Best Hot Dog & 21st Amendment

I guess the fine folks of Western Washington saw it fit to bestow upon us the title of “Best Hot Dog in Western Washington“! Thanks guys for voting for us and bringing the title to Tacoma! I know this because the good folks at King 5 asked us to come down and film a spot for it…but then changed their minds the day of. Oh well…

In other coolio news, tonight we are hosting the release party for 21st Amendment’s newest beer, Back In Black IPA.

We’ll be tapping the first keg of it tonight! We’ll also have on their Brew Free or Die IPA & Hell or High Watermelon Wheat, both huge hits at the recent Tacoma Craft Beer Fest. Expect discounted pints of 21A Beer and delicious good times starting at 7pm!

We’re Two Years Old…

Tonight (Saturday 8-15), 7pm: Randall Battle with Schooner Exact Brewing! 3 Grid IPA through 2 Randalls…one with Amarillos, one with Cascades! Meet the brewers and geek out!

Tomorrow (Sunday 8-16), 1pm: Our anniversary party opens our beer garden at 1pm. On tap out there will be Elysian Koolsch (pub only from Elysian Fields), 7 Seas British Pale Ale, Port Townsend Hop Diggidy IPA through the Randall, and the debut of our beer engine with a cask of Big Al’s Hop Soup IPA. At 5pm, we’ll be tapping a firkin with our pals from Schooner Exact outside with their delicious dry-hopped 3 Grid IPA that we can’t get enough of. At 6pm, the return of the annual hot dog eating competition! This year is all about speed, with each eater given 3 hotdogs and buns…whoever downs ‘em the fastest, wins! The weather is going to be killer, sunny and 78, and we’ll keep the garden open into the night. Hope to see all of our pals there to celebrate!

Coming Soon: Reunion ‘09 Double Wheat, Lost Abbey 10 Commandments, Port Townsend Scotch Ale NITRO, Double Mountain Hop Lava IPA, Laurelwood Hop Monkey IPA, Walking Man Homo Erectus IPA, SESSION FEST, NBB BIKE IN MOVIE, & MORE!

p.s.: Website for Tacoma Craft Beer Festival is live! IT’s still being tweaked and things added, but the first draft is up!

Beat the Heat With Woody

Woody is a travelling tavern on wheels. It’s a giant wooden keg that opens up into a tavern, complete with stereo and disco ball.

Woody is from our pals at Deschutes Brewing. He’s in Tacoma today rolling around, and will be making a full-fledge stop at The Red Hot Wednesday Night @ 7pm until close. We’ll be pouring a ‘heat-friendly’ batch of beers on tap in the outdoor beer garden out of Woody: Deschutes Red Chair IPA (from Deschutes Bond Series of beers), Green Lakes Organic Amber, Twilight Ale, & Black Butte Porter. There may even be some surprise handles. All Deschutes handles are on special. The best part is we reworked the beer garden so it’s all in the shade. Hell. Yes. We’ll be on our “BBQ Menu” for the night due to increased capacity, but at least it’s easier on your purse strings…and your hot ass living room. We’re giving away shirts, hats, growlers, glasses, and even a Deschutes Skate deck.

It’s gonna be a damn good time!

Red Hot Art on the Ave

Art on the Ave is back! We’ll be opening at 11 am this Sunday. We’ll have a sidewalk table (featuring a brown-bag special for those who want a meal on the go…all beef hot dog, bag of chips, moon pie, and a RC Cola) and seating set up out front on the Ave (rest your feet and grab some eats), and we’ll have an outdoor beer garden set up out back (with an additional 4 handles pouring out back as well) with tons of seating. You can even duck inside for an air conditioning break. It’s always a killer time. I hear the Fashion Show next door at The Wedding Bell will be making a trip thru our beer garden as well.

If you hate crowds, the AOTA stuffs is over at 5, & we’ll be open to our regular Sunday close time of 10pm. Word.

The Big Catch-Up

Sonnuva…it’s been a while since a post…here’s why:

TRH wrapped up 2008 while not under my watchful eye. Seems last year when I got hitched, it meant my anniversary would always be on New Year’s Eve. My wife of one year decided to surprise me with a trip to Las Vegas. This also meant it would be my first time on an airplane (no, I’ve never needed to fly…yes, I’ve driven everywhere I’ve needed to go). More surprising was how we were going to pay for it, seeing’s how, well, we have no money, but whatevs. You only have a 1-year Anniversary once. Thank us for boosting our economy with the use of credit!

Here we are with 600,000 other people on the streets of Las Vegas in the middle of the intersection of Las Vegas Blvd. and Tropicana:

Here is the most disgusting, foul, vile thing to ever call itself a hot dog:

Since we couldn’t get remarried (everywhere booked solid), I proposed to her again at 11:59:50pm in that intersection up above in front of all those crazies. Thankfully she said yes again, so I guess we’re going to have a party sometime this year in town to do it again. Here’s the awesome $10 rock:

Oh yeah, Vegas has the shittiest selection of beer ever known to man. Granted most of it is free, so it’s not a huge deal, but only having choices of Bud, Bud Light, Coors Light, and Michelob Ultra at every bar I settled up to was a bit unsettling. Whoever thought up the aluminum beer bottle should be punched in the ear.

What I learned:
1. Plane seats are really, REALLY narrow, and if you are over 6 foot tall, get ready for hell.
2. Taking off in a plane 30 minutes from my house and IMMEDIATELY seeing the Tideflats & St. Joes is kind of…weird.
3. I’m broker than when I was 18, but I’m ok with it. Totally awesome.

Speaking of Budweiser, one of their representatives thought it was good business to pester one of our bartenders while they were busy right before a holiday weekend. “C’Mon lady, do you need anything?” as he tapped her shoulder as she was serving one of our patrons was not the proper way to solicit an order from an account, especially a family owned and operated one. Crazed.

The lady in question was also my business partner, BUT ALSO my moms. Moms comes first before anything, so if you’re hankering for a Bud longneck, you can’t get it here ever again. I’ll sell Coors Banquet and Light with fond memories of Smokey and the Bandit Movies instead for a domestic choice o’ brew.

Anyway, 2009 will be a killer year for The Red Hot. We’ll be doing at least 6 Recycle-The-Bike Nights where we give away a new set of pedal-powered wheels. We’ll be doing more rare beer shenanigans. I have a grip of weird nights planned celebrating the almighty hot dog. And more posts containing sentences starting with conjunctions!

Dead Guys & Halloweenies

Happy Halloweenie!

Tonight, to keep your spirits warm in the damp night, we’re gonna do 1 keg of Rogue Dead Guy Ale for $3 a pint all night long.

Dee-Licious.

We’ll have all the Halloweenies you can handle, and there’s a roving Halloween Party taking up shop in The Red Hot tonight, come be part of the gang. We’re giving away schwag for those who go all out!

Birthday Thanks

So it’s finally here. As of tomorrow, we will have made it one year here on 6th Ave.

Thanks to all who have supported us, and continue to do so! Your patronage is deeply appreciated. Special mad-props go out to The Parkway Tavern Family, Barry and The Rosewood Cafe Family, Donna and The Tacoma Boys Family, K-Fry and The FeedTacoma.com Family, and Ron Swarner and The Weekly Volcano Fam. Your generosity is amazing. You all rule. Super-special Shizz-Tastic thanks go to all our staff. I have never met a group of insanely loyal and rabidly Red Hot fanatic people ever. We couldn’t have done it without you.

The Par-Tay on Saturday should be a blast. We’re giving away the highly coveted PBR Cruiser Bike.

(pssst…We have more bikey suprises for all of you coming up soon!)

We’ll also have a Firkin Cask on of custom-made-for-us-by-Fish-Tale-Brewing “Red Hot AugustFest Bier”, a German/American dry-hopped Cask Ale that is gonna be frickin’ amazing:

We’ll be open outside with more brew offerings and lots o’ seating. Our entire line-up looks like this:

ON TAP
Stone IPA
Lagunitas IPA
Deschutes Inversion IPA
Snoqualmie Wildcat IPA
Snoqualmie Copperhead Pale Ale
North Coast Scrimshaw Pilsner
New Belgium Summer Wheat
Maritime Pacific Old Seattle Lager
Red Hot AugustFest Cask Ale (custom one-off)
Georgetown 9LB Porter
Alaskan Oatmeal Stout
Wyder’s Peach Draft Cider
RAINIER
PBR

BOTTLES/CANS
New Belgium Fat Tire Amber (bottles and cans)
Lagunitas Sirius Cream Pale Ale
Russian River Damnation 750mL(very few left)
Elysian Loser Pale 22oz(very few left)
Left Hand Milk Stout
Moose Drool Brown Ale
Pyramid Hefeweizen
Full Sail Session Lager
Rainier Tallboys
PBR Tallboys
Miller Lite
Miller High Life
Budweiser
Bud Light

FOR THE WINOS:
14 Hands Cabernet
Happy Camper Merlot
Primaterra Pinot Grigio
14 Hands Chardonnay

We also have a good selection for the non-alcohol types…and hot dogs. Lots and lots of hot dogs…and our new bad-ass stickers.

I’m super excited. Thanks again to all! Hope to see you Saturday Night!

A Good Day

Yesterday shaped up to be a killer day. I had heard we were going to be named ‘Best Cheap Date’ in the Weekly Volcano’s “Best Of” issue. I got a huge smile on my mug as I saw I was named “Best Bar Owner” in Tacoma as well. Nothing like a little nod or atta-boy to boost your well being.

Immediately after reading the WV, the editor and publisher of Beer Northwest Magazine walked in. They had heard about us, and stopped in for a couple beers, a couple dogs, and some picture taking. We shot the breeze for a few, and then they were off to their homebase down PDX way. Rad.

I also got the final go-ahead on opening up our back lot for our 1-year Anniversary Party (August 16th). It should be a friggin’ blast outside! Fish Tale is making us a special cask beer (Red Hot AugustFest Bier!) to have on tap, we’re giving away the bike, and if more people sign up, the RH Hot Dog Eating Contest is a GO! If you or anyone you know wants to compete, please let me know (delicioushotdogs at gmail dot com)! Winners will be rewarded with fame, glory, and free stuffs! Woo!

Free Bicycle

You just gotta win it…

The PBR Bike that has hung in The Red Hot since we opened…the one we said we’d never give away…well…we’re giving it away.

Our one-year anniversary is right around the corner (AUGUST 16TH), and the bike is probably the source of the most asked question of “when are you gonna give that bike away?”.

It’s a single-speed cruiser with a coaster brake. Old school. It’s never been ridden, and the tires have only touched the ground inside the Red Hot where it was taken out of it’s shipping packaging. It will be given a once over by Red Hot pal Justin, one of the bike guys up at REI before you ride it away.

You can enter your name in the random raffle at The Red Hot once per day up until Saturday August 16th. The drawing will take place that eve during our big-ass celebration (we’ll be open out in our back parking lot for outdoor seating, there’s gonna be a hot dog eating contest, we’ll have a special “AugustFest” cask beer made especially for us by Fish Brewing, and all kinds of other fun stuffs). You must be present to win, and you must use the bike. If you do not use it, you will be hunted down and flogged. Many a patron has salivated over owning this bad scoot, so we want to see it go to a good home.

We’ll be open tomorrow, too…

Since I was in construction during last year’s AOTA, I’m stoked to open for this year’s. I hope the intersection street painting at 6th and Pine is dope as it sounds. Our Air Conditioning and taps (Snoqualmie Wildcat IPA, Stone IPA, Diamond Knot XIPA, North Coast Scrimshaw Pilsner, Lazy Boy Amber, Spire & Wyder’s Pear Cider, Steamtrain Porter, Red Seal Pale Ale, and of course PBR and Rainier) will cool your bones during tomorrow’s toasty festival. We’ll have outdoor seating on the Ave for eating and sody-pop drinking, and for taking to-go orders for the kiddies. Inside, cooler heads shall prevail. Grownups only and biz as usual. Our ultra-affordable menu is in full effect to go easy on your clams so you’ze can buy up some arty-type stuffs. it’s gonna be a good time. Kick ass.