October 2011

WHALE TAIL ALE, an homage to West Seattle's famous Whale Tail Park just off of AIki Beach, is the second of three community-based beers made by Big AI Brewing designed to celebrate our neighborhood and to contribute to West Seattle and White Center charities.

It will be introduced in a simultaneous community-wide launch party at The Feedback Lounge, West 5, Shadowland, Mission, Big Al Brewing, The Bridge, Locöl, Beveridge Place Pub, and White Center's Full-Tilt Ice Cream, and Company Bar November 9 at 6:00 pm.

Each establishment is pledging a portion of the sales to the West Seattle/White Center charity of their choice.

The beer, brewed by Big Al Brewing, is a brown Belgian ale and will be exclusively available at The Feedback Lounge, West 5, Shadowland, Mission, Big AI Brewing, The Bridge, Loan, Beveridge Place Pub, Company Bar, Full-Tilt lce Cream and Avalon.

After December 1st, 2011, any venue with a liquor license will be able to buy and offer WHALE TAIL ALE to their customers.

Press your ear to the ground and you hear rumblings by a divided people in Seattle, those who drive and those who bike. Hostilities flair up. Sides seem as polarized as Congress and the administration truing to fix the debt ceiling. The tension between pedal power and gas was addressed in Mayor McGinn's Sept. 15 lengthy declaration. He called for a road safety summit in the wake of the tragic recent bicycle fatalities and the general sense of escalating injustice on the roads.

I have been in the car camp for my six years in Puget Sound. A bicycle wouldn't cut it in my career, plus, diet and exercise, what a hassle.

But all that has changed. I just rescued my 50 year-old 10-speed from my parents' suburban Chicago basement where it hibernated for over two decades. Alki Bike and Board overhauled it, and were decent enough to tell me my tires were still good. I bought the British bike, a Holdsworth, in 1975 at age 16 and put in some serious miles across America. My enthusiasm diminished when my dad bought me a second-hand Chevy Vega, which outperformed my 10-speed, until the steering went out on a busy street.