Schooner Exact

Schooner Exact 23Sep2016

I hopped on the D-Line bus headed for the bus tunnel downtown. A bunch of buses go from the tunnel to the busway stop under Spokane Street. I jumped off the 150 at the busway stop and from there a quick half mile ride on shank’s mare delivered me to Schooner Exact.

Schooner Exact is another warehouse space establishment with a number of touches such as wood tables, nice wood work trim around doors, and a separate dining room to add some homeliness.

The bar is right inside the door and a few tables are scattered around. The beer selection looked good.

I ordered 4 oz. tastes of five of the beers on tap. The bar tender was very helpful, patiently answering all my questions with no visible eye rolls.

L to R 3Grid IPA, Orgasmic Lager, King Street Brown, Jawja Peach and Amarillo Fresh Hop Ale

Tasting Notes:

Jawja Peach (3.2% 15 IBU): Clear gold with a sweet sour aroma. The taste was lactic sour and fruity with not much peach flavor. Refreshing.

King Street Brown (5.5% 32 IBU): Clear, dark brown with a roast malt aroma. Hop bitterness and roasty chocolate malt flavors. This is a pretty standard American Brown ale.

Orgasmic Lager (5.5% 28 IBU): Clear gold, low woody (?) aroma. Light bitterness, sweet but not cloying. Bitter finish. Turns out that the woody aroma I noted initially is due to aging in white wine barrels. An interesting lager.

Amarillo Fresh Hop (5.9% ~57 IBU): Cloudy dark gold, big, sweaty hop aroma. Very bitter, sweet malt with a big Amarillo hop flavor. A bit of melon at the end. If you wondered what Amarillo hops impart to beer, this would tell you.

3Grid IPA (6.7% 62 IBU): Clear amber with a hoppy aroma. Classic sweet malt with hoppy bitterness and a bitter finish. One of my favorite IPAs.

Schooner Exact is a well-established brewery and their beers demonstrate skill and polish. We ate a meal there last year and the food tasted good to me, but I know little about fine or even nearly-fine dining. I just know that the place was busy on a Friday evening. I’ll be back again.