Full Sail Brewing Company in Hood River, Oregon made a name for itself with the Session Premium Lager a decade ago. “Session Premium lager is an extremely tasty import-style lager, like the kind of beer made back in the pre-Prohibition days,” says the brewery’s website... “plenty of flavor that goes down clean and smooth, we like to call it ‘session-ability.’”

That same session-ability can be found in Full Sail’s Premium Dark Lager — “a dark beer that doesn’t drink like a meal”— and its Session IPA. Full Sail didn’t know it when these beers debuted, but it was well ahead of the curve.

“We saw a long time ago that the race for extreme alcohol and extreme bitterness was antithetical to enjoying several pints with friends, so Session was our answer to that,” said James Emmerson, Full Sail’s executive brewmaster. “We’ve always believed that balance, elegance, and complexity lead to more long term enjoyment than a one-note hop hammer.”

To-date, easy drinking and low-alcohol brews like Session Lager, Dark Lager, and Session IPA are trending. Consumers can’t seem to get enough and journalists like myself can’t stop writing about them. Perhaps that’s why Full Sail didn’t skip a beat with the brand new Session Series that came out earlier this year.

Chef Max Murowchick is as unique as the cuisine he creates at Shamiana Restaurant in Kirkland, Washington. The color of his skin and his bare head might initially seem out of place in a restaurant beloved by locals for its South Asian cuisine. In addition, his youthful energy belies his decades of experience working in the food industry. Yet, when you consider that a shamiana is a type of tent in India where family and friends are celebrated, and then watch him welcoming regulars and newcomers alike with warmth and enthusiasm, you can see that his spirit is a perfect fit for the food he serves.

Shamiana Restaurant has been catering to the local community with dishes inspired by “India and beyond” for twenty-three years. After several years working with the original owners, Chef Max took the helm and bought the restaurant. He says customers return, sometimes two or three times a week, for favorites like Major Grey’s Chicken and Keema Kabobs.

“Our cuisine is like a London curry house,” he said. “Our curries are rich, we use premium spices.”