Cloudburst Brewing

Cloudburst Brewing  09Jun2017

A little threatening weather this day as some thundershowers were in the prediction. No rain fell during my trip, but the clouds were spectacular. No cloudburst while visiting Cloudburst. I hopped the D-Line to downtown and made a short walk to Western and Lenora.

Not much here to stand out from the surrounding buildings. Easy to walk right past.

Cloudburst sits in a warehouse-like building near the Public Market with a garage door opening to lead you into the inky shadows. 

The ramp into the inky shadows. Come on in.

Tables face the opening on what was formerly the ramp into the warehouse. To the back is the bar on the right and a view of the brew kit on the left. The beer list is above the bar and is clearly marked. 

The bar with the minimal beer list posted above. More detailed beer descriptions are available at the bar.

Clipboards with the beer list and descriptions are available at the bar. Cloudburst offers 10-ounce schooners, 16-ounce pints, and growler fills  – no flights or smaller tasters. I ordered four schooners from the beer list figuring that I should be able to survive 40 oz. of beer and still get home on the bus without bursting.

l to r Nut Burst Tropical Lager, Happy Little Clouds Dry Hop Pils, High End Portfolio IPA, Refracted Light IPA.

I wound up with two lagers and two IPAs, but I would have liked to taste the other offerings, which were varied.

Tasting Notes:

Nut Burst Tropical Lager (5.3%, 30 IBU): Clear gold. Fruity hop aroma. Bitterness first then earthy malt. Dry with pronounced hop flavor. Somehow the New Zealand and Australian hops were rendered to taste like Yakima hops. Quick bitter finish. A collaboration with Chuckanut Brewing.

Happy Little Clouds Dry Hop Pils (5.1%, 32 IBU): Clear pale gold. German hop aroma with a perfume note. Taste is rich biscuit malt dry followed by bitterness from which the hop flavor pops. Bitter sweet finish with lingering hops and malt. As fine a pils as I have had in the city. And, yes, it’s a Bob Ross reference.

High End Portfolio IPA (7.2%, 55 IBU): Hazy red-gold. Fruity and citrus hop aroma. Sweet and juicy, then bitter hop on the tongue and hop flavor of fruit and citrus. Bitter finish and lingering bitterness.

Refracted Light IPA (7.4%, 58 IBU): Hazy red gold. Earthy and fruity hop aroma. Flavors follow on from sweet malt, juicy hops, bitter hop on the tongue, and finally earthy, fruity hop flavors. Sweet and lingering bitter woody finish.

I drank up my IPAs saving the Happy Little Clouds Pils for last. Even though my taste was probably dulled by the hoppy beers, the Pils was still full of malt and hop flavors. It’s not a wimpy beer at all. I didn’t finish the Nut Burst. The warehouse setting feels homey and the greeting from behind the bar is Seattle friendly, polite and restrained. The taproom was full of Canadians, since the Blue Jays are in town to play the Mariners. In other words the crowd was very pleasant and polite. Cloudburst has been in business since January of 2016 and has really dialed in their brewing process. All the beers I tried were well made even if some of the flavors were not to my liking.

The ride home on the bus was without incident and I was able to stagger into the kitchen to prepare dinner.