Fish Tale Wild Salmon Pale Ale (Fish Brewing, Olympia, WA)

Golden amber ale that is too thin in the mouth and nose to be a pale ale. Nose is noticably absent of a distinct hop aroma and has a rather uneven, hard water smell that continues into the taste. There's a bit of malt in the base, but is very thin, watery and overshadowed by the mineral taste. Below par.

Peaks Brew Pub (Port Angeles, WA)

10/26/06

After a day of driving around Olympic National Park and seeing the fall colors in October, my wife and I come out in Port Angeles looking for gas, food, and maybe a beer. At a gas station with a surprising number of free roaming cats, I asked if there was a brewpub in town, and was quickly directed two blocks away to Peaks Brewpub.

Olympic National Park 

Walking in, Peaks Brew Pub looks like your average small down bar with pull tabs for sale to a line of bellied up locals. But, that quickly changes when you look up at the extensive beer list. I started with the Spruce Juice since it looked like the most interesting name and our stop was supposed to be short since we still needed to make our hotel in Seattle yet that night. The Spruce Juice was more than a pleasant surprise—it was really fantastic. Went on to the October Red, which was also good. By this time, Wanda, our waitress, had sent her husband Ed, the brewer, over to talk to us. Over two hours later we finally left for Seattle with directions of how to do the ferry to shorten our drive.

In between, we sampled a range of beers, including Rogue Brutal Bitter, Flyer's Porter, Port Townsend Scotch Ale on cask, and a bottle Ed opened for me called Snipes Mountain Roza because I said I liked barleywine.  In between, we learned about the NW, Port Angeles, brewing in a small town, their son playing football, and even how Spruce Juice, a spruce spiked Belgian ale, had won best beer at a local festival even though its name was spelled wrong on the ballot: they won because of write-in votes.

Ed is the epitome  homebrewer, brewing what he wants because he likes it.  If you want the tour, push your nose up to the glass in the back room, newly remodeled (pictures on the website) and ready to increase production. And, Ed and Wanda's bar is a lovingly decorated hodge podge of various beer items that gives it a real homey feel.  Driving away, I told my wife I was tempted to move to Port Angeles just because I wanted to be a local and stop in with my own "Hey Ed." Hope I can get back again some day.

Elliott Bay Brewing Co (Seattle, WA)

View of Seattle across the bay just
before Elliott Bay stop

10/25/06

Elliott Bay Brewing was literally a quicky on the way to the airport to fly back to Minnesota. Very cool looking long skinny pub; bar and kitchen on one side and the booths on the other. Old brick building in a nice looking neighborhood, though I don't know it's name. Looks like a trendy, artsy area.

Very busy at lunch, so the locals are going there. Service was fast and attentive in spite of how busy it got and the bartender even answered a few questions for the obvious note taking beer tourist. And, the samples were free, which hasn't happened in a while, especially when there's nine on tap.

Bartender said there's a new location opening up in Highline which is near the airport, so we'll hit that one next time. Beer was good to very good all around, though not as good as I expected from samples at GABF last year. Worth the stop.

McMenamins Six Arms (Seattle, WA)

McMenamins Six Arms is a literal corner bar; I almost walked by it in the twilight. Old brick building, cramped bar with a rail to separate the restaurant tables. Lots of signs around about keeping minors out of the bar, which were at every bar, so must be a Washington thing. The place was decorated for Halloween: blinking green-chested skeletons over the bar and webs on the TVs. We had the tater tots with ranch dressing, really good bar food.  Had them Cajun at a later McMenamins and the were even better. Not a bad stop if you're in the area (like at Elysian down the street), but I wouldn't go out of my way for this place alone. Standard bar, nice atmosphere, ok beer and decent food. Fun stop.

Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery (Bellevue, WA)

10/19/06

Rock Bottom Bellvue is in the heart of a business district down the street from the Sheraton business hotel we were staying in. Big and well run RB with the basic restaurant and light wood bar on the first floor and the Top of the Rock Lounge upstairs, which was full and had more TVs.

Sitting down at the bar, I got very quick and attentive service even though I was just getting a beer tray of samples. Eight beers on tap that night I was there, and all were pretty good. Stay away from the Liquid Sun and Nisqually Nut Brown, Euro lager and nut brown respectively. But for a downtown location, the Hop Bomb, Harvest Ale, and Humpback Pale Ale were all very respectable, well hopped beers. Being my first night in northwest since I was 10, I was happy about this--travelling from Minnesota, if the local yuppie suit and tie crowd were drinking this many hops, the places pushing the limit should be very cool in the days to follow (which was true!).

Seattlites are an interesting breed. I mentioned yuppie post work with his tie pulled down was there, many others looked like an L.L. Bean explosion. Kinda a rugged yuppie. And, lots of laughing, which was true in Elysian earlier tonight. Food, beer, friends, and laughs are loud and strong. Any place where my own head turning loud laugh is 2nd or 3rd in the room is ok by me. Just seemed like they enjoyed other, all with a very relaxed atmosphere.

While maybe one of the best RBs I've been to, it's still just a sports bar with fake silver metal molded ceiling and the slightly above standard RB beer level--high end macro with a couple interesting ones worth the trip.

The Pike Pub & Brewery (Seattle, WA)

10/19/06

Very first stop on my first trip to Seattle, so headed downtown touristy right off the bat. I'm a vegetarian, so only watch the fish toss w/o a purchase upstairs. Around the corner and down is The Pike Pub & Brewery. Walking in it is clean and well lit, but painted black in an industrial chic look. Random decor, including poker playing dogs on one wall. Big tourist shop in the front with T-shirts. Ok atmosphere with a few TVs around for sports.

Pete of Fish Philosophy fame

Three levels going up and the center piece is the brew tank on the second, smack dab in the center of the action with a brewer working behind the gated off area. Looked like the grain mill was upstairs or outside with a chute dumping directly in through the shops on the next level up. Pretty cool looking—and shiny. Great smell of a batch at full boil walking in the door, so that was nice.

Good news, all the beers were pretty good; the Weiss being by far the weakest. After a full sampler, I had drafts of the Scotch, XXX Stout, and Tandem Double—all worth the effort, my favorites in reverse order listed. Went for the artisanal cheese plate of all local cheeses and honey. Good, but not enough bread and a bit expensive; however, that's par for all high end cheese plates. Ordered some of the steak fries as well since we'd just come from the plane, which were fine but nothing mind blowing. Good prices for the most part, especially for being in Pike Place. Parking across the street was expensive and small, located in the bowels under the street. Fun visit overall though.

Elysian Brewing Co-Capitol Hill (Seattle, WA)

10/19/06

Cool beer decor walking in the door--gives the impression that they really focus on the beer at Elysian Brewing, which the sampler and a couple of pints proved. Banners naming Elysian large brewpub of the year at GABF in '93, 03, and 04 hang above the glass where you could see the brewhouse and a brewer hard at work in the early evening.  We hit Elysian based on some pretty good samples at GABF two years ago, and I wasn't disappointed.

High ratings across the board, every beer being to style and fun to drink. Perseus Porter on nitro was the clear winner tonight, deserving a much higher rating than the bottle we had later. The Nightowl Pumpkin Ale is easily the best pumpkin ale I've had to date—excellent beer that happens to have pumpkin in the center that amplifies the beer. Very fun and interesting to drink rather than having a pumpkin pie liquefied in a glass. Bete Blanche was great too, liked drinking it, but the only beer that didn't seem to fit the style as a Belgium tripel—seemed to have some hefeweizen qualities. Odd, but very good. More time in the bar and I'd order it before their flagships The Wise ESB and The Immortal IPA, which were both good as well.

I liked the Greek mythology theme running through the beers, coasters, etc. Elysian Fields, besides being one of the extended pubs to the original Capitol Hill, is the "abode of the blessed after death." Which makes Elysian heaven or paradise in Greek mythology and all the regular beers reflect the theme. As an English teacher and sometimes poet, I appreciate it. Not the defining characteristic of a pub, but one I really enjoy. Added to this was a very light, fun atmosphere, clean and rustic with beat up wooden floors and high wooden ceiling, and a woman laughing with friends that gave my own thunderous laugh a run for its money. Really sounded like the locals were having fun.

Here's the reason for the high food rating—I actually had to choose between several very excellent vegetarian options, including a veggie pulled BBQ sandwich (never seen that before except in full veggie/vegan joints). We painstakingly decided on the Eggplant Parmesan sandwich with multicolored tortilla chips with hot and tasty chili arbol sauce. Easily a place I'd go just for food w/o beer as a consideration (which never happens for me but it could, I suppose). We were only in Seattle for two of seven days in the NW, but really wanted to come back but didn't make it because of logistics. Absolute top of the list to hit this and the other Elysian pubs on the next trip.