Georgetown Brewing Company

Georgetown Brewing Company 16Aug2017

The Georgetown area of Seattle is odd mix of warehouses, manufacturing, retail, and residential buildings. Georgetown Brewing is right at home.

The brewery lives in a large building. The entrance doors are black and yellow striped on the right side of the picture.

The same bus combo that takes me to Machine House turns out to be the fastest route to Georgetown Brewing as well – the D-Line to the 124 and jump off at Lucile.

The brewery is on Denver Ave, one of the diagonal roads that accommodate the weird geography of this town. The entrance is at the top of a ramp through huge automatically triggered, motorized doors. 

Entrance at the top of the ramp with the doors to the left.

As you step inside you see the expansive retail area in front of you and part of the brewing area beyond. 

View from the entrance doors looking to the right. Retail area in front and tasting area to the rear.

Even though it’s a production brewery, Georgetown’s retail area is nicely designed. 

View from inside the entrance doors looking straight back.

A beer list is chalked up on a board posted against the left wall 

Chalked up beer list.

and the list is re-iterated above the bar. The far end of the bar is the tasting area and near end is for sales. They dispense tastes, growlers, six-packs of cans, some bottles, and kegs.

The tastes (2 to 3 ounces) are free and I did not test the limits. I tried 6 out of the 10 possibilities.

Tasting Notes:

Roger's Pilsner

Roger’s Pilsner (4.9%, 34 IBU): Clear pale gold. Malt and spicy hop aroma. Dry full malt body with astringent hops. Lingering bitterness. Dry finish.

Bodhizafa IPA

Bodhizafa IPA (6.9%, 80 IBU): Orange gold. Citrus hop aroma. Dry full malt body. Hop bitterness and citrus flavor. Lingering dry bitter finish. Memory of grapefruit.

9 lb Porter

9 lb Porter (6.4%, 40 IBU): Clear dark-brown with red highlights. Roast malt aroma. Flavor is sweet roast malt followed by a pleasant low bitterness, which quickly fades. Sweet finish.

July IPA

July IPA (6.4%): Yellow gold with slight haze. Fruity tropical hop aroma. Malt body with a slight sweetness followed by big tropical fruit flavor. The bitterness is very low for an IPA. Neutral finish.

Boots Berry and Murray Gose

Boots Berry and Murray Gose (3.1): Cloudy pink. Raspberry and funky lactic aromas. The flavor is sour raspberry with good body and low saltiness. Sour finish. Lingering raspberry.

Chateauneuf du-Chad Barley Wine

Chateauneuf du-Chad Barley Wine (11%): Hazy red brown (poured from a bottle so the sediment was well mixed by the time I got to it). Sweet malt and oak aroma. Hot alcohol and malt, stone fruit, and some very slight oxidation. Sweet finish. I bought a 22 ounce bottle to age, and, since it’s bottle conditioned, it may hold up.

Georgetown Brewing had a steady stream of customers Wednesday afternoon with many stopping for tastes. A small army of bar tenders made sure that retail customers and tasters were well taken care of. The guys behind the bar were friendly, ready to answer questions, and open to conversation until called away to care for another customer. The tasting bar is a good place to stand around talking about beer and anything else that comes up. I talked to a couple of other retired guys who had just been to a winery and were now dipping into the beer. We discussed the merits of other Seattle breweries. Georgetown hails itself as the largest brewery in Seattle and all those sales provide the means to keep a tight quality rein on its products. The tastes I had were all top notch in quality and I could not pick a favorite among them. If you have a Georgetown beer that is off flavor, you can be pretty sure that it was mishandled somewhere between the brewery and the glass.

My reversal of the bus ride home on the 124 and the D-Line was uneventful aside from a few random loud outbursts from the back of the bus. I am afraid that the beer I purchased was warmed and shaken on the way home, which is just the type of thing the brew master fears when the beer leaves his domain.