A new beer you can only order on a WA ferry

It’s the water.

Make that, it’s on the water – and nowhere else.

A new beer from Bale Breaker Brewing Co. will be sold – exclusively – aboard Washington State Ferries. A West Coast IPA, the ale celebrates this year’s 75th anniversary of the state ferry system and is a bit of an homage to the FIFA World Cup matches happening this summer in Seattle.

And because of the ferries’ current liquor license, all 16 ounces of the 6.8% alcohol by volume can of beer must be quaffed on board as well. Easy to do on the languorous, hourlong Bremerton sailing. Not so much on the 15-minute crossing between Point Defiance and Tahlequah.

But the hearty riders of ferries are nothing if not up for a challenge. Especially while killing time heading home after work. Or on vacation.

The beer – in a can emblazoned with an image of a ferry, a soccer ball and the Space Needle – is made with Simcoe, Citra and Mosaic hops grown in the Yakima Valley, and was the brainchild of Brian McDonough, general manager at Sodexo Live!, which supplies the ferries with all food and drink.

“We approached Bale Breaker to see if they’d interested in collaborating on a custom can and brew,” said McDonough, who said the beer is a collaboration between Bale Breaker, the brewery’s distribution partner Odom, Washington State Ferries and Sodexo, as first reported by Washington Beer Blog.

“It was a bit back and forth,” McDonough said. “I went to them with a vision. We wanted it to be special. And exclusive.”

McDonough said he couldn’t resist coming up with a beer that was inspired by the World Cup – “But I want to be clear we have no affiliation with the World Cup” – and in celebration of the state ferries, which came into being on June 1, 1951.

Now, with 3,600 beers – 150 cases, 24 beers per case – making their way to all ferries, passengers will be the final arbiter of success. And they’re thirsty. Last year, ferry riders drank 276,981 cans of beers in the ferries’ galleys. So, yeah, the new cans are sure to be a hit. Even at $8.75 a pop.

Bale Breaker is working on a draft-only version of the beer that will also be only available on the ferries. It should be ready in a month or so, said Sara Gottleib, the company’s marketing manager.

“If we have extra of the draft-only beer, we will put it on tap in our taprooms, but we’re not sure yet what the yield will be and what the ferries need,” Gottleib said. Bale Breaker, which is based in Yakima, has two taprooms: one at its Yakima brewery, the other in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood.

If beer doesn’t slake your thirst, McDonough said he’s working with Woodinville’s Winsome Ciderworks to create a cider celebrating the same twin events as Bale Breaker’s brew, which should be available in a couple of weeks.

The cider will go for $8.75 a can, as well, which is cheaper than a passenger-only fare from Seattle to Bainbridge Island, a half-hour sailing that provides just the right amount of time to drink a frosty cold one.

If the price tag is shocking, McDonough noted that the state agency gets a portion of sales, so consider it a contribution to the public commons.

“We’re their provider and we pay them a percentage of everything we sell. We actually make money for the ferries,” he said, adding that the beers will be sold across the fleet by within days. “The end result is pretty great.”

So, the new ferry beer isn’t made with water from the deep artesian wells in Tumwater, it’s not mountain fresh, it’s not beer royalty and it’s not likely to be the beer that makes Seattle famous.

Instead, this beer’s for you, ferry riders of Puget Sound.