Stoup Brewing – Seattle


My second stop on my walking tour of the Ballard Neighborhood of Seattle was Stoup Brewing.

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Stoup Brewing is a brewery I had never heard of but was highly recommended by almost everyone I talked to at Hilliard’s Beer and on the walk to the brewery.  The tasting room is pretty small but well laid out with a bunch of tables and a bar area with lots of chairs.  They do have an outside patio but I missed out on checking it out.  Their bar area is interesting as their cooler area is located inside a brightly orange painted cargo container.  All six of the beer I tried in the tasting room were really high quality beer and I wish I had brought a growler or two with me on this walking tour!  Stoup Brewing only offers beer to drink in the tasting room and growler fills so if you would like to try their beer and you should then you will have to head to Ballard.

This is a pretty small operation with a small brewery located beside the tasting room.  Multiple small tanks helps pump out a pretty good number of different brews ensuring you would never get board drinking here.

On top of really good beer and a great looking brewery this place had a really good vibe with lots of friendly people and amazingly friendly and helpful staff.  They really made me feel at home and made sure I enjoyed my short stop into their brewery.

Full sized photos.

Stoup Brewing
http://www.stoupbrewing.com/
1108 NW 52nd Street
Seattle, WA 98107
206.457.5524

Crikey IPA – Reuben’s Brews


From Seattle Washington’s Reuben’s Brews comes their “Crikey IPA”.  The beer pours an orange colour with an off white head.  The aroma consists of pine, resin and earth.  The flavour is of citrus, tropical fruits, pine, resin, some caramel and earth.  The alcohol content comes in at 6.8% with an IBU of 53.  This is a very good IPA and if you find yourself in Seattle make your way to the brewery in the Ballard neighborhood.

Commercial Description:  Focusing the hop profile on tropical fruit, juicy citrus and pine makes this IPA stand out. This brew is focused on hop flavor and aroma, with the malt backbone supporting role.

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Hilliard’s Beer – Seattle


On a recent trip to Seattle I set out to check out a few breweries located outside of the Downtown Core.  I decided on the Ballard neighborhood as there was a high concentration of breweries and one brewery in particular that I have been enjoying locally in Vancouver for a while.  That brewery was Hilliar’s Beer and it was my first stop.

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When you arrive you first notice that they have a nice patio out on the side of the brewery.  Once inside you find a tasting room and that shares a room with the brewery.  Starting with the tap room you find a nice little bar with a bunch of different beer to try.  They also have a few big re-purposed tables and chairs.  You are able to get growler fills here as well as buy tall cans of their products and some other swag.

Basically right behind the bar area you will find the fermentation tanks.  off to the side the actual brew house can be found.  For the amount of Hilliard’s Beer making it up to Vancouver is was very surprised to see how small this operation really is.  Inside their cooler they have tanks as well as lots of kegged products.

Not everything that Hilliard’s Beer brews is available in Vancouver and I found a few really good ones on tap that were quite exciting.  I look forward to the next time I end up in Seattle as I will make sure to stop back in for a glass or two of beer.

Full sized photos.

Hilliard’s Beer
http://www.hilliardsbeer.com
1550 NW 49th Street,
Seattle WA
drink@hilliardsbeer.com
Brewery / Taproom Phone: 206.257.4486

Boombox IPA – Hilliards Beer


From Seattle Washington’s Hilliards Beer comes their “Boombox IPA”.  The beer pours a deep golden colour with a white head.  The aroma consists of tropical fruits, earth and floral hops.  The flavour is of tropical fruits, earth, caramel, resin and hops bitterness.  The alcohol content comes in at 6.5% with an IBU of 70.  This was a really good IPA and I was glad to try it at the brewery!

Commercial Description:  Citrusy and aromatic, BOOMBOX is bittered with Summit hops, and finished with late and dry additions of Galaxy and Cascade.  Brewed with Gambrinus ESB Pale Malt (made from Okanagan Valley 2-row barley) for a slightly sweeter and richer flavor than standard 2-row, and rounded out with Thomas Fawcett Crystal II.

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Elysian Brewing – Manic IPA Series Savant IPA


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Before I start the review, I just wanted to mention that the bottle art reminds me of the Librarian in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.  You will be sorely missed, Sir Terry.  Ook.

Seattle’s Elysian Brewing has brought us the Savant IPA as part of their rotating Manic IPA Series.

A beautiful coppery colour with a dense, almost cloudy look to the beer is really nice and shows a good use of malt to add to the IPA.  The head is a nice off-white and has medium sized bubbles and good staying power.

On the nose there is tropical fruit, possibly passion fruit and a surprising lack of bitter hop notes for an IPA.

The nose belies the taste as there is great breadth of hop flavours right away.  I get bitter herb notes, passion fruit and a little bit of pine resin.  The malt flavours are subtle and are used mostly to add balance to the hops rather than highlight the malt.

A nice IPA, not massively over hopped and with good balance, I think this is a food beer and would go really well with a burger with a rich sauce or cheese on it.