Tag: Seattle

Posted on

Craft Beer & Brewing Best – Ladd & Lass Brewing

Located in the University District of Seattle, Ladd & Lass Brewing was founded by wife and husband team of Jessie Quan and Nick Ladd ( hence the spelling in the name).

They were mentioned in the magazine for their Zoospaloos, a Czech- style dark lager.

Thankful for UDFB – West Coast IPA – “Brimming with some of our favorite New Zealand hops, Thankful for UDFB is a hearty celebration of the University District Food Bank and all they do for our community. Featuring Cryo Nelson Sauvin and Freestyle Peacharine, this IPA is a veritable cornucopia of ripe stone fruit, white wine grapes, and a beguiling piney note—all complemented by a pleasing bitterness and lightly bready maltiness.”

Olympic Peaks – NW IPA – “Our winter IPA is a garnet-hued celebration of the NW IPAs of yore. Expect a balanced beer showcasing hop aromas of grapefruit and piney resin set against a toasty malt backbone and crisp bitterness.”

A Minor Award – Winter Warmer – “At L&L, we have a nostalgic soft spot for the malty, heavily-hopped winter warmers of the early aughts. Harkening back to the seasonal warm fuzzies, A Minor Award is a holiday carol of nutty bread, deep caramel, and luscious toffee paired with a pleasing bitterness and citrus and pine aromatics.”

Deprived of Light – Imperial Stout – “This gnarly imperial stout may be deprived of light, but it still radiates with intense flavors of cacao, coconut, and vanilla. We took our decadent imperial stout and confectionized™ it—blasting your palate with a depth of flavor that saturates your taste buds while still managing to finish short of typical pastry stout cloyingness.”

Posted on

Would Love To Try – Pumpkin Edition

Now that it is October we can legally talk pumpkin beers and Halloween. And the first thing I want to do is get a little jealous of Seattle for having Cloudburst Brewing and their beer copywriter who had a great time with this their seasonal pumpkin beers description…

Check Your Worst Nightmare out HERE. If you want to avoid opening another tab, here is the ingredient list, “a milk chocolatey base beer brewed with Libby’s canned pumpkin and spiced with a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and clove.”

Posted on

Washington State Brewery Tour # 2 – Human People Beer

Our second stop in Washington State is a little town named Seattle where we will find Human People Beer. There is a Modern Times lineage and hop farm experience in the trio behind the brewery.  

Tim Kamolz and Andrew Schwartz come from Modern Times while Mallorie King has the agricultural background. 

Human People Beer will be tenants in a project called the West Canal Yards in Seattle, Washington with a hopeful summer 2024 opening.  First beers may be available before then as is often the case.

Posted on

Dogged Whiskey & Gin

It was a sad day when Portland’s famed Hair of the Dog Brewing closed up shop but that news has been tempered by the fact that a new brewery will take up the space and now CopperWorks Distilling is upcycling used oak barrels from HotD for a cask finished Single Malt Whiskey and a Cask Finished Gin.

There is a Matt and Adam expression of both so you can compare and contrast.

Posted on

PNW Brewery # 1 – Machine House Brewery

The first stop in the Pacific NW is Seattle for Machine House Brewery. Here is one of the few places where cask ale is the order of the day.

Here is what I would add to my first taster tray…

Stinging Nettle Ale – “Amber Ale brewed with fresh Stinging Nettles hand-picked by our brewers on Vashon Island. Malty, spicy and uniquely herbal.”

Golden Ale – “One of our three year-round standard offerings. A refreshing Golden Ale, with a bright, crisp malt body and complex English hop character.”

Best Bitter – “Our flagship, best-selling English Bitter. A well balanced, copper coloured ale brewed with British Crystal malts and First Gold hops.”

Dark Mild – “A surprisingly light-bodied session ale with a rich roasted malt character. Incredible drinkable, the deliciously balanced chocolate and caramel malt character makes the Dark Mild a cult favorite.”

Posted on

All 13

Not that L.A. gets any beer from Seattle based Georgetown Brewing but I have to give a shout out any time there is a Doctor Who adjacent beer…

There may be issues of copyright and such but at least this isn’t a blatant IP theft on a short lived 16oz can. Plus you can probably enjoy a couple during an episode.

Posted on

Sip NW Best of Brewery # 1 – Jellyfish Brewing

This month I am traveling to three breweries that received multiple awards in the Best Of issue of Sip NW magazine. My first selection is Jellyfish Brewing.

Let’s get right to the (possible) tasters:
Hydra Pils – “a classic pilsner with a clean malt body and a crisp hoppy finish. An all-German grain bill, and additions of Czech, French and German hops give this lager a truly continental lineage!”

Planktonic Red – “a very bright NW Red with 8 hop varietals, a whisper of hibiscus and a vibrantly clean finish.”

Smack IPA – “Smack is the term for a group of Jellyfish (factoid). This IPA is balanced at its core. It’ll greet you with peaches, pine and bright citrus.”

Saison Memoir – “This light ale is very dry, and is blended with our barrel-aged, wild-yeast fermented Saison. It brings soft peppercorn, bright lemon, and funk to the party.”

Posted on

GABF Medal Winning Brewery # 1 – Cloudburst Brewing


Cloudburst Brewing made the most of their time on the Great American Beer Festival stage. A colorful expletive on the shirt was straight to the point, “F*^%# ABInBev”

But let’s focus on the beer that earned them a bronze medal and also won in my informal, cool beer names awards that has no award (yet). Easy, Breezy, Beautiful won in the American-Style Wheat Beer.

After that, I would add the following to my first taster tray:

Happy Little Clouds – “a Bastardized” German Pilsner
Ministry Of Truth – Double Stout w/ Blackberries
The Ghost of Great Owl – Pumpkin Beer
Out of Touch – Throwback IPA w/ (mostly) Cascade & Chinook
Boom. Roasted! – Coffee Porter

Posted on

Review – Saison from Hilliard’s

IMG_7552

One of the beers that I have been meaning to try was one of the rare saisons in a can.  This one comes from the land of the 12th Man and Super Bowl champion Seahawks and the brewery is Hilliard’s.

This saison pours a really strange light orange murky color. Tangerine juice creamsicle looking. This is after a really foamy pour. It has a citrus meets Hefe aroma. Some typical Belgian notes in their as well.  Very juice tasting to me. Really dry finish. More in common with cider or champagne to me. Big amount of a dark brown sediment at the bottom of the glass. A little touch of spicy mineral notes at the back.  Not at all what I expected and it makes me want to try it on draft to compare.

IMG_7553

Love the can design.  Very cool looking.

Posted on

Review – BrewDog TV (shows 4-6)

brew-dogs

Onto Round 2 of the BrewDog TV review!

This post revolves around the Seattle, Portland and Denver episodes.

Since I wrote a small piece about a coffee beer for November BeerPaper LA and I am writing a larger piece about coffee and brewing for December, I was glad to see that the show went with the obvious for the Seattle episode.  And though the molecular gastronomy was enlightening with the beer pairings, I would have skipped the added caffeine boost section and given more screen time to the chocolatier and the baristas and Elysian.  That’s a personal preference though.

The Denver / Boulder show scared me a bit with the meat smoked thing though I liked the choice of pale ale.  On the whole this one is probably the weakest so far.  Maybe because it was titled Denver, I was expecting more of actual Denver but no mention except for brief bits on Great Divide and Strange.  Plus they like Falling Rock which might be good outside of GABF but has a Toronado SF vibe that I don’t like.  I much prefer Freshcraft.  The gourmand section was fun too.  It is my favorite segment of the show by far.

I was really excited to see the Portland show seeing that it is my hometown.  A little strange to see them partner with Deschutes.  Nothing against them but they don’t scream Portland to me.  Much like my issue with the Denver show, call it Oregon or Colorado if you are going farther afield.  The beer style was inspired though and takes a play from the Beers Made by Walking idea.  My favorite beer that I won’t get to try.  The food section ranks second behind the Philly donut section.

Overall, the show really works for me though.  I enjoy the accents and the self-deprecating humor.  They seem to be enjoying themselves which helps the viewer to enjoy the show!