The weekend is here, and if you're looking for something fun to do and you happen to be a fan of beer, there's one event you don't want to miss.

No, I'm not just talking about cracking open a nice cold one after you finally get your honey-do list completed (although, you should definitely do that). I'm talking about going to a place where you can immerse yourself in some of the best beer you can find in Washington State, and learn a little something too.

Washington State Leads the Nation in Hop Production

Of course, in our neck of the woods, the glorious story of beer begins with hops. According to WashingtonBeer.com:

The Yakima Valley contains approximately 75 percent of the total United States hop acreage, with an average farm size of 450 acres (182 hectares) accounting for over 77 percent of the total United States hop crop.

 

Bale Breaker Brewing Company Sits Smack in the Middle of a Hop Field

One of my favorite breweries happens to be Bale Breaker Brewing right here in the Yakima Valley - specifically in Moxee. Bale Breaker started their production of some of the most delicious, hop-forward brew, back in 2013. Since then, this family-owned and operated company has become one of Washington's Top 5 Breweries - and they're only getting bigger and better.

Washington Beer Open House - March 5th, 2022

If you've never been to the Bale Breaker Tap Room, or, if you're one of the regulars, you might not have ever looked behind the 'brewing curtain' where the wizards of beer create their masterpieces. This Saturday, it's your chance to do just that. Not only will you be able to enjoy some of your favorites: Top Cutter, Bottom Cutter, Field 41, Hazy, and many others, but as they explained on their website balebreaker.com:

We'll be tapping a cask of our first-ever frozen fresh hop IPA, thanks to Yakima Chief's new line of raw, un-kilned, flash frozen whole cone hops. Brewed using our typical fresh hop process, Ullr Cooler Fresh Hop IPA features Citra®, Mosaic®, and Azacca® whole cone hops added in the hopback

Yes, get a glimpse at what goes on behind the scenes at Bale Breaker as they'll be offering a public brewery tour at their Yakima taproom at 1:00 pm!⁠ You'll be in awe of what you see and most assuredly of what you taste. Food will be available too - Crazy Foods/Chronic will be there from 12 PM to 8 PM serving up some of their amazing dishes! Bale Breaker is also family and dog friendly, so bring everyone along.

CHECK OUT THE BALE BREAKER STORY [VIDEO]

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LOOK: Best Beers From Every State

To find the best beer in each state and Washington D.C., Stacker analyzed January 2020 data from BeerAdvocate, a website that gathers user scores for beer in real-time. BeerAdvocate makes its determinations by compiling consumer ratings for all 50 states and Washington D.C. and applying a weighted rank to each. The weighted rank pulls the beer toward the list's average based on the number of ratings it has and aims to allow lesser-known beers to increase in rank. Only beers with at least 10 rankings to be considered; we took it a step further to only include beers with at least 100 user rankings in our gallery. Keep reading to find out what the best beer is in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C.

What Are the Signature Drinks From Every State?

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