Obec Brewing

Obec Brewing 10Sep2017

We were headed to Fred Meyer when I spotted a sign for a new brewery in the Ballard Brewery District. So I checked on line to learn that Obec Brewing is a new brewery that has been open for a couple of weeks. Another brewery within walking distance! So on Sunday I pulled on my shoes, put together my brewery visit kit, and walked down to check it out.

Obec is on NW 52^nd right next door to Stoup. 

Obec Brewing with the garage door to the left, entrance in the middle, and outdoor seating area to the right.

It is another brewery in a utilitarian warehouse type building. The neighborhood is mixed residential, retail, and light industrial, so the outdoor seating area stands out as much more attractive (along with Stoup) than the surrounding buildings. Today as I approached the building I noted that the garage door was open to the indoor seating area and the brew kit. I entered through the general entrance beside the garage door to get a feel for the year round entry. The narrow hall way opens to the brew kit in front of you with the bar to the right. 

Entering through the door gives you a view of the brew kit.

The bar and taps

The tap list is projected on a wall above the bar. 

The tap list.

The selection of house brewed beers is limited due to the newness of the place, but beers from neighboring breweries are available on guest taps. Cider and wine are also available as well as some cocktails. I asked for a flight of the home pride and settled in to taste.

Front l to r: Czech Pils, Pale Ale, and Porter. Rear: Red Rye IPA.

Tasting Notes:

Inaugural Czech Pils (4.8%, 35 IBU): Clear gold. Warm malt aroma. Balance of malt and bitterness up front followed by noble hop flavor then malt. Full body with a bitter finish. First class Czech Pils.

Inaugural Pale Ale (6.4%, 57 IBU): Clear red gold. Malt hop aroma – piney. Dry malt with full body and earthy hops. Lots of esters. Bitter finish.

Inaugural Porter (7.4%, 60 IBU): Cloudy dark brown, brown highlights. Roast malt aroma. Sweet burnt malt. Medium body leads to a bitter finish. No hop flavors aside from bitterness.

Inaugural Red Rye IPA (6.5%, 80 IBU): Cloudy red. Fruity aroma with some roast – esters and hops. Peppery malt and hops. Fruit esters. Phenols (pepper) lingering. Bitter sweet finish.

The brewer at Obec told me that the name translates to community, which indicates to me that Obec intends to be a neighborhood brewery. The Sunday I visited they had been open two weeks as of the previous Friday. Obec will focus on Czech beers, but the limited number of styles – pilsners and dark – means that they will be brewing many other styles. The pilsner was excellent and I am looking forward to trying the dark when released. Decent lagering requires time (at least six weeks), which means that production can be slow. I am glad that they are not rushing cold conditioned beers out of the fermenters. Ales are turned over faster, so the number and variety will fill in the gaps. The indoor seating is plentiful and the outdoor seating looks inviting in nice weather. After I finished my tasters I ordered a full pint of the Inaugural Czech Pils and had a nice conversation with the guy next to me at the bar.

An interesting exercise would be to sample the Czech Pils at Obec, then stagger over to Stoup to try the German Pils to compare. They are both excellent examples of the indicated styles.

After I finished my beer I staggered home to grill some salmon.

Counterbalance Brewing Company

Counterbalance Brewing Company 05Sep2017

The bus route to Counterbalance, located off Michigan St. near the 1^st Ave S bridge (not on Queen Anne hill), calls for a quick transfer from the D-Line to the 131 or 132 downtown. And the prompt arrival of the 131 allowed me to make the trip in the optimal 1 hour. I read a lot of my book and listened to many tunes.

Counterbalance is located in an area of light industrial, warehouses, and retail. It is in an improved warehouse, which is uninspiring on the outside but quite inviting once inside. 

Counterbalance Brewing with its outdoor seating area

A wheel chair friendly ramp leads you past the outdoor seating area into the updated taproom. 

The wheel chair friendly ramp leads you to the inviting interior

As you enter the seating area is in front of you, the bar is to the left and to the extreme left is the brew kit. 

Seating area to the right and bar with taps to the left

The beer list is chalked above the taps and includes ABV, IBU, and prices.

The tap list above the taps

 Flights of up to 8 tasters are available, which will cover a fair amount of the tap list territory. I ordered the 8 taster flight, which taxed my ability to taste and describe that beer.

Left side b to f: Counterbalance IPA, Bad Wolf Dark Ale, Kushetka Imperial Stout, and Pogo Duck IPA

Right side b to f: Tabletop Supernova Imperial IPA, Fhloston Paradise Sour, Bohemian Pilsner, and Passionfruit Hibiscus Ale

Tasting Notes:

Counterbalance IPA (6.1%, 72 IBU): Clear reddish gold. Caramel malt aroma, and fruity, citrus hop aromas. Bitter with malt body then dry bitterness. Bitter finish.

Bad Wolf Dark Ale (7.3%, 61 IBU): Clear red brown. Roast malt aroma. Malt body with fruity hop bitterness, and restrained coffee roast. Bitter finish.

Kushetka Imperial Stout (8.9%, 65 IBU): Opaque black with slight red highlights. Roast malt and sweet ester aromas. Firm malt body followed by firm bitterness drying to roast. Long bitter finish Very smooth.

Pogo Duck IPA (5.0%, 60 IBU): Clear gold. Citrus and sweaty hop aroma. Hop forward flavors of malt, peppery hops and bitterness. Bitter sweet finish.

Tabletop Supernova Imperial IPA (8.6%, 90 IBU): Clear red gold. Smells big – esters and alcohol and hops. Balanced attack – big malt, big hops, and fruity esters. Big beer. Dangerously drinkable and very smooth. Sweet finish.

Fhloston Paradise Sour (5.2%, 37 IBU): Pale gold clear. Sour lactic funk aroma. Dry malt, pleasant sourness. Dry light body. Sweet finish. Deceptively simple.

Bohemian Pilsner (5.2%, 37 IBU): Clear gold. Beery malt-hop aroma. Sweet malt with full body. Pleasing bitterness. Dry bitter finish. Resembles Rogers Pilsner (Georgetown) more than Crux Pilz.

Passionfruit Hibiscus Ale (5.4%, 11 IBU): Cloudy red-pink gold. Flowers and tropical fruit aromas. Sweet malt, tropical fruit with a hint of sourness perhaps from the wheat. Sweet finish but not cloying.

Counterbalance is not near any real residential areas, so very little walk-up business from neighbors. On a Tuesday afternoon a handful of regulars were sipping on their usual orders. I asked the barkeep about who patronizes this place and she said it was mostly people who work in the area and stop in after the workday. The greeting from behind the bar was friendly and both the regular bartender and the trainee were willing to converse.

The beers were all well made. Any presenting sweetness was due to residual malt dextrins, not sugars. The sweetness was not cloying in any of the beers. All of the beers were balanced as appropriate for the style and had an interesting level of bitterness. I particularly liked the Kushetka Imperial Stout and the Tabletop Supernova Imperial IPA. I liked the Stout in 2015 when I first visited and found it smooth and powerful then as now. The IPA was smooth and attacking in a balanced way sending malt and hops and esters all at once. I used the verb attack in my description purposely.

My reverse bus ride home involved the 131 and a surprise transfer to the 132 which became the 28X. It was very quiet and I got a bit of reading done due to the longer transit time at peak hour.

Burdick Brewery

Burdick Brewery 23Aug2017

I mentioned in another brewery-visit that Ballard was once connected to West Seattle by Metro through the 15 and 18 bus lines. Now they are cut apart by the necessity of a transfer. But, in compensation Ballard is now connected to South Park by a combined bus route comprising the 28X and the 132. I walked the ten blocks over to 8^th NW to catch the 28X and was deposited about an hour later at the south end of the South Park Bridge.

Burdick has opened a new tap room in July of this year that is off site from the brewery proper. My bus ride took me past the brewery itself, which appeared to be in transition as well. 

Burdick at home in its clearly marked and attractive building

The taproom occupies a small building with its entrance on 16^th Avenue South. The door opens into a U shaped room with a few tables and the bar at the left hand end of the U.

The interior with its U shape and a few scattered tables

The beer list is, for now, marked up on a piece of craft paper next to the bar. Only the names of the beers and the prices are listed. Since the place is new, they are not yet prepared to pour flights, so I ordered three of the five beers on offer as 12 ounce pours. Pints and growlers are also available. I also asked for a taste of the Whiskey Red.

l to r Summer Ale, Whiskey Stout and Brown Ale

Whiskey Red

Tasting Notes:

Summer Ale (4.0%): Clear orange gold. Ester, caramel malt, and hop aromas. Sweet malt body followed by fruit esters and hop flavor. Late bitterness. Bitter finish. Good balance.

Brown Ale (4.4%): Cloudy hazy red brown. Roast barley aroma. Dry full malt body with slight sweetness. Firm hop bitterness. Sweet finish.

Whiskey Stout (8.9%): Opaque black with no highlights. Burnt malt, barrel and whiskey aromas. Sweet malt, burnt malt, ashes, caramel, and vanilla with medium body. Bitter finish.

Whiskey Red (8.9%): Red orange with a slight haze. Whiskey and wood aroma and something perfumey – esters and sweet alcohol. Taste of sweet full bodied malt with very low bitterness. Barrel notes of vanilla and a slight astringency. The alcohol is well hidden. Bitter finish.

I have been postponing this write up because I didn’t feel well on this Wednesday afternoon visit. I have been concerned about putting a negative spin on my review and tasting notes. Burdick Whiskey Stout is one of my favorite beers but was so heavy I couldn’t finish it. The Brown Ale and Whiskey Red were good beers and very malty and sweet, so I couldn’t finish them either. I passed up the IPA in tap because I know from experience that Burdick brews IPAs well. I’ve had Rat City Roller Girl IPA in the bottle, and it’s outstanding. Since my drinking capacity was diminished, the summer ale struck me as a perfect beer for a warm day.

The new Burdick taproom is quite serviceable with a few tables, seating around the walls, and a small outdoor seating area in front of the building. 

Outdoor seating

During the day the interior is well lit due to ample windows. The greeting was friendly and the bar tender was knowledgeable enough to answer my questions about the beers. A few people from the neighborhood stopped in while I was drinking and solidified my impression that this another neighborhood place.

Bottles of Whiskey Stout were for sale but I already have one in my beer cupboard so I passed on that opportunity.

My reversal of the bus ride home on the 132 and the 28X was very quiet and I got a bit of reading done due to the longer transit time at peak hour.

Standard Brewing

Standard Brewing 20Aug2017

I picked Standard Brewing because the bus rides involved a minimum of walking. After a bout of resting my eyes and studying the back of my eyelids I jumped off the D-Line bus in the Denny Regrade area and caught a 14 Mt Baker at the same stop.

Standard Brewing on the corner of 25th S and S Jackson

Standard Brewing is on South Jackson Street in the Leschi area just east of the International District and Little Saigon. From the corner of 25^th Ave South and South Jackson the brewery presents its bamboo shaded outdoor seating area. The newly opened taproom has its entrance on South Jackson. 

The new bar area

As you step through the front door the taproom opens before you with tables both for standing and sitting and the bar to your right.

The beer list.

The beer list is above the bar and gives ABV but no bitterness information. Serving sizes include 5, 10, and 16 ounces. Growler fills of 32 and 64 ounces are available.

I ordered 5 ounce tasters – one of each.

Back row l to r: Bob's Your Uncle, Citra Pale, Edith (saison), and Gold Teeth (Berliner weisse). Front row l to r: West Coast IPA, Wolfgang (schwarz bier), Body Massage (stout), and Flavor Country IPA.

Tasting Notes:

Bob’s Your Uncle (4.8%): Clear red-brown. Roast malt aroma. Sweet malt body followed by drying, spicy low bitterness. Dry finish. A nice brown ale.

Citra Pale (5.3%): Pale yellow with a slight haze. Very citrus aroma. Sweet malt with hop bitterness in balance. Citrus, hop flavor. Dry bitter finish.

Edith (6.2%): Pale gold with a slight haze. Lactic aroma with underlying phenols. Mild sourness and some citrus. Hints of phenols with some Band-Aid and rubber.

Gold Teeth (4.0%): Pale, clear gold. Lactic and spice aroma. Very mild sourness and a savory note. Umami? Sour finish. Very nice Berliner weisse.

West Coast IPA (7.2%): Gold with a slight haze. Tropical, piney, and sweaty hops. Dry (but good malt body) bitterness with hop aroma and taste assault. Lingering bitterness and malt.

Wolfgang (5.8%): Opaque black with red highlights. Roast malt aroma. Sweet roast malt followed by very low noble hop bitterness. It’s a very smooth schwarz bier. Bitter finish.

Body Massage (4.0%): Opaque black with red highlights. Roast malt aroma. Sweet roast malt with coffee notes followed by low bitterness. Full body. Bitter finish. Pleasant stout.

Flavor Country IPA (6.6%): Hazy yellow gold. Tropical, piney, and sweaty hops. The taste is sweet, then bitter with piney and tropical hop flavors. Another beer with a savory note. Bitter sweet finish.

Sunday afternoon is a good time to visit a brewery taproom because it is usually sparsely populated. The lack of a crowd allows me to take my time deciding and tasting. Standard Brewing is very much a neighborhood brewery with mostly locals visiting on a lightly attended afternoon. The bartender was friendly, knowledgeable, and answered my questions when he wasn’t busy with customers. A couple of patrons engaged me in conversation, which added to my sense of the taproom as a local.

In my Seattle beer travels I have heard people speak well of Standard and the beer certainly met my expectations. Most of the beers were dry with good malt body lending an air of sweetness. The pale and IPAs were all appropriately hoppy both in aroma and bitterness with the bitterness not overdone. My favorite beer was all of them except Edith, which had some slight phenolic flavors that put me off.

I picked up a bottle of Skid Road, a Bourbon barrel aged strong ale, to take home and age for later drinking. My new policy, still in development, is to not stand in line for beer. If I stumble upon a bottle of something special at a brewery I am visiting, well then, I am on it. I am starting to acquire a nice little collection of beers that no one in the rest of the country has ever heard of.

My reversal of the bus ride home on the 14 and the D-Line was very quiet and I got a bit of reading done.

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.

West Seattle Brewing Company

West Seattle Brewing Company 09Aug2017

Metro used to run a bus from Ballard, through downtown, and then on to West Seattle. Now to get there I had to take two buses, the D Line and the C Line. On the plus side the transfers were quick - less than 5 minutes – and the C-Line stops quite near the brewery.

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West Seattle Brewing Company is on Fauntleroy, which runs on a diagonal, and the building is an odd shape, almost triangular a regular Seattle occurrence. The entrance is on the flattened apex of the triangle and leads you into the seating area and the bar. As soon as I step through the door I detect the delicious smell of hot beer wort. The bar is to the left of the entrance and the brew kit is straight back.

The bar with the cooler behind, the taps, and the beer list above

The brew kit in the back

The beer list is chalked up above the taps and lists the beers, their ABV and bitterness units. The cooler behind the bar holds kegs for the taps and some bright tanks.

A better look at the beer list and the available serving sizes

 Tasters (4 ounce), schooners, pints, Imperial pints, and growler fills are available. I studied the beer list and ordered two flights - one of the flights included Number 6 Cider Dry 99 - and then retired to a tall stool at the bar to sip, note, and pester the bartender with inane questions.

l to r: Weiting Pilsner, Wet Witty, Mosaic Pale Ale, and Sounder Stout

l to r: West Pale Ale, House IPA, Avalon Amber, Number 6 Cider Dry 99

Tasting Notes:

Weiting Pilsner (5.9%, 35 IBU): Yellow gold very slight chill haze. Malt and spicy hop aroma. Sweet malt leads the flavors with bitter noble hops right behind. The flavor is characteristic of a fine pilsner. Dry bitter finish.

Wet Witty (5.2%, 15 IBU): Yellow gold and hazy. Peppery Belgian yeast aroma with some orange and coriander. Coriander and Belgian yeast flavors mix with some orange. All of the flavors are well balanced. Dry finish.

Avalon Amber (6.0%, 30 IBU): Hazy red-brown. Sweet malt aroma with a hint of roast. Flavor is sweet malt with slight roast followed by a pleasant low bitterness. Bitter-sweet finish. This is an easy drinker but still interesting.

Mosaic Pale Ale (6.1%, 40 IBU): Pale yellow and cloudy. Sweaty hop aroma. Dry, bitter and hop (Mosaic) flavor. Not juicy. Dry bitter finish.

West Pale Ale (5.7, 45 IBU): Pale gold with slight haze. Lemony citrus aroma with some malt. Sweet, bitter, and hop citrus flavor. Bitter sweet finish.

House IPA (6.8%, 70 IBU): Deep red and clear. Malt and piney hop aroma. The flavor is hops up front, both aroma and bitterness followed by sweet biscuit malt. Bitter finish.

Sounder Stout (6.9%, 55 IBU): Opaque black with red highlights. Roast malt aroma with some citrus hop aroma. Sweet and burnt malt followed by hop bitterness. Bitter finish. A very pleasing stout.

West Seattle Brewing was lightly attended on a Wednesday afternoon and the pace picked up a little later when I left. I tried not to take it personally. I am not sure how widely they distribute their kegs but they seem to depend on neighborhood business. A handful of regulars dropped in as I sipped my beers and the atmosphere was casual and friendly. I have been in the place when a Seahawks game was on the TV and it was packed. Business seems good and I hope it stays that way because the beers are all so well made that I had trouble picking a favorite. I liked the Pilsner, the West Pale Ale and the Sounder Stout. The only beer I didn’t like was the Mosaic Pale, and that was just my taste not any problem with the brewing.

My reversal of the bus ride home on the C- and the D-Lines was uneventful to the point of almost being restful. I was able to read quite a bit of my latest book in air conditioned comfort on the ride - a blessing on this hot day.

Ram Restaurant and Brewery Northgate

 Ram Restaurant and Brewery Northgate 01Aug2017

I have been holding back the visit to the Ram to use it as a dinner date. Renee and I were treating my sister, and the food of chain-restaurant caliber along with fine beer sounded good. No bus rides for me on this trip as I have a designated driver.

The entrance to the Ram as seen from the parking lot

The Ram has an outpost at Northgate firmly planted in the mall while the entrance is on the outside. The front is configured to present the greeter’s desk as you enter, 

Greeter's station to the right, restaurant seating to the left, and Renee checking out the dominant sports theme

and once inside you see the large open restaurant seating to the left and center while the bar is to the right.

The bar behind the greeter's station

The everyday beer list is at the table and a seasonal beer list is presented with the menus. Both clearly list the beers ABV and bitterness in IBU.

Beers are available in 10 ounce, 16 ounce and 20 ounce servings and I bought a short flight of three 10 ounce beers.

From l to r: 71 Pale Ale, Barefoot Wit, and Big Red's IPA

Tasting Notes:

Barefoot Wit (5%, 15 IBU): Hazy gold. Wit beer yeast aroma, a nice Belgian smell with corriander. A sweet taste with peppery phenolics and a wheat bite. Faint orange and some spice. Sweet finish.

71 Pale Ale (5.5%, 40IBU): Gold and orange with some haze. Piney and peppery hop aroma. Sweet and bitter with hop flavors and biscuit maltiness. Bitter sweet finish.

Big Red’s IPA (6.2%, 65IBU): Hazy red-gold. Citrus hop aroma. Sweet and bitter balance in the flavors with citrus hops. Bitter finish.

The Ram is a destination restaurant, not a neighborhood joint. I suspect that they draw mainly from shoppers at Northgate. If it were not for the quality of beer, I would not bother much with the place. The food is pub style and filling but nothing special. The everyday beers are pretty uniform across the franchises, but, I believe, the local brewer is given a certain amount of autonomy. Even if the recipes come from a ring binder the beers at the Northgate outpost are well executed and are completely suitable for washing down dinner. Renee and I find ourselves here occasionally as a good compromise for us. She can usually find something on the menu that suits her, I can eat just about anything, and the beer is usually to my liking. As an indication we rarely visit the Ram at U-Village as it is out of our way and I would never go there alone, unless I was trying to visit every brewery in Seattle city limits. The last time I went was on a pub crawl several years ago.