Bad Jimmy’s Brewery Co.

Bad Jimmy’s Brewery Co.  19May2017

After putting in a few miles on the elliptical and doing a couple of hours of light yard work I decided to ride the 40 down to Bad Jimmy’s. I just wasn’t ready for the 1.5 mile walk and the bus stop at 8^th and Leary is just a couple of blocks from the brewery.

Bad Jimmy’s is set back from Leary with the main drive way leading off Bright Street NW. 

The brewery as seen from the Bright Street entrance.

As you walk up the driveway the open garage door leads you into the seating and bar area. 

The seating area and bar as you enter through the garage door. The beer list (not visible) is to the left.

The brew kit is to the right and the rear of the seating area. Additional seating is present in an upstairs area above the restrooms. As you approach the bar you can see the taps and to the left is the chalked beer list. The flights are unlimited tasters of 5 ounce volume. Most of the beers were above 5% ABV so I limited myself to six tasters.

From l to r IPA, Habanero Amber, Cocoa Vanilla Porter, Girl Scout Drop Out, Hyper Squirrel Nut Brown, and Strawberry Hef.

Tasting Notes:

Strawberry Mango Hef (6.2%, 12 IBU): Cloudy beige with pink. Fruit ester aroma. Sweet fruit esters with subtle mango and strawberry flavors. Sweet almost bitter finish.

Girl Scout Drop Out (7.4%, 9 IBU): A clear red blonde. Ester aroma with some chocolate. Sweet malt, creamy body, semi-dry (not cloying). Esters. Slightly astringent finish. The brewer added caramel, chocolate, and coconut to this blond ale. Caveat: I have a difficult time tasting coconut in beer.

Habanero Amber (6.8%, 22 IBU): Clear amber. Peppery ester and roast malt aromas. Heat, malt and phenols (?). Lingering spicy heat finish.

Cocoa Vanilla Porter (6.5%, 17 IBU): Opaque black with red highlights. Chocolate, vanilla and roast malt aromas. Vanilla and chocolate sweet and roasted malt flavors. Sweet finish.

Hyper Squirrel Nut Brown (6.1%, 27 IBU): Clear dark brown. Ester and roast malt aroma. Sweet, esters, hop aroma, brown malt roast. Bitter sweet finish. The brewer added white coffee and hazelnuts to this brew.

IPA (8.0%, 80 IBU): Clear red gold. Piney hop aroma. Sweet malt quickly over-ridden with bitterness and piney hop flavor. Lingering bitter finish.

The guys behind the bar at Bad Jimmy’s are friendly and try to get out from behind the bar and mingle. Mingling was a bit of a stretch on this Friday afternoon as the crowd was a little thin with just an old beer geek at the bar writing tasting notes and a mother and son playing mouse trap at one of the tables. This brewery was new in December 2013 and was the penultimate stop on the annual pub crawl that year. The Habanero beer was on offer that night and it was good then and better now. Like many Seattle breweries time and competition has helped improve their brewing practices. I liked all the beers, which were all well brewed, and I especially enjoyed the Cocoa Vanilla Porter because I’m a sucker for chocolate beers. The bar tender said that they aim for subtlety in their more exotic additions while the base beers are not always so subtle – take the IPA for instance.

The beer must have numbed my legs or the coffee laced Hyper Squirrel restored my energy because the walk home didn’t seem as daunting even though it’s mainly up hill.