

Cheers

About the Photo’s Author

+Russ is a photo blogger and an avid beer drinker"