By Iron Chef Leftovers

Stop 5 – North Sound Brewing In Mount Vernon

Just inside the city limits of Mount Vernon lies a very non-descript warehouse looking building that houses the fairly new facilities of North Sound Brewing. North Sound has been open for roughly a year and was an unknown quantity to all those on the trip, making this a must stop location.

The Beer – North Sound had 8 beers on tap when we got there, a sort of something for everyone lineup of the usual suspects – Blonde, Brown, Hefe, IPA, Stout, etc., so we got a couple of samplers to try. Overall, I would say the beers are above average – some of my favorites were the IPA, which had a nice, balanced hoppiness, the Brown, which was a refreshing malty beverage and the Stout , which had a rich, chocolatly presence with a smooth finish. The true standout here, however, was the Cherry Wheat. This beer was not a “beat you over the head with cherry flavor” beer, but a much more restrained, very good Wheat beer with a tease of cherries on the back of the palate. This beer was a huge surprise. You drink it expecting cherries but what you get is a crisp and refreshing, easy to drink Wheat up front with the faintest hit of cherries at the end, giving you a happy ”wow” sensation. This beer was consensus the favorite beer on the trip and really made me wonder why more Northwest brewers are not doing something like this. The distribution for North Sound is keg only and I can honestly say I can’t think of a single place in Seattle where I have seen their beers, so you need to get some growlers to go. Heck, you should drive to Mount Vernon just to get a growler of the Cherry Wheat. Their beers gain a prestigious 5 tulips out of 5.

The Atmosphere – unlike every other place we visited which were brewpubs, North Sound is a tasting room, so there is no real pub feel here. Located in a converted warehouse, the indoor seating contains several tables and a counter and the outdoor patio has a number of picnic tables for your imbibing enjoyment. It is a really straight forward, pleasant location but nothing to really right home about. You can bring in your own food and they have someone selling BBQ in the parking lot frequently, so there is no reason you couldn’t spend a few hour enjoying the fine beers that North Sound produces. Overall North Sound blows in at a 3.5 (out of 5) on the Beaufort Scale.

Dog Friendliness – Having a big patio meant we could bring the pooch to sit with us, which was a huge plus. North Sound has an enclosed parking lot, so it gives you a chance to stretch Rover’s legs without having to deal with the busy street out front. There is no real covered space outside if you wanted to leave the pup outside when you went in for a beer, but that is a minor quibble. North Sound is a great spot to bring your four legged friend and enjoy a beer – 4.5 chases of the tail out of 5.

By Iron Chef Leftovers

After a brief hiatus, we are back with the continuation of the North Sound Brewery Tour.

Stop 4 – Flyer’s Brewing in Oak Harbor

A winding drive from Anacortes down SR20, across Deception Pass, brings you to Whidbey Island and the sleepy little hollow of Oak Harbor, best known for being the home of Naval Air Station Whidbey. Lesser known is that there is also a brewpub in Oak Harbor right on Route 20 – Flyer’s Brewing.

The Beer – Back when Flyer’s first opened, they made great beers – innovative, tasty and worth seeking out. That was not the Flyer’s we experienced. They listed only 6 beers on tap – Blonde, Hefe, IPA, Amber, Brown and Porter, not exactly a killer lineup, but liking their beers, I was ok with that. We found out they only had 4 of the 6 – the Blonde and IPA were not available (I remember the IPA being pretty good). After ordering a sampler, none of the beers were particularly memorable. Sure they were all drinkable, but I wouldn’t run out to find any of them. The Porter was the best of the bunch and it was pretty mild with faint hints of chocolate. The Brown and Amber were so subdued that you could have had them interchangeably without missing a beat (or being able to tell which was which). The hefe had slight citrus overtones, and considering it was a warm, sunny afternoon, was the beer of choice when we ordered the pitchers. Flyer’s has their beers available in 22 oz. bottles at most better bottle shops, but I am not sure if I would go out of my way to seek them out. The lack of selection and lackluster beer made me think that they might be on their way out of the brewing business. As a whole, the beer was not well received by the group – 2 propellers out of 5.

The Atmosphere – Flyer’s from the outside looks like a converted Pizza Hut – right on the corner of a major intersection. Don’t let the outside fool you. The inside has a nice bar area and the dining area is quite sizeable. The restaurant is decorated with an aviation theme (as you would expect), but restrained enough that you don’t feel like you are at TGI McFunster’s. The real highlight was the outdoor patio, which was nearly as large as the dining area and completely packed (as was the dining area, but not as crowded). On a warm, sunny day, being outside was a big bonus – 5 Warm Fronts out of 5.

Dog Friendliness – Flyer’s is a dog’s perfect spot to enjoy a brew with her people. The big outdoor deck is spacious and has plenty of places you can hitch up Fido and with a separate entrance; you can bring the pooch right to the table with you. There were plenty of dogs in the outdoor space and the staff was very happy to bring a water bowl. Flyer’s fetches a score of 5 squeaky toys out of 5. Good girl. Stay.

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Usually when I am on vacation, I like to sample any local beverage I can get, whether it is beer, wine or spirits. Generally, when you go to an area not known for the particular drink you are tasting, it usually ends in disappointment.

Recently, Mrs. Iron Chef and I took off to the Great White North (well actually it was Alaska, not Canada) for a vacation. We found ourselves in a dinky little tourist town called Skagway. Skagway’s claims to fame are that it was a starting point for prospectors during the Yukon Gold Rush and it is the town farthest south on the southeastern coast of Alaska that you can reach by car (everything further south is only accessible by boat or plane). Skagway also has a brewery, conveniently enough named Skagway Brewing. There was a nice little write up in NW Brewing News recently about Skagway Brewing and how they can’t meet demand and their beers are only available at the brewery (the article is on page 25).

Skagway Brewing is located at the very end of the main strip in Skagway, a few minute walk from the docks. The bar is small and crowded, there aren’t many options in Skagway, but the pub has a lot of wood and feels like a brewpub rather than a tourist trap. They have a decent pub food menu and a small tap list – 5 beers brewed in the brewery, a couple of Alaskan Brewing Taps, PBR and a draught Root Beer. The 5 home brewed beers were Spruce Tip Blonde, Prospector Pale, Chilikoot Trail IPA, Boom Town Brown and Blue Top Porter.

All of their beers were good; a couple were exceptional. I liked the Pale, Brown and IPA – the IPA being surprisingly hoppy and full bodied. The Pale and the Brown were both drinkable and I would not turn down a pint of either if someone put one in front of me. The two standouts were the Blonde and the Porter. I was absolutely in love with the Porter and drank that the entire time I was there. It was a cool cloudy day and the Porter provided the right amount of malty smoothness with a hint of chocolate that came with each sip but did not linger, even after 4 pints of the stuff. The beer lacks the heaviness of a stout and I felt like I could keep drinking it all day without getting a feeling of being full. The Blue Top Porter was easily one of the 5 best porters I have ever consumed.

The Blonde would be my second choice of beers from Skagway. The NW Brewing Article quotes the brewer that the Spruce Tip outsells their other beer 5 to 1 when it is available. I am always skeptical about beers that have strange ingredients – they can go from interesting to cloying in a hurry. Spruce Tip Blonde is not one of those. When you first smell this beer, you get a light aroma of being in the forest on a nice summer day – not a smell of a pine scented air freshener, despite 300 pounds of hand-picked spruce tips being included in the batch. Tasting the beer provided a second level of enjoyment – I didn’t taste pine at all, but subtle fruity (almost raspberry) hit on the front of the palate which gave way to a crisp and refreshing sensation from the beer itself. You could definitely taste what was a very nice blonde on the back of the palate.

Sadly, since we were 4 days from returning home and the beer is only available on tap, growlers were not an option, otherwise we would have come home with the world’s biggest 6 pack. If Skagway ever gets the ability to expand and can distribute their beers to a wider audience, try them; otherwise you will need to make the almost 1,100 mile trip by boat (or 2,000+ mile trip by car) to Skagway to sample the beers. Heck, I would probably make the trip again just to drink the Porter that I am sitting here thinking about longingly.

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Stop 3 – Anacortes Brewing/Rock Fish Grill in Anacortes

A hop, skip and a jump down winding Chuckanut Drive (and after an emergency bathroom break), lies Anacortes, Washington – a sleepy little waterside community known for Whale Watching, its ferry terminal, the Tesoro refinery and Anacortes Brewing, possibly the best top to bottom brewery in the state of Washington. Rock Fish Grill is the restaurant attached to Anacortes Brewing and they serve up some tasty food as well as all of Anacortes’s beers and are located right in the heart of downtown Anacortes on Commercial Street.

The Beer – OK, so this is going to be a slightly biased review. I REALLY like pretty much anything that Anacortes makes and they have a pretty extensive lineup of beers – they were pouring somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 beers when we were there, with styles ranging from Maibock to IPA to Belgians. I am a big supporter of Anacortes IPA – I consider this to be the best IPA in the Northwest and quite possibly the world. Their IPA is a tremendously balanced beer with just the right amounts of hoppiness, bitterness and flora aromas. Strangely enough, I did not actually order the IPA (although that is what came home with me in the growler). I indulged in my second favorite beer in the Anacortes lineup – their seasonal Mai Oh Maibock. The Maibock is the kind of beer I look for on a warm summer day – malty and refreshing with a bit of hops on the back of the palate. The one beer they had on tap, which I had not tried before, was the Bourbon Barrel Aged Blonde (say that one three times fast). I am really not at fan of barrel-aged beers – they tend to be overly oaked and remind me of chewing on wood. It is the same reason why I tend not to like oaked chardonnay; all you taste is wood. The Blonde was surprisingly well done. Don’t get me wrong, there is no mistaking that this beer ended up in a Bourbon barrel, but it didn’t whack you over the head with that flavor and you could surprisingly taste the beer (Blonde isn’t exactly a heavy style), making it more than just a one dimensional beverage. With a alcohol level approaching 9%, you probably wouldn’t want more than one, but you are not exactly going to chug it either. Alas, Anacortes’s beers are available on tap only and don’t make appearances in Seattle in any great quantity (you will usually find a handful of places with it on tap), so I would recommend taking home as many as you can before you leave. Overall, I would give their beers 5 Sebastidae out of 5. Heck, the only thing keeping the beer from being 6 Rock Fish out of 5 is that you can only get it on tap, and most of the beers are only available in Anacortes.

The Atmosphere – Rock Fish is a big space, plenty of tables and a large outdoor space (although not large enough to accommodate 8 people on a beautiful sunny Saturday). It feels like a brewpub – inside has plenty of wood, a nice, long bar, the current selections hanging on panels over the bar. Having been to Rockfish several time to eat, I tend to think of it more as a restaurant, and it is a comfortable and homey place to have a meal o go with your beers. Outside there are 2 outdoor areas, one on the side of the building with a few tables and the other in the back. One of these days I am going to have to go back just to have beers and judge it from that perspective, but until then, Rock Fish gets 4 Trophospheres out of 5.

Dog Friendliness – This is a tough one to judge since we couldn’t be seated as a group outside. I am not sure what the Rock Fish policy on dogs is on the back patio, but you can have them on the side patio, which will allow you to indulge in your beer with Spot by your side. The drawback here is I believe the side patio does not have any waiter service, so you have to get your own beers. Rock Fish scores and incomplete 3.5 belly rubs out of 5 due to lack of information on their policy (and I didn’t think to ask).