Hellbent Brewing Company

Hellbent Brewing Company  16Jun2017

I find myself on another ride on the brewery bus, the 40 to Northgate. At the Northgate Transit Center I picked up the 41 to Lake City, which travels in the vicinity of Hellbent Brewing Company.

Transit Center with entertaining landscaping.

Hellbent is only blocks away from Elliott Bay Brewing but has a completely different vibe. 

Great setting for the brewery. The surrounding shrubbery obscures the signs and building from the road.

Hellbent is beer only and 21+, while Elliott Bay has a restaurant. Hellbent owns its building, a renovated former office space on Lake City Way near the Fred Meyer. You enter off the street or off the patio if approaching from the parking lot. 

Back patio.

The food trucks sit by the patio. The bar is visible from both entrances and a digital display hosts the beer list. 

The bar as seen from the front entrance. Beer list and brew kit are visible.

The digitally displayed beer list.

The printed beer list is also available at the bar. The brew kit is visible through glass behind the bar. The greeting is friendly from behind the bar.

A well-used beer list.

Flights of 4 four ounce tasters are available as well as pints and growlers. I studied the beer list and settled on four with the intention of ordering a pint of something else later.

Flight of tasters l to r: Warm Fuzzies, Northwest Pilsner, DANG! Citra IPA, Mystic Lamb Lavender Saison.

Bonus pint of Vienna Lager.

Tasting Notes:

Warm Fuzzies (9.5%, ~25IBU): Cloudy orange. Fruity aroma (peach) and some fruity hop. Sweet and slightly sour, with some bite. Late slight bitterness. Sweet sour finish.

Northwest Pilsner (5.6%, 35 IBU): Slightly hazy yellow gold. Northwest hop citrus aroma. Dry, soft malt followed by bitter hop flavors. Hop flavors are noble hops with just a touch of Northwest dank. Bitter finish.

DANG! Citra IPA (7.1%, 60 IBU): Hazy gold. Dankish (complex fruit, pine, and funk) hop aroma. Sweet malt, bitterness with fruity, piney hop flavor. Bitter-sweet finish.

Mystic Lamb Lavender Saison (4.9%, 22 IBU): Slightly hazy yellow gold. Lemony lavender and saison aromas. Lavender, malt, and late bitter flavors. The lavender is almost overpowering. Flowery finish.

Vienna Lager (5.5%, 28 IBU): Clear red amber. Malt aroma with slight hop funk. Sweet cracker malt, noble hop flavor, and late bitterness all in pleasant combination. Bitter finish. My pick of today's group.

My drinking companion. The dog hangs out on this rug. I just happened to be at the end of the bar.

The people at Hellbent have transformed a mundane office and restaurant space into an open and airy venue for beer appreciation and they are serving beers that can be appreciated. The beers were all well-made, even if the lavender saison was overpowered by flowers and the NW Pilsner tasted odd with NW hop flavors. The brewery just celebrated its second anniversary and will continue to improve and perfect their beers in time. Meanwhile the experiments are well worth trying. The clientele are mostly drawn from the neighborhood and the atmosphere in the taproom, at least on this Friday, is open and friendly. Two people struck up conversations with me as I sat at the bar sipping and taking notes. The friendly nature in the taproom flows from the community involvement of Hellbent and their desire to get to know the neighborhood.

Hellbent just expanded their hours to commence serving at noon with a deal on pints at lunch time, $3 when you purchase a lunch from the truck of the day.

My ride home could not have been better. The 41 to Northgate appeared within minutes after I hit the bus stop and the transfer at the Transit Center went off flawlessly. All my walking to and fro netted about 100 calories off the damage done by all the beer and the food truck lunch I consumed.