This just in from Engine House No. 9 World Headquarters on Pine Street in Tacoma. I imagine E9 head brewer Shane "Saison" Johns is swinging from the top branch of that big ol' tree in front of the joint. Congratulations!

Tacoma, WA - We are excited to announce that plans are in motion to expand the existing brewery fermentation capabilities, as well as the creation of a new barrel storage facility that will increase our current barrelage ten-fold. The existing 7 BBL brew house will remain in tact with a few needed upgrades in the original space at 609 Pine St., next to the historic Engine House Nine restaurant and brew pub. The first phase of the new Barrel House addition will be located in the Stadium District, closer to downtown. Tacoma's first craft brewery will now have the first Barrel House in Tacoma, and possibly the state...

Increased product availability-

The increased stainless steel fermentation space will allow us to continue to keep up with the heavy demand of our brew pub next door, and increase the distribution of kegs throughout western Washington, which we began last year with Alpha Beer Distributing, based out of Kent, WA. The massive increase of oak barrels, combined with the purchase of a new bottling system, will allow us to start releasing some of (Head Brewer) Shane Johns' award winning style beers, including American wilds, saisons, sour beers, and lambics. There will also be barrel space dedicated to higher gravity barrel-aged beers, like barley-wines and imperial stouts.

First-ever Bottle Release Saturday 3/7/2015

We will be releasing 375mL bottles of a raspberry wild ale and a farmhouse style saison. There is a very limited number of these first batches, and will be first come, first served. There will be a kegged version of the raspberry on tap at the brew pub, so you can try it before you buy. You will also be able to sign up for a new "Sour Club", as well as a newsletter that will announce future bottle releases and events. This will be the beginning of hopefully a long line of bottle releases to come from one of the only true producers of wild ales in this state.

More event info here:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/1609958445891962/

In 2010, a few days before the Weekly Volcano foodie and drinkie group Nosh League gathered at TWOKOi Japanese Restaurant and drank 10,000 gallons of sake, or so it felt, WV scribe Jennifer Johnson announced to the world that the Tacoma restaurant's sake specialist Jeannie Han was in fact very special, a certified sake specialist special.

News just arrived at Weekly Volcano World Headquarters that restaurant industry magazine FSR has also discovered how Han's special talents. Here is the news release out of the TWOKOI camp. ...

Home to the largest sake selection in the Pacific Northwest TWOKOI Japanese Cuisine and the City of Tacoma lead the way with sake! The September 2014 FSR Magazine recognized TWOKOI's sake program as outstanding in the nation! 

Right in the heart of Tacoma's downtown museum district, TWOKOI offers sake like you have never experienced before.  Our educated staff will guide you through a personal sake journey.  Whether you are sampling or pairing, our extensive sake selection will be sure to satisfy your palette!

Offering a variety of classes including sake as well as sushi and team building - inquire anytime about signing up today!

TWOKOI opens at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday through Friday for lunch, happy hour, and dinner and 2:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday for happy hour and dinner.  Classes are available seven days a week.

Nice.

I'm thrilled to report former Weekly Volcano scribe Steph DeRosa will grace our masthead again. DeRosa was a Volcano food, booze and dive bar writer from 2007 to 2012. She established an international reputation for her authoritative reviews and in-depth features on the inner-workings of the South Sound food and drink scene. Here's a taste from her first feature, which will hit the street Thursday.

Call me a scaredy cat, a wuss, or a coward - I don't care. I don't like airplanes and how they are all up the air without strings or legs or anything holding them up but fire and gas. I don't like the tube they put you in, the lady hacking up a lung three rows back or the stomach virus that one guy from New Jersey had last night but he still got on the plane today anyway. The four-inch-wide seats are no compliment to my fat ass, and even though I don't smoke, being up in all that anxiety makes me want to take a long, hard drag on a menthol.

Oh, and there's my paralyzing fear of kidnappings, vanishing flights in the Indian Ocean, the Italian judicial system and malaria. Those are all probable forces that haunt my inner traveler's soul. 

LINK: Steph DeRosa's story on the halo-halo dessert has posted.