The Trash Panda Slush at Slightly Furry 

This story originally appeared in The Stranger’s 2026 Queer Issue.
At the Northwest Cider Symposium back in March, I spotted someone on the vendor floor wearing a plush upholstered animal tail. They didn’t have a fursuit or mask on, just street clothes and the gravity-defying two-foot tail. Oh, right. I know exactly who this is.Aaron Kalin—aka Martini, a gray-and-white anthropomorphic fox—co-owns Slightly Furry Beverage Company, which moved into its Rainier Avenue HQ in