Hey y'all and happy Friday!
HAPPY OFFICIAL FALL! To celebrate, we had our first Southern Tier: Pumpking of the season. Yup, cinnamon sugar rim and all. Send us an email, we'd love to hear what you're up to on this first weekend of fall!
In this weeks issue:
The spooky season beer we are running to the store to grab today
An NA beer that will lower your blood pressure (results may vary, don't quote us)
We <3 women in science (& beer)
[ 01 // THE FLIGHT ]
Our faves from this week
🍬 Move over pumpkin, candy corn is having it's moment with the collab possibly no one asked for (aside from us)... Shock Top X Spirit Halloween candy-corn wheat ale.
🧛 Zymarium Meadery goes all out for spooky season with an entire month of Spooktober themed events. Drinking blood--I mean mead out of IV lines sounds vonderful.
🫒 Health-conscious drinkers rejoice! Athletic Brewing has teamed up with Graza for an olive oil infused pilsner packed with healthy fats AND without the hangover.
🚐 Car-pooling... but for your hops. Original Pattern has the Bay Area covered delivering fresh, wet-hops to local breweries to skip the dry hopping process. Enviro & beer friendly, we love to see it.
💫 Science rules; especially when drinking a Stargazer beer helps fund an educational program about the first female astronomer dating all the way back to 1847!
[ 02 // THE PINT ]
Trivia nights so unique everyone is a winner
Let’s make one thing clear before we start today: we love brewery trivia nights (even though we usually get our butts kicked).
But some breweries deserve to be highlighted for going above and beyond the status quo. Look no further for a few of our favorite stories including fun spins on trivia, as well as non-trivia events that make us mighty jealous we’re not in driving distance.
Trivia, but remixed
First up is Strangeways Brewing in Fredericksburg, Virginia, which is hosting Dungeon Crawler Carl Trivia on October 1.
The cult classic book series (one of Andrew’s faves) follows Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, through an increasingly dangerous dungeon that also happens to be an intergalactic game show. Questions will cover the characters, the floors, and the chaos fans love.
This type of hyper-niche themed trivia is one that brewery-goers devour, and has us always excited to see what fan-fave will be next.
Out in Bend, Oregon, Bevel Craft Brewing goes all out on a monthly themed trivia night with matching music, video, and questions. Players go all out wearing costumes and coming up with on-theme team names. This year has featured an Oregon Movies night nerding out with The Goonies and Lord of the Rings trivia based on the extended editions.
Trivia alternatives
Now for the breweries thinking outside the box, with non-trivia events that we love.
At Portico Brewing in Somerville, Massachusetts, every tap handle is a handmade LEGO miniature building. The best part is that they host LEGO building contests, and winners get to have their design featured as the new tap handle!
Book lovers get their own night too! Silent Book Club has been making rounds in taprooms, including Common Space Brewery in Hawthorne, California.
Bring whatever you’re reading, grab a beer, and get some quiet reading time next to other brewery-goers doing the same. No expectations, just good beer and peaceful reading time. Truthfully, we’ve been doing this for a while… but now it’s an actual event. Cool!
And finally, we head to Axemann Brewery in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, for Kitty Yoga.
On a recent Wednesday night, trivia was running downstairs while nearly 50 people sat on yoga mats while holding foster kittens. Aka, heaven on earth. Plus, every dollar goes to the Centre County PAWS shelter.
The first session sold out and it’s been so popular that it has returned every other month since March. A few lucky kitties have even found forever homes there!
So why do we care so much about trivia? Our favorite trivia night at 7 Devils in Coos Bay gave us a connection to our community and even a lifelong friendship with a stranger who needed a team (shoutout Ryan who will be joining us at our wedding in a couple of weeks).
We love seeing breweries build on that sense of community, whether people come for a shared love of a niche book series, a LEGO brick, peaceful reading time, or a sleepy kitten.
Have a cool or unique event at your local spot? Let us know whether it’s trivia, or something completely new! Who knows, it could even be featured in our next Flight & Pint!