Pumpkin Pictures!!!

  Here are some pictures from our pumpkin carve last night.

  A blast was had by all!  I really mean it... It was fun!!!

Special thanks to Samantha Lu for donating all the awesome pumpkin carving tools and stencils!
Also, kuddos go to Adam, for thinking up this great idea!

Don't forget about our Halloween party tonight!

Costume Contest

Prizes

Drink Specials

Festivities start at 8:30pm!

Last Pumpkin Standing...

I broke down and ordered one last pumpkin beer for all you fans and whiners! Rogue Pumpkin Patch Ale. Nicely spiced and blended with organic pumpkin mash made from pumpkins grown in Rogue's own pumpkin patch. These bottles sold out of stock at Bottleworks in a day. Nice finisher to the array of pumpkin beers we had at the duck this year.

http://seattle.taplister.com/
Reminder: Keep up with our latest draft line-up at the taplister website.

Carve that Pumpkin!!!

This sunday, the 30th, we will be doing a little pumpkin carving at the Duck.

The details:
7:00pm
BYOP (Bring your own pumpkin)
If you can't get a pumpkin to the duck, let me know (in advance) and I can provide one for you.
We will supply the utensils and buckets.
The best pumpkin gets a free drink... They may even share it with their creator.
If you have a pumpkin that you've already carved... bring it down and show it off.  It could win you a free drink!

I know, I know... drunk people with knives.  It'll be fine.  We've got a first aid kit and all you have to do is apply pressure, right?  Oh, and put all appendages on ice until they get to the hospital.  Totally got it under control.

RIP Uncle Bernie

One-sided phone conversation:

...I know, I know...   It was really so sad what happened to my Uncle Bernie last year.  What a terrible way to die... All alone.  No one to comfort him in his final hours. 
...No, there was no way to ever know what finally caused his heart to give out. 
...Yeah, he WAS pretty young! 
...What do I think did it?  Well, we'll never know for sure but there was all that excitement at the Halloween Party at the Duck the night before.  You know, with the costume contest, drink specials and $3.50 pints of Hopgoblin Ale by Big Time and $4 pints of Dead Guy Ale by Rogue.  Yep, the Dead Guy might have actually made Bernie a dead guy.  Tragic.
...Anyway, I think the revelry may have done him in.  Poor, poor man... 
... I know, it's SERIOUSLY CRAZY...
...And THEN to have that kooky guy Larry and his nutty friend Richard try to manually reanimate his corpse in order to party in his house, get chicks and escape the mob?  Well, the whole thing is just so hard to believe, if you ask me.  Not even Hollywood could make up a story this ridiculous...
...Yes, it's almost been a year to the day and I'll tell you one thing for sure.  There is no way I'm going to be at the Duck Island this year.  I'm sure there is going to be an insane amount of fun and I hear that those heart defects can run in the family...

Halloween Party at the Duck!

Monday, October 31st

Costume contest:

Judging at 9:30pm

Prizes awarded 10:30pm

1st place-50.00 bar tab

2nd place-25.00 bar tab

3rd place-bar shwag and a free pint

It will be a spooktacular good time!

Come down if you DARE!!!

Duck... Duck... Geuze!

Hello Sour-o-philes!!!

This one is for you!  It's one of our new featured bottles...

Oude- Gueuze Tilquin

Oude Gueuze Tilquin à l’Ancienne is a spontaneous fermentation beer, produced from the blending of 1, 2 and 3 years old lambics. It is unfiltered and unpasteurized, and refermented in the bottle for at least 6 months. The lambics used were fermented and oak aged in our installations. These lambics are coming from worts brewed by Boon, Lindemans, Girardin and Cantillon breweries.

Only recently available in Washington.  If you are a fan of Cantillon, you must give this beer a try.  It's full of tangy, refreshing flavor with that signature hint of farmyard funk and a lip-smakin' sour finish of deliciousness!  Yummm!

2010-2011 Belgian Import
ABV 6%

12.7oz bottle

$11

The Mighty Aphrodite

Ommegang Brewing is located in Cooperstown, NY and they specialize in belgian style brewing right here in the US.  The Aphrodite is a very unique offering from a brewery that specializes in unique.  This beer is fragrant and fruity and DRY.  As an 8.9% fruit beer it blows away most comparable beers in this category for ABV.  This one won't be for everyone, but it's certainly worth a pint, just to say you tried it.  And for some, they'll be enamoured with this Goddess of Love.  She's a one and done, so get your fill while you can... for soon she will be gone... never to return.  Sweet sips and dreams, my lovely.

Some notes from Ommegang:
 

In Greek mythology, Aphrodite rises from the foam of the
 waves of the sea, enchanting all who see her, and inciting thoughts of love and lust where ever she goes.
We could hardly say it more eloquently. Our Limited Edition Aphrodite Ale is ethereal, intriguing and mysterious – as the Goddess Aphrodite
 must have been. Aphrodite has champagne-like carbonation, much as the foam of the waves of the sea. Plus enchanting flavors with whispers of raspberry and pear, and hints of funk and tartness created by the Brett yeast. The refreshing dryness comes from the unusual combination of Ommegang and Brett yeasts, and incites feelings of love and thirst, though we don’t know about lust. Grains of paradise are infused into the nectar, and when poured Aphrodite is crowned with a luxuriously shimmering rose-pink head.
Ommegang
Aphrodite: Ommegang Limited Edition Ale
Belgian-style
fruit beer with Brett yeast
Malts: Pils
and carapils
Hops: Celeia
Fermentation:
Ommegang house & Brett yeasts
Spices:
Grains of paradise
Fruit:
Natural raspberry & pear juices
OG: 14.5
Plato
FG: 2.8
Plato
ABV: 8.9%
IBU: 19

Nancy Brew and the Case of the Tricky Cask Task

You know, you'd think with the prolific number of beer geeks in this internet rich area I would have been able to find explicit instructions on how to tap a cask beer using a beer engine. 
You'd think. 
Ahhh, such was not the case, my friends.  I had to throw in the towel after a couple of failed attempts and hours wasted and call in the cavalry...
Dum-dadum-dummm...
Enter Kenny, our Odom Distributor Rep.
"How may I help you, Miss?"
"Kenny, Kenny, help!  Our beer engine has fallen into a well and if we can't get it out, our ability to tap a cask conditioned beer (which is a beer that has been specially prepared to be tapped and drawn without the use of CO2 and therefore is considered to be a more traditional and flavorful way to serve a draught) in the time honored tradition of manually drawing a beer by hand will be gone...  Lost to us... FOREVERRRRR!" Insert much wailing and hand waving here....
"Never fear, Miss!  I know just the one to call!  Our draught tech, Dave!  Dave?  Oh, Da-ve?"
Enter Dave, coveralls blowing in the wind as he leaps gracefully from his work van, which is full of many solutions and wonderful things, and so is he!
"Here I am to save the day!  I will use my many skills to rescue that beer engine from the well and restore it to it's former shining glory!  But I will not stop there, oh no, for that is not my way.  I will show you how to tap this man-made machine of beer dispensing awesomeness, for your use now and for future generations of casks to come!"
"Oh, super draught tech Dave!  How may we ever thank you?"
"Just pour that cask conditioned Skagit Valley Scullers IPA as it was meant to be.  Serve that beer and you're serving up a taste of man's history and tradition.  Spread the word about cask conditioned ales.  That's all the thanks I need."
"Wow!  We'll do it, I swear!  Thanks super Dave!  You are a man among men, and a tech among techs!  Thanks, again!"
"You're welcome.  And now, I'm off to draught parts unknown.  There are gas leaks to be discovered and tap handles to be delivered.  Bye, Duck Island Ale House!  Happy pouring!!!!"
"Our hero!!!!"

Our first cask offering:
Skagit Valley Scullers IPA
Today, Saturday
Tomorrow, Sunday
and
Monday... 
You must try a pint and spread the word.  I promised.