Lucky Envelope Brewing Celebrating Chinese New Year with Year of the Monkey Ale Bottles

Seattle, WA – Lucky Envelope Brewing, whose founders are of Chinese descent, will celebrate the Lunar New Year next month with its first-ever bottle offering, the “Year of the Monkey Ale”.

The award-winning Seattle brewery, which opened its tasting room in the Ballard neighborhood last spring, will also decorate its location with traditional adornments and provide educational materials about the annual holiday celebrated by hundreds of millions, worldwide.

“Being Chinese-American and new local business owners, we felt the New Year would be the perfect time to celebrate our first-ever beer bottling” said Barry Chan, co-founder and Brewmaster. “The ‘Year of the Monkey Ale’ promises to be a unique, Asian-flavored take on the traditional porter.”

Chan and his business partner, Raymond Kwan, both of Seattle, are of Chinese descent. The pair founded Lucky Envelope in 2014 after working for years in engineering and finance, respectively, across the nation.

Lucky Envelope takes its name from the Chinese tradition – tied closely with New Year celebrations – of elders bestowing often red-and-gold envelopes to loved ones as a gesture of luck and goodwill.

Kwan said Lucky Envelope plans to sell the “Year of the Monkey Ale” on draft and in bottles from the tasting room. The “spiced, robust porter” will be infused with vanilla and Asian spices and available from Thursday, February 4^ththrough Sunday, February 7^th. The Chinese Lunar New Year falls this year on Monday, February 8^th.

“Barry is constantly innovating and crafting stellar beers,” said Kwan. “Given our backgrounds and growing business, we want to celebrate with our fans and wish everyone best of luck this year!”

Lucky Envelope is a family-friendly craft brewery headquartered in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. The brewery has garnered accolades since its May 2015 opening, including earning a Bronze medal at the prestigious 2015 Great American Beer Festival® (GABF) competition and being included in BeerAdvocate Magazine’s “Class of 2015 – 33 of the Best New Breweries”.