One of the things we’re passionate about at Airways is supporting other local businesses. When we’re looking for the ingredients we use in our beer and the other products we carry, we try to find the quality we want as close to home as possible. We’re lucky to be in an industry that is so well connected, and fully of great people with interesting stories. At our Bistro, we’ve even committed ourselves to serving only Washington made beer, wine, and cider.
Recently on a day off, Alex and I finally took a trip East to check out some places we’d wanted to go for a while. First stop was Snipes Mountain Brewery in Sunnyside for some pizza and legendary beer. We’d heard good things, and the beer definitely lived up to its reputation. It was a great place to take a break before heading to check out Puterbaugh Farms in Mabton.
If you’ve never seen hop fields, they’re pretty amazing. Row after row after row of vines, which are harvested for the flowers. The bitterness in beer comes from these flowers, and the essential oil in the petals. We get ours in a pellet form, which for us works well to retain the flavor we want in our beer. As a side note, Kent used to be a huge hop growing area, and was even named after the hop fields in Kent, England. After an aphid infestation wiped out the crops, the farms moved east where the sunny, desert like climate was more ideal. We get the majority of our hops from Puterbaugh Farms, as well as some from another farm a short drive away.
Next stop was Airfield Estates in Prosser, where we get our popular Bombshell Red and Flygirl White wines from. We got to taste the whole selection of wines while staring jealously at their room full of barrels. We’d love to have one of those to fill with Sky Hag!
After tasting the wines, we took a little walk around the property, which is connected to other wineries. Our favorite was the old runway at the side of the building. Alex made sure we drove out that way so he could speed up and make airplane noises.
Last stop before heading home was the Snoqualmie Brewery and Tap Room. We’ve had their beer on at both of our locations in the past, and it’s one of our favorites to take home in bottles as well. We arrived too late to get anything out of the kitchen, but the staff was a lot of fun, and their summer beer was the perfect final touch to our mini vacation around Washington.
Happy beer traveling!
-Dione
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