Stop 48 found me at Odin Brewery just a few miles away from IKEA, my real destination. Since IKEA is Swedish, it seemed oddly appropriate to stop by Odin on the same day. Odin bought out Hillard’s and some of the brews still bear that name. Just keep in mind that they are brewed at the same facility.

The most ubiquitous of the Odin beers is Asgard IPA (are you seeing a theme here). I’ve seen this brew at several locales around town. It is a very traditional IPA and thus a good substitute on any menu for something even more common like Sierra Nevada. This beer is crispy and has a slightly citrus nose. Earthy flavors are prevalent upfront but more citrus can be found at the end. A good IPA for any occasion.

Boombox IPA didn’t have much of a nose. This had a lot of caramel flavor from the malt but it still had a nice bitter finish. It was a bit too sweet for me but not a bad beer.

Gimli was an Oatmeal Pale. I really like this style of beer but rarely see it out and about. It had a very toasty flavor and light hop. Overall the beer was very earthy. I love the smoother mouthfeel that oatmeal always gives a beer.

Thors Equinox Strong Ale lacked as much of a nose as I would have expected from this style. There were lots of nice earthy flavors when you actually got to the taste, though. At 9.0%, it was strong but didn’t have that overwhelming alcohol finish that some strong ales do.

Abbey Single Pale had lots of herbal flavors up front but finishes a bit on the bitter side. The beer is also fairly malty toward the end. I found it quite refreshing and had a pint.

Odins Gift was an amber that seemed very weak to me. I expected more of the toasty and caramel flavors of an amber but didn’t even get a hint of those. It was a very mild beer.

Para Porter had a nice coffee nose but was a bit unbalanced. It was a bit on the bitter side and needed a bit more sweetness to balance it out. It just had a bit too much of that bitter, old coffee flavor. It wasn’t a bad beer; I just think it could be improved.

Coconut Jamaican Rum Stout was definitely a beer for the coconut lover. It had a lot of coconut– on both the nose and tongue! There was almost too much coconut and made it taste a bit fake. I really could also get a only a hint of the rum flavors.

If you find yourself in Tukwila, stop by and grab a beer. They also have barbeque. 

 

I, unfortunately, don’t make it down to the U District as often as I would like. The traffic is generally terrible and takes forever. This was the case a few nights ago when my 20 minute drive took an hour and a half.

One of my favorite authors was doing a book signing sponsored by the UW Bookstore so I had to go. Before the signing, I had to eat so I decided to go to Big Time Brewery which was just a few blocks down the street.  I hadn’t been there in about a year, but I remembered both the beers and pizzas were great.  Click here to read that review. 

It was as I had remembered. I didn’t do a flight as I had tried most of the standard beers but I did have to try the Galactigasim IPA.  I had to admit that the name intrigued me. Honestly this is one of the best IPAs I have had in a while.  Light, refreshing, and a great combination of grassy, citrusy, and earthy– this beer was a rare treat.

I have become a bit bored with IPAs recently as one seems to taste exactly like the rest. This was not the case here. Very unique and very thirst-quenching– I suggest that anybody whose a fan of IPAs give it a try.

The other great thing about Big Time are there pizzas.  They have a light bubbly crust with lots of cheese.

The staff here is fantastic too.  They messed up our order and were very apologetic, both making sure we still got or food in time for the book-signing and making up for it by providing a few round of beers. I love a place that takes responsibility for their actions. They must also do a good job of maintaining staff too– the same bartender was working as the last time I visited a year ago. She looks a bit like Anna Kendrick so I remembered her.

I really do enjoy Big Time. I just wish I could make it down to the U District without wanting to pull out my hair so I could visit more often.

So this brewery was another one found by the use of Groupon. You really have to love the Groupon app around here. There is pretty much always a deal on a brewery or winery. You can also find out about new breweries this way too. This Groupon was kind of your standard brewery one-a flight, a pint and then something to take home. This one got me two flights, two pints, and two take home pint glasses.

The flight started out with a very good Saison, Moon Safari. This beer was very light in color with good herbal undertones and a nice hint of orange.  I am really getting back to my Belgian style beers. I went for this one for my pint too.

Condenser Pale Ale was a bit too much on the malty side for me. The hop taste on this one was also a bit like medicine.  Not my favorite and it also had an odd nutty taste that I couldn’t quite characterize.

Pocketful of Gold IPA was a very traditional IPA. It was slightly sweet upfront and finished with mostly grassy flavored hops, but there was just a hint of citrus.

Trios Farmhouse was very herbal on the nose. I found this beer a bit harsh. I would describe it as an “in your face”beer.

As I am not a fan of cream ales, Limiter didn’t do much for me. Station to Station was a great Imperial Porter though. At only 7.9% it was still very drinkable. The coffee flavors were well balanced with sweetness.

The Dog Gone IPA was also very traditional and I didn’t find it radically different from the Pocketful of Gold. It only seemed to be a bit more bitter with slightly stronger hop flavors.

The Silver Brown Ale was one of the oddest beers I’ve had in a while. A long discussion ensued as to what it tasted like. It had an odd nose with a little brunt smell that was still sweet, but there was also something metallic. The taste is something akin to barbeque sauce or chipotle peppers (without the heat). It is also sort of like burnt caramel or sugar. It’s not a bad beer just hard to describe. Overall it has a sort of smoky taste.

Decibel is a little out of my way to make it a regular stop. It’s also in a part of town I rarely, if ever, visit.  Without food options, there is not much draw for the other of area person. However, I am sure it makes a great local hangout.

 

I didn’t do any flights on my recent visits to Ghostfish and Schooner Exact brewing.  I had been to both just prior to joining WABL. I actually ended up there because it was a holiday Monday and for whatever reason, lots of places were closed.

I actually do like both of these breweries.  Ghostfish is very interesting in that everything is gluten free.  I generally don’t like gluten free beer (Greene’s is an exception) as the beers often taste odd. The beers at Ghostfish are actually quite good and I order them out regularly. Their pale ale is my favorite as it has an interesting nutty flavor.  I actually had a few of them last summer while seeing Barenaked Ladies at Marymoor park in Redmond. I even got the lady behind me to give one a try.  I am also a fan of the grapefruit IPA. On this occasion, I had the Shrouded Summit Wit which is herbal and citrusy.  You wouldn’t really know this wit is gluten free unless someone told you.

Ghostfish has also added food–all gluten free.  We did the vegetable nachos which were very good. I was surprised at the array of vegetables which included sweet potato.  The pizzas looked quite good. I am going to have to go back and give them a try.

After Ghostfish, I headed about a mile down the road to Schooner Exact.  This brewery also has quite good food. I didn’t eat on this trip but have in the past.  The first time I ended up here was after a baseball game as it was listed in a magazine article as a great brewery near a baseball stadium. If you see this article, it is a great brewery but a good 2 miles from the stadium. On my first occasion, I walked. I will probably never do that again. However, that was how I found Ghostfish too.

The beers here are always good and true to style.  Many of the local restaurants carry their beers so I decided to have something a little different and tried the Evergreen IPA. Not quite as piney as I had hoped, it was still a very good IPA.

If you are gluten free, I highly recommend Ghostfish and, for everyone else, Schooner Exact is always a great bet. If you visit them on a weekend, it also a great place to spend a few hours as there are several small urban wineries located within the same shopping center. Have lunch and a beer at Schooner then visit a winery or two.

I had been hearing great things about Resonate brewery for a while. In fact, they even occasionally deliver lunches to my office through an in-office food service. However, I had never had a chance to visit.  Resonate sits in a location that would be an absolute nightmare during the week so it had to be a weekend or holiday visit.  It was New Year’s Eve and I was in the mood for pizza, so this sounded like the time to go.

First I have to mention the pizza. It was fantastic. We got the Medusa which had Mama Lil’s pepper on it, along with olives, feta, tomatoes and a few other veggies. The peppers made this pizza great– there was just the right amount. This pizza was spicy without being overwhelming.  The crust is great too– light and airy with lots of bubbles. I don’t know why but I always love pizza crust bubbles. We had already decided after having the pizza, that the beers wouldn’t even matter. We were definitely going back.

We did enjoy the beers too.  I really liked the Faithfull, a Belgian pale. The beer had all the best of a Belgian (herbal nose and flavors) while still getting a bit of hop.  The Revolver #2 Pale Ale was another good beer. This one had a bit of toasty malt on the nose and tongue and was lightly hoppy. It did have a bit of my least favorite and skunky flavor hop, but it was mild and balanced well with other flavors.

Fear of the Dank was very citrus on both the nose and tongue with lots of grapefruit. It was still mild and easily enjoyed by people who aren’t big fans of citrus flavor.  I had a lot of hope for Red Sector, a red IPA.  I find this is an underdeveloped style and really enjoy them when done well. This was not one of my favorites.  The beer had a good nose but it was a bit sweet on first staste and then had a very skunky, hoppy end. It was strangely unbalanced– like two beer trying to be one.

Atomic Punk was very mild and had a very odd citrus like taste.  It was sort of indescribable and overall just an odd beer.  Comfortably Numb was a double IPA. It was a bit sweet up front with a tinge of grassy hops. My husband liked this best and it was well balanced.

So after the pizza and beers, a plate of breadsticks went by– so we had to get them too.  The breadsticks here look similar to those from Little Ceasars. However, they are not covered with a weird greasy butter-like substances. These have a mild coating of oil and are served with a red dipping sauce. Another great hit!

Resonate, I will be seeing you for pizza and beer again soon. 

 

So for the next few  stops, I went downtown. The nice thing about living where I do is that I can catch the bus right down the street and be downtown in about 40 minutes without dealing with traffic. I often have to go downtown for work but rarely do I get to visit anything other than office buildings. Since I had the week off, I decided it would be a good time to actually go to some of the downtown breweries.

My first stop was a repeat– Pike Brewing. You can read the first blog here. I didn’t repeat the flagship beers but did a specialty and seasonal flight this time. This flight did include Space Needle IPA, but I think I covered that well earlier.

The No. 4 session IPA was very light on the nose but a bit on the bitter side for a session IPA. The malt imparted an earthy taste and the hops added a bit of flower. I wouldn’t really consider it all that sessionable though because of the amount of bitterness.

Old Bawdy was a barley wine. Not my favorite style of beer; however, this one did credit to the style. It had a nice toasty, malty nose with a bit of alcoholic taste which can be a bit overwhelming on many barley wines. It was very drinkable as barley wines go.

Entire was a barrel-aged stout. There was a lot of bourbon on the nose and it had good bourbon and vanilla flavors. I actually found the bourbon a bit too over the top and thought that it masked too much of the flavors from what would  have been a pretty good stout.

Octopus Ink was a black IPA.  I am a big fan of black IPAs and this one did not disappoint. The nose was nice and hoppy and those hop flavors were not overly bitter. You still got lots of the coffee flavors from the malt. It was well balanced and not as licorice like as many black IPAs seem to be.

Diamond Knot’s Winter Ale as the seasonal guest tap. This was a bit more flavorable than many winter ales. It had good coffee like undertones.

The next stop was a new brewery, Old Stove.  This time I stuck to a mainly IPA based flight. The first beer was the Fallout Citra Ale. If you read my blog, you know that citra is my favorite hop, so I couldn’t pass this one up.  It had a nice grapefruit nose and strong grapefruit flavor. It was very light in both color and mouthfeel. This would be a very easy beer to drink and great for a hot sunny day.

The Galaxy SMASH pale was the next.  It was a little grapefruit but a little funky. The taste up front was that of a slightly spoiled grapefruit. At the end was an odd candy like taste. It wasn’t my favorite.

Psycho 78 had a very mild taste and was very easy drinking.  There was a slightly sweet, candy-like nose.

Lionel’s Session IPA was also a very easy drinking beer.  There was a slightly sour lemonade taste at tof the end of each sip that made it very citrusy.

Two Pronged Crown had a nice grassy, citrusy nose. There was again a lot of grapefruit in this beer that reminded me of the Citra but this flavor was much heavier. The beer also had a heavier mouthfeel.  This was also a bit more bitter up front but this tempers quickly.

Finally, the Piston Hondo double IPA was a bit sweet at first but then the bitter comes through..  It is better balanced than a lot of doubles  but the flavors in this one didn’t seem cohesive but more like two separate tastes.

Next stop was Cloudburst. I am not sure why but I have been trying to get to Cloudburst for quite a while.  I have been getting facebook notifications and emails from them since they opened about a year ago. Unfortunately though, I never made it in until now.

Cloudburst didn’t offer flights so I got a few 12 oz beers to try.  O Pioneer was dubbed a Vermont style porter. Not sure exactly what that means but to me this beer was a very solid porter. The coffee and sweet flavors were well balanced.

Younger Us was a great Belgian syle beer.  There were a lot of herbal aromas and flavors, along with lemon and orange.  This beer was very easy to drink and quite flavorable.

Fun Fun Party Wow has about the oddest name I have ever seen.  I would love to find the backstory on this one.  It makes me think of some crazy Japanese game show.  This IPA was a bit on the bitter side.

Close Encounter was the easier to drink of the IPAs I tried. it has just enough bitter to make it a solid IPA without being pretentious.

Last stop was the Elysian bar on 2nd Avenue.  There are so many Elysians I thought I needed to clarify.  I might have had the worst beer I’ve ever had here. It is apparently called Gorillas on Bikes.  Imagine your grape koolaid from when you were a kid mixed with a decent IPA along the line of Sierra Nevada. Have you gagged a little yet? Apparently it had just come on draft and the waitstaff was yet to find someone who liked it.

Again we decided to do a flight and to stick to more seasonal and unusual beers.  The first beer was Boom.  This beer had very mild hop flavors and a very earthy nose.  It tasted a bit like sour dirt. Not my favorite.

Bi-Frost is a winter seasonal.  This beer had a nose that was very coppery and the taste starts out very metallic.  This is then followed by a grassy aftertaste that lingers and finishes sweet. Although complex, I don’t find that the tastes really go together for me.

Fezzik has a very herbal nose but the coppery color seems a bit contradictory to the aromas and taste.  This is very reminiscent of St. Barnabas Noel.  The flavors are strongly herbal and end with Christmasy nutmeg like tastes.

Elk Frost was very maple syrup-like on both the nose and in taste.  There are some herbal flavors that take a back seat to the maple.

Finally, Fix smells like chocolate syrup. The tastes are strongly chocolate with coffee in the background. I would describe this beer like a mocha on acid.

Well there was one more stop in 2017!

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