A Beer Afternoon on the Kitsap Peninsula

By Iron Chef Leftovers

A few of us recently went on a brewery tour of the Bainbridge/Poulsbo area to celebrate loyal blog reader Annie’s birthday. We hopped the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge and left the driving to the guys from the Peninsula Brewery Tour company (more on them later) and hit 4 breweries – Bainbridge Island Brewing, Sound Brewery, Slippery Pig Brewing and Valhalla Brewing. We did have a dog on the trip (except for at Bainbridge and I forgot to ask about their 4 legged friend policy), so I can rate the breweries on that also.

Bainbridge Island Brewing – They have a very nice looking brew pub a few miles from the ferry terminal in a strip mall/industrial park. Their next door neighbor is a winery and there is a distillery across the parking lot, so you could possibly make a destination out of just this one location. Bainbridge has a nice selection of beers, both light and heavy that will keep just about any beer drinker happy, and offer 2 tasting flights – one with their light beers and one with their darks. The light beer drinkers in the group gravitated toward a very nice Kolsh (although I personally thought their Saison was the best of the lights) while the hop-heads seemed to enjoy the Hoptopus double IPA. I personally thought that the best beer in their lineup was their Battle Point Stout – which had great malt character and a pleasant smoky/chocolate finish with notes of coffee. The pub itself is large, with seating on both the first and second floors, a rolling garage door that opens up the brewery and a small patio out front with additional seating. Oh – they also have a barrel aging project going on.

Ratings:

The Beer – 4 ferries out of 5. I didn’t have anything that I didn’t think was at least drinkable and most were very enjoyable beers

The Atmosphere – 5 gentle breezes out of 5. Beautiful building and an interesting brewing system. Nice place to hang out and have a few beers. They have a few snack items, but no food to speak of.

Dog Friendliness – No Rating. Not sure if you can bring the pooch inside, but you can probably grab a seat on the patio and have Fido there.

*Updated from Annie S: when I called them prior to the trip they said “bring the pooch they are allowed and you don’t have to be outside and she was super nice about it.

Sound Brewery – The brewery I was most looking forward to seeing based on what I said on this article. Located in a warehouse off a main road in Poulsbo, it isn’t the prettiest building you have ever seen, but they do have a small tasting room and patio with the brewery taking up most of the space. Their beers tend to gravitate more toward Belgian styles and/or hops, so you won’t have a ton of choices if you are looking for something that is in the kolsh vein. If you like hops, the Humulo Nimbus is an outstanding double IPA, their Endendre beers are fantastic beers using Chimay yeast and if you want to go to the dark side, their Ursus beers are incredibly good. We also got to try a sample of their Belgian Quad aging in a whiskey barrel – it was amazing and I would make a trip back just for that. My one disappointment was that they did not have Mayan Cave Bear on tap – I have wanted to try that and we missed it by about a week.

Ratings:

The Beer – 5 foghorns out of 5. I didn’t call them one of the 5 best in the state for nothing.

The Atmosphere – 3 mechanics out of 5. It is a neat tasting room, but it feels like it is in a warehouse (maybe because it is in a warehouse). It is pretty small space for drinking but the patio is a nice touch.

Dog Friendliness – 5 squeaky toys out of 5. No issues bringing the pooch inside.

Slippery Pig Brewery – Perhaps the oddest place on the trip for many reasons. It is located (literally) on a farm at the end of a dirt road, just minutes from Sound. Their brewing space was probably about the size of the bus we were on and their “taproom” wasn’t so much a room as a covered shelter. Then you have the beers. While most breweries will brew an occasional “off the wall” beer, Slippery Pig doesn’t do anything mainstream. Leave your preconceived notions at the door and order up a sampler of their beers. I really liked the White Chocolate Sour Cherry Stout (lots of subtle white chocolate with hits of cherries), the Blueberry Saison (not overpowering like most blueberry beers) and the Porkapolypse – a pale brewed with spices and hot peppers, this was the first time that I had a pepper beer that the pepper really played a background role without overpowering everything else. It is easy to see why these guys win at Strange Brew every year. There were a few misses, but you have to expect that when you are dealing with beers this off the wall. They are definitely worth the trip to visit.

Ratings:

The Beer – 4 Gonzos out of 5. Strange combinations that mostly work, so there is nothing wrong with that.

The Atmosphere – 4 sties out of 5. A great outdoor space on a nice day with a nice farm setting around you and a good spot to have a picnic as we did. Probably not a great place to hang out in the winter. The only thing that kept them from getting a perfect score was their lack of bathroom facilities – they have porta potties.

Dog Friendliness – 5 fetches out of 5. A big open space to hang out with Fluffy.

Valholl Brewing – Valholl is a beautiful location on top of a hill overlooking the water in downtown Poulsbo. The tap room is gorgeous, open with lots of wood (and tables made from driftwood) and a sizable brewery in the back. There is a small patio out front, but overall this place is pretty small. The beers were solid, with a wide range of styles to make just about any beer drinker happy. While there was nothing that was undrinkable, there was also nothing that stood out above the rest of the beers – not that this is a bad thing – the beers are solid and you could easily spend all day drinking in this place without a complaint. My favorite of their lineup was the IPA, but I don’t think that there was a beer I tried that I wouldn’t recommend. They don’t have any food (like all of the other places we visited), but you are close to town center, so there are options.

Ratings:

The Beer – 3 longboats out of 5. A solid lineup but the lack of anything truly outstanding keeps them from making it from the very good to the great category.

The Atmosphere – 5 Valkyries out of 5. I am pretty sure that this is what a drinking hall in Valhalla would look like. I kept expecting to see a Viking walk through the door the entire time we were there.

Dog Friendliness – 3 belly rubs out of 5. Not a ton of space and Fido needs to be outside to enjoy a brew with you.

A word about Peninsula Brew Tours – These guys were great, especially putting up with 12 fun loving beer drinkers like our group. They have a comfortable bus that seats 14 and will pick folks up at either the Bainbridge or Bremerton Ferry terminals. The two owners, who also act as your tour guides, know their beers, know the breweries and were fun to hang out with for an afternoon. Since we had most of the seats on the bus, we were able to dictate the stops, but they do have a tour of both the Poulsbo and Bremerton areas they run for $35 a person, which is a steal considering you don’t have to slog a car onto the ferry from Seattle (or drive around to the Kitsap Peninsula), you don’t have to worry about driving brewery to brewery, their bus is much more comfortable than your car, they know the brewers/breweries so they can get you a tour that you wouldn’t otherwise get on your own and you can load up a growler and drink on the bus between stops.

If you are planning a brewery tour (or even a winery tour) to the Kitsap Peninsula, give these guys a call. They are located on the web at http://peninsulabrewtours.com/ or can be reached by phone at 360-275-8200. These guys will give you a better experience than you will probably have putting it together on your own. For that, I rate them with 5 Huge Thanks for a Great Afternoon out of 5.

The Top 5 Washington Breweries

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I am insanely lucky to live where I do – we have over 130 breweries in the state and by the end of 2013, I should have at least 10 breweries within a mile of my house. It is a good thing that I like beer. In visiting all of these breweries, I have had some great conversations with the owners, brewers and patrons about beer in general and Washington beer specifically and one topic that usually comes up is who are your favorite/who are the best breweries in the state? I have been floating around the idea of writing a post about this for a while, so I am finally putting pen to paper and coming up with my list.

A few lines about how I came up with this list. First, I thought about the brewery’s overall lineup; how consistent are their beers, do they regularly exceed my expectations, how often do they make a beer that falls flat on its face? Second, would I order their beers if I was out at a pub and saw it on a tap list, over everything else on the list? Third, would I recommend a couple of beers from the brewery or would I recommend everything they have on tap without hesitation? Finally, the below list is not ranked by preference, but rather in alphabetical order. I don’t know that I could actually rank these in my order of preference because they each excel at something different and that list would change depending on my mood.

So, without further delay, the Iron Chef Leftovers Top 5 Washington Breweries:

– Anacortes Brewing – The Masters of Hops
For those who know me, this is really no surprise. I have been a fan of Anacortes for almost as long as I have lived here and (contrary to popular opinion) long before I got to know the guys from the brewery. Anacortes excels at IPA’s, so much so that I firmly believe their regular production IPA to be one of the 10 best beers that I have ever had. I ranked it higher than Pliny the Elder in 2 separate blind tastings and I have been known to make the 160 mile round trip to Anacortes just to get a growler of that beer. As good as the IPA is, the rest of their lineup ranges from good to outstanding, only occasionally faltering. The My Oh Maibock is an outstanding summer beer, their Klosterbier is one that I will go out of my way to drink when I see it on tap and their Dopplebock is probably the best in the state. They usually don’t disappoint at beer festivals and I feel that their brewer, is as good as anyone in the world with his barrel aged beers – the oak character is there when he uses them, but they are restrained so that the oak compliment, rather than overpowers the beer, so you get to appreciate the beer and all of its character rather than just drinking liquid oak. Anacortes flys under the radar in Seattle since they are not widely available, but their stuff is usually gone in a couple days when it shows up on tap here. Website

– Elysian Brewing – The Master of Pumpkin
Elysian is like the Rick Barry of Washington Brewers (In case you don’t know who he is, he is one of the greatest free throw shooters in NBA history) – the produce a ton of different beers and are successful with a very high percentage of them. One of the highlights for me every year is the release of their pumpkin beers, especially Dark of the Moon, another beer I would put in my 10 ten beers in the world. They make around 12 pumpkin beers a year, and most of them are excellent with the occasional miss (The Dill Pickle Pumpkin beer from a few years back was a mess). They are not just about pumpkin – their Apocalypse series last year produced 12 (mostly) wonderful and bizarre beers; their Maniac IPA series gave us such stellar beers as Idiot Savuin, and Prometheus; and they cover beer styles from a Corona clone, to a Yeungling Porter knock-off (which was as good as the original), to just about every beer style imaginable. I love going into their pubs just because you never know what new and interesting beer you are going to find. Website

– Reuben’s Brews – The Master of Rye
Reuben’s is the new kid on the block and is probably a surprise to most people that I would have them on my list. They have an impressive lineup and got through their growing pains very quickly, producing some of the most outstanding beers in the state (and winning actual awards for them). I named their pumpkin beer my “Best Beer of 2012” winner and called the cask version of their Imperial IPA one of the 10 best beers I have ever had. They are more than just rye based IPA though – their Mocha Stout was outstanding, they make a fantastic Kolsh, their Brown is easy to drink and tasty and Porter is a great beer for a cold winters day. The even are daring, producing little know styles like Roggenbier (a rye base Hefe) and Auld Heritage Ale, both of which have received high marks from me. These guys have been raking in the awards, and deservedly so. You want to know how good Reuben’s is – they won the 2010 Phinney Beer Taste People’s Choice award against about 30 other breweries, while they were still hombrewers. How about them apples? Website

– Sound Brewery – The Master of Belgian Yeast
Sound Brewing is finally getting the recognition it deserves by beer drinkers. For a long time, Sound had been known for their outstanding Belgian style beers like Monk’s Indiscretion and Dubble (and Triple) Entendre, while their other beers lurked in the shadows. Unknown to most people, Sound produces a top flight IPA in Reluctant IPA and an exceptional double IPA – Humulo Nimbus as well as what I think might be the top Imperial Stout in the state with Ursus Spelaeus and incredibly good stout called Ursus Americanus. Their beers tend to be high alcohol brews, but they are incredibly well balanced and you should seek them out whenever you have the chance. Website

– Walking Man Brewing – The Master of Playing Hard To Get
The selection of Walking Man might surprise most people and a good number of people might say “who”, but Walking Man produces West Coast IPA’s that I feel are second to only Anacortes in terms of how good they are. In case you don’t know, Walking Man is located in tiny Stevenson, Washington, on the shores of the Columbia River, about 45 minutes from Portland and their beers are hardly available anywhere outside the brewery. Heck, they don’t even have a website. Their best beer is probably their Double IPA – Homo Erectus but they have also produced some other outstanding beers such as Fire Walker Jalapeño Lager (one of the few I have ever liked), Walking Stick Stout, Jaywalker Russian Imperial Stout and Knuckle Dragger Pale Ale. Their barrel aged beers, like Anacortes, are incredibly well balanced and worth seeing out under any circumstance. If you haven’t had Walking Man’s beers, make the drive from Portland next time you are there. Heck, forget Portland, just go to Stevenson and try their beers. It would be worth the trip. No Website, but here is their beer list from ratebeer.com.

You are probably wondering how I could leave Fremont or Black Raven off this list. Well, stay tuned for part 2 where I give out a few honorable mentions and explain to all of you pissed off Black Raven fans why they are not in the top 5.

Beer of the Week: Sound Brewery Ursus Americanus

By Iron Chef Leftovers

If you order an Ursus and get this, you might be in trouble.

Out in tiny Poulsbo, Washington, there is an unlikely large grouping of breweries. One of them is Sound Brewery, a brewery that is probably best known around these parts for their use of Belgian strains of yeast. You may not realize it, but they also do a pretty fantastic job with other styles of beer. Ursus Americanus, better know as the American Black Bear, is an American stout. As described on the Sound website:

Ursus Americanus American Stout – 6.5% ABV
Dark, strong, smooth American stout bursting with coffee and dark chocolate aroma and smooth velvety texture.
Availability: Draft only

The beer, as expected, pours jet black with a creamy brown head. There are strong notes of chocolate and roasted malt dominating the nose. The first sip is surprisingly slightly sweet with a healthy dose of chocolate slowly fading into nicely pleasant roasted malt; almost reminding me of a malt ball candy. The beer isn’t done; fading back into a long and lingering chocolate finish. I was surprised by this beer – it smells like it would be heavy and roast dominant, but there is very little in the way of bitterness or heavy roast flavors; they are still there, but they are moderate – this is still by no means a light beer. The beer is extremely well balanced and easy to drink despite its higher alcohol content and dark and malty nature.

What you really should get is something that looks like this.

This is one that I really wish Sound would put into bottles – I would drink this a lot more often if they did.

Sound Brewery’s Ursus Americanus saunters into your camp and steals your food with a sneaky 4 cute cubs out of 5.