Outlander Brewery and Pub

Outlander Brewery and Pub  07May2017

What a beautiful day to visit a pub. I was off to a late start so my wife drove me down to Outlander Brewery and Pub. It’s a long walk and I needed to get back in time to thaw out dinner. Normally I would walk the 2.4 miles or ride with Joe Metro on the 40.

Outlander is in what was formerly a single family dwelling, otherwise known as a house, on the shady but busy thoroughfare of 36^th St. N. This area of Fremont may have once been residential but now the entire street is lined with businesses.

That house is a brewery!

Plenty of add-ons to the house provide outdoor seating all of which was being used on this fine afternoon. You enter into the hallway of the house and head straight back to the bar and tap on your right. 

The hallway that leads you inside and into the taproom in the back.

The beer list is chalked up above the bar in plain sight.

The small but classy bar and bar back with the beer list clearly visible.

 The inside seating areas are all interconnected rooms that were formerly dining rooms, bedrooms or parlors. I ordered tasters of most of the beers but not all. Four ounce tasters, pints, and growlers are all available. I took my beers into the living room and commenced to tasting and noting.

Clockwise from the bottom Rocksteady Jamaican Foreign Stout, Holy Basil Pale, Belgian Flanders Brown, Lime and Coconut Pale, Helles Lager, Peach Farmhouse, Cascade Warrior IPA.

 Tasting Notes:

Rock Steady Jamaican Foreign Stout (6.0%): Opaque red-brown with red highlights. Roast malt and coffee aroma. Sweet esters and roast malt flavors. Bitter sweet finish.

Lime and Coconut Pale (5.8%): Pale yellow and hazy. Bready malt aroma. Astringent oily lime and coconut rich. Dry thin middle. Saison phenolics. Dry sourish finish.

Holy Basil Pale (5.6%): Hazy red-gold. Basil aroma. Basil flavor, sweet malt, bitterness to balance. Good body. Bitter sweet finish and then gone.

Helles Lager (5.6%): Pale gold with a very slight haze. Malt and sulfur nose and a beery lager aroma. Sweet malt with very little hop bitterness or flavor. Sweet finish with a slight lingering bitterness.

Peach Farmhouse (6.0%): Hazy yellow. Fruity phenolic aroma and stone fruit. Flavor of Band-Aid and peach. Dry. Slightly sweet and sour finish.

Belgian Flanders Brown (7.5%): Hazy red-brown. Lactic acid and esters aromas. Sweet lactic and wood astringency. Spicy sour finish.

Cascade Warrior IPA (6%): Clear red-gold. Piney, fruity, and citrus hop aroma. Sweet malt and bitter grapefruit hops. Hop candy. Firm body. Lingering bitter finish.

As I sat at a small table in the living room while tasting my beers and listening to the eclectic mix of world music I was reminded of a now defunct restaurant in the U-district called The Beggar’s Banquet which was also in a re-purposed house. I felt oddly both at home and out of place sitting at a small restaurant table in house that’s really a brewery. I guess that after visiting so many warehouse-style establishments I wasn’t used to drinking in such a homey environment other than my own home. I would have ordered a pint of any of the beers I tasted except the Peach Farmhouse (phenolics out of control) and the Helles (blah, needs more hops). I liked the Brown, the Stout, and the IPA. The Lime and the Basil were refreshing.

My wife collected me a mere ten minutes after I called, which makes this one of the easiest Seattle brewery trips I’ve done lately.