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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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.”
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
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.
Love the can design. Very cool looking.
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!
Our last stop in the Seattle area is Urban Family. Oh and the swing is ironic.
And they also have fun with the names as well, Tall, Dark and Anxious for a porter, a wit with the expletive laden name of Ain’t Nothin’ Ta F@*k Wit as well as an IPA named after the bully on The Simpsons.
And in 2013, I think part of their “about” page really rings true to me and what the beer industry is about..”creativity and flexibility of how to live and define a life characterizes what we do at Urban Family Brewing: If someone you met through a Craigslist roommate ad can become your brother then you can definitely put lavender in a witbier.”
Oh, and they have other beers on tap too!
West Seattle Brewing is still fermenting, so there is not much information to cut and paste but all that means is that you need to put this on your near future radar because I have a feeling this one might be worth a visit to try a sampler of the pale ale, porter and the intriguing bourbon barrel bitter.