Posted February 26, 2021
Today marks the 50th Anniversary of RAM Restaurant & Brewery! To celebrate our Golden Anniversary and the history of our beer, we wanted to kick things off with something special.
Introducing Bourbon Barrel-Aged Udder Chaos!
We rested our 2019 Udder Chaos in freshly-dumped Woodinville Whiskey Barrels for two years. This beer is a stellar collision of decadent chocolate, candied cherries, and toasted vanilla with a warming, whiskey finish. ABV: 8.2%, IBUs: 28. This special edition of Udder Chaos is only available in 22 oz. wax-dipped bottles and is in very limited supply (WA locations only, maximum 2 per customer), so act fast — swing by your local RAM today!
Posted February 25, 2021
It all began 50 years ago on February 26, 1971, in a tavern known as the Ram Pub located in the Villa Plaza shopping center in Lakewood, Washington.
When our 29 & 30-year-old founders opened a “Deluxe Tavern” in 1971, they probably never imagined their company as a full-service restaurant and brewing business in 2021. Cal Chandler and Jeff Iverson, friends, fraternity brothers, and football teammates at the University of Washington, decided to make a go of it serving warm pub food and cold beer. Part of their motivation was their shared experience working at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in college.
At the Ram Pub in 1971, you could get a cheese pizza for $1.60. Beer Nuts were $0.15. Cold Olympia beer was $0.35 for a 10-ounce glass and $1.75 for a pitcher. The first draft beer the Ram Pub poured was called “Heidelberg”. However, a change was quickly made to Olympia because Heidelberg was only sold in barrels – which, at over 250 lbs., were too difficult to move. $1.95 got you a burger, and a steak could be had for $2.25 on the lunch special menu. For those partial to wine, you had your choice of the following flavors: Spanada, Loganberry, Apple, Strawberry, Wild Mountain, Pink Chablis, and Peach for $0.55 a glass. I had to Google “Spanada” and apparently, it was some sort of sangria. Out of curiosity I also had to look up Wild Mountain. It had happened to be a grape-flavored wine made by Boone’s Farm. Does anyone remember Boone’s Farm?
In September 1995, we opened our first brewery in Salem. I remember the initial beer tests we had. We targeted Alaskan Amber as the baseline for our future amber. Widmer Hefeweizen was the model for our Hefe. Funny, because our Hefe ended up being a traditional German Hefe with banana and clove notes and nowhere near the bland American styles at that time. Fruit micro beers were popular then, so we knew we had to have one. (“Blewsberry” was a blueberry infused Blond.) Our initial brewer liked dark beers, so we brewed a stout. The name “Buttface” came out of an energetic brainstorming session. (There’s a story there, but not something for print…)
The 1995 Great American Beer Festival happened two months after the Salem brewery began production. We entered a porter and, amazingly, it won the Gold Medal! First entry and a gold medal! This started a continuing trend of medal winning beers. The brewer who made that porter had given it the name Total Disorder Porter. With that win, Total Disorder Porter went on tap and Black Cat Honey Stout was 86’d. Hoppy beers were not on palates in those days. Big Red Ale made the menu in 1999 as a tip of the hat to our friend Paul “Big Red” Ellingson. The past few beer years have been a blast as small-batch “seasonals” have become our guests’ leading choice. It has been great fun to enjoy our brewer’s special recipes and talk to them about their inspirations for their beers.
The past 50 years have been a truly wonderful journey. It has been a treasure to be a part of such a great team. We have had fun, laughs, enjoyed tasty food, drank award-winning beer, and more. The next 50 years will bring more good times – and yes, even more change. Remember: change is constant. Embrace change. Seek change. Take risks. Be humble. Do something unexpected for people and make them smile. Laugh. Tip a frosty beer with friends.
Game On!
Jeff Iverson, CEO
RAM Restaurant & Brewery
Posted January 29, 2021
Hello, Washington Ramily!
As you may have heard, starting February 1st, Governor Inslee has approved King, Pierce, Snohomish and Thurston counties for indoor dining at 25% capacity. Under the Governor’s Phase 2 guidelines, indoor dining is allowed for parties up to 6 (from no more than 2 households) – and of course, we will continue to offer outdoor patio dining and takeout as well.
Here are the RAM locations that are currently open for 25% indoor dining:
Marysville, Lake Stevens, Issaquah, Kent, Tacoma, South Hill, Lakewood, Lacey.
For hours of operation, menus, taplists, online ordering, and to get on the waitlist for an indoor table, just click the link below and scroll to your favorite RAM location. (Please note: we do not offer reservations, but we do have an online waitlist. Use our website and you can add your name to the list before you even leave your house!)
We are very excited to serve you (indoors!) again. See you soon!
-RAM
Posted November 30, 2020
To our Wilsonville and Salem Friends and Ramily,
We would like to thank you for your ongoing support throughout Oregon’s indoor dining pause. Nearly 90% of our revenue comes from indoor dining. With the governor’s recent extension of the indoor dining ban, it is not viable for us to continue to operate on takeout and delivery alone. Effective today, Salem and Wilsonville will close temporarily. We hope to re-open the week of December 14th, when indoor dining restrictions permit us to operate sustainably. Medford will remain open for takeout and beer to-go.
These decisions are never easy. We thank you for keeping our teams in your thoughts – and you can rest assured that we will re-open as soon as we are able to do so responsibly.
Stay Safe,
RAM
Posted November 10, 2020
Hello Friends and Ramily,
In accordance with the restrictions set forth by the Governor’s office last week, we’ll be reducing our occupancy in Salem and Medford to a maximum of 50 total people indoors (including our own team members). We will seat parties up to 6 within that constraint. These new rules are in place from November 11th to November 25th – and of course, we’ll be sure to update you if we hear any different.
In addition to limited indoor dining, please know that we will continue to accept takeout and delivery orders during this time as well. If you’d like to place an order now, simply use the button at the bottom of this blog post.
We thank you, truly, for your patience and understanding.
-Your friends at the RAM