The Great American Ale Trail (Revised Edition) Read online

  PHILOSOPHY

  Affordable gastropub meets private beer bar.

  KEY BEER

  The local and PacNW beer list shines, or go for a rarity from far away, such as Dogfish Head’s Palo Santo Marron (12% ABV), a rich stout aged in Paraguayan wood related to frankincense, crude-oil black, and milkshake creamy.

  ELYSIAN BREWING CO.

  1221 E. Pike St. • Seattle, WA 98122 (206) 860-1920 • elysianbrewing.com • Established: 1996

  SCENE & STORY

  The original Elysian location on Capitol Hill represents the paradigmatic brewpub—exposed beams, polished cement floors, high industrial ceilings, and walls lined with gleaming brewing tanks in a ninety-year-old converted warehouse. (There are three other newer locations: Elysian Fields, a large brewpub in the Stadium District, Elysian BAR, Tangle-town, a smaller location in South Green Lake, and Elysian Airport Way, a production brewery in Georgetown.) Behind all the beer was celebrated founding brewer Dick Cantwell, born in Germany and raised in the United States, who led the Seattle firm to scores of awards with massive array of styles brewed with sure-handed skill. Elysian made headlines around the United States in 2015 when it was scooped up by Anheuser-Busch, a merger that Cantwell—and scores of PacNW beer fanatics—just couldn’t swallow. Cantwell resigned soon after. Howls of purists’ protests don’t stop mega-million-dollar deals, of course, so consider your feelings about David vs. Goliath if you waltz into one of these brewpubs. It’s been bought and sold to the highest bidder. The beer, of course, is still very good.

  PHILOSOPHY

  Collaborative. In 2008 Elysian began an exchange program of sorts (“collabeerations”) with New Belgium Brewery, for which brewhouses, knowledge, and manpower are exchanged in order to keep things fresh and innovative. The program resulted in the Trip Series of experimental beers like a Black Belgo IPA and a juniper-infused ale.

  KEY BEER

  Like Boston Lager, the Wise ESB (a reference to the goddess Athena, and Elysian’s first beer) shows a lot of malty backbone, a grain-given sturdiness that’s typical for the style. Alas, ESBs also occasionally suffer from a cloying, fruitlike sweetness. Not so with the Wise: Its drier profile makes it far more quaffable in high volumes, which, frankly, has its own intrinsic wisdom. Even better, there’s an overlay of mellow spiciness derived from three different kinds of tangy Northwest hops, making it perfect for fall’s cool nights (5.9% ABV).

  HALE’S ALES

  4301 Leary Way NW • Seattle, WA 98107 (206) 706-1544 • halesbrewery.com • Established: 1983

  SCENE & STORY

  Like many Americans, Mike Hale tasted his first old-world craft beer in college while traveling abroad, and studied its curious properties with a deep and abiding conviction. About ten years later, still searching for the flavor and fired up by stories about Jack McAuliffe’s efforts down at New Albion in California, he relocated to southern England in 1982, volunteered at Gale’s Brewery and Guinness, and within a year of returning home to the Seattle area, he’d founded Hale’s Ales.

  The new little brewery was immediately hit with demand. After a few expansions in different locations over the years he settled on the current 17,000-square-foot location between Fremont and Ballard (in an old hose manufacturing plant) and opened a brewpub and beer garden to go with his new bigger brewhouse. It’s got a wide-open feel with views directly into the operations area, complete with mirrors angled for views into the open fermenters.

  PHILOSOPHY

  “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing,” Hale says, speaking about quality brewing practices. And to keep things running smooth with his accounts across the Pacific Northwest, Hale also restored a beautiful red double-decker bus and outfitted it with a draft bar, hot water, bathrooms, and plush club seating. Don’t be surprised if you see him, Red Baron–style in the cockpit, the engine juddering away and the passengers raising toasts. It’s a beautiful sight, but alas, not one he can legally open to members of the public. It must be used for “educational purposes” only. Isn’t school great?

  KEY BEER

  Hale’s 5.2% ABV Pale American Ale set a new standard in the Northwest when it was released, but it’s the smooth, sessionable Cream Ale; grassy, grainy kölsch; and recent spate of double IPAs like Super-goose (7.5% ABV) that are the ones to try.

  LATONA PUB

  6423 Latona Ave. NE • Seattle, WA 98115 (206) 525-2238 • pubs.com/Latona.html • Established: 1987

  SCENE & STORY

  With its corner spot and high, wide windows, the Latona looks inviting from the outside, but it’s the warm service, approachable clientele, and healthy but hearty pub fare (served on classic Fiestaware plates) that really set this beer bar apart. The menu reaches for a culinary grace note or two without grasping, and the beers (ten on tap, thirty bottled) are fresh thanks to quick rotations and a steady, curious clientele.

  PHILOSOPHY

  Reverential. “The beer brewed in our own backyard is created by some of the most talented, creative people in the world,” write the owners on the website for the Latona and their two other Seattle pubs, Hopvine and Fiddler’s Inn. “At our pubs, we want to present to you the closest thing to what the brewers create. We take care of the beer we pour.”

  KEY BEER

  With its light-bodied notes of coffee and bitter chocolate, Big Time Brewery’s Coal Creek Porter (4.5% ABV) would go nicely with the green chile chicken quesadillas.

  NAKED CITY BREWERY & TAPHOUSE

  8564 Greenwood Ave. N. • Seattle, WA 98103 • (206) 838-6299 • nakedcitybrewing.com • Established: 2009

  SCENE & STORY

  Owners Don Webb and Donald Averill were home brewers with a common dream of opening their own breweries when they met and joined forces. Webb is a major film buff, hence the noirish theme running through the signage and art in the place; Naked City came out in 1948 based on the iconic book of New York real-life crime photos of the same name by Arthur Fellig, a.k.a. Weegee, in 1945 (check out the big framed movie poster for it in the taphouse). In filmmaking terms, Webb and Averill were thinking in big-budget 70mm Technicolor; in the end, budget constraints were more along the lines of an indie production, though hardly Spartan. They installed a 3.5-barrel system (about 100 gallons) and a twenty-four-tap bar, curated a vegan-friendly menu with sandwiches and starters like white truffle pâté and land-jäger, a dried German sausage. It’s a simple, smart arrangement.

  PHILOSOPHY

  Respect greatness, in beer or film form. Instead of reality shows and sports, the TVs show iconic old films; the taps are dedicated to craft beers made in small batches.

  KEY BEER

  Local and regional breweries like Chuckanut and Schooner Exact dominate the list; try Naked City’s the Big Lebrewski, a 12% ABV Imperial Stout with blockbuster levels of roasted malt.

  THE PIKE PUB & BREWERY

  1415 1st Ave. • Seattle, WA 98101 (206) 622-6044 • pikebrewing.com • Established: 1989

  SCENE & STORY

  Located in the Pike Place Market area, the pub is a multilevel, brightly painted beer lover’s warren of three bars chockablock with a truly impressive collection of breweriana. The story this collection tells is the story of Charles and Rose Ann Finkel, who founded Pike after helping launch the American craft beer scene through Merchant Du Vin, a gourmet food, wine, and beer importing company they created in 1978. Through that pathbreaking firm, the Finkels introduced American palates to extraordinary beers never before tasted on these shores, including such iconic brands as Orval and Rochefort of Belgium, Samuel Smith’s of Yorkshire, England, and Ayinger of Bavaria, Germany, all of which are considered classics of European brewing traditions.

  Along the way, Finkel emerged as a talented graphic artist, designing beer labels for U.S. markets and eventually several books about beer and design. The Finkels opened Pike, their dream brewery, in 1989, and quickly accrued a trove of brewing industry medals and thirsty accounts. By 1997 they sold the brewery and import company t
o an unnamed investor, but after realizing they longed to be back in the beer fold, bought the brewery back in 2006.

  PHILOSOPHY

  The warm and charming Finkels are both conservationists and foodies, involved with Salone del Gusto (the biannual Slow Food convention in Turin, Italy), and they’re ambitiously ramping up both the beer and food options in their brewpub accordingly.

  KEY BEER

  While Pike’s excellent Pale, IPA, XXXXX Stout, and Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale made the company famous, newer releases such as Pike Dry Wit are gaining notice from the likes of legendary Chez Panisse chef, Alice Waters. It’s a wit, or unfiltered, Belgian-style white beer spiced with Nugget and Cascade hops, dried orange peel, coriander, chamomile, and organic lavender (5% ABV). In June 2014, Pike Brewing released Locale Skagit Valley Alba pale ale, with hops from Yakima, grains from Skagit and Whitman counties, and Pike Brewing’s own yeast.

  Woodinville

  RED HOOK BREWERY & FORECASTERS PUBLIC HOUSE

  14300 NE 145th St. • Woodinville, WA 98072 • (425) 483-3232 • redhook.com • Established: 1981

  SCENE & STORY

  Red Hook is one of the cornerstones in the church of Pacific Northwest craft brewing, but there was little hope things would go as well as they have. Founders Paul Shipman and Gordon Bowker started out inauspiciously with a Belgian ale brewed in a converted transmission shop in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. Locals dubbed it “banana beer” and fewer than 1000bbl sold in year one. But Black-hook Porter and Ballard Bitter, released in 1983 and 1984, respectively, changed them from laughing-stock to growing concern, and in 1987 the ESB (Extra Special Bitter) became a clarion call to beer drinkers around the region. Bowker went on to found a little coffee shop called Starbucks, and today the brewery is a huge national brand with three plants and national distribution through Anheuser-Busch, an arrangement that irks many industry watchers and fills others with envy. In 2014 the brand ballooned to over 250,000 barrels per year, a 68% jump from the previous year.

  The Woodinville operation is a big draw for Seattleites and area beer lovers for the al fresco movies and concerts, five-dollar tours of the brewery, and a bite in the brewpub (warning: hit-or-miss food; slow service). The best way to visit is on bike. Each year the Haul Ash Tour de Brew commemorates the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. It’s a round-trip ride from the brewery in Woodinville to Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood along the verdant Burke-Gilman Trail.

  PHILOSOPHY

  Loosely? “Ya sure, ya betcha,” as the Ballard Bitter labels once read in homage to the area’s Scandinavian roots. These are clean, malt-forward beers taking off on British styles (mostly) with admirable fresh Pacific Northwest hop character.

  KEY BEER

  Just as good as it was back in ’87—if perhaps cleaner and more consistent today—the 5.5% ABV Redhook ESB is a throw-back to the English Extra Special Bitters, redolent of toasted malt with a pleasant sweetness and the tang of four hop additions. In 2009, the beer took a gold at the Great American Beer Festival, proving it’s a still a benchmark beer decades after the first batch, no matter who’s doing the brewing.

  Tacoma

  PARKWAY TAVERN

  313 N. I St. • Tacoma, WA 98403 (253) 383-8748 • No website • Established: 1936

  SCENE & STORY

  Sometimes little old bars open since the 1930s with no website translate as: cool spot/bad beer. Not so with the Parkway. Its home of Tacoma (located down I-5 a bit between Seattle and Olympia) has a proud beer history, with no fewer than eight breweries up and running between 1888 and Prohibition. Built upon the restoration of lawful beer drinking in what appears to be a converted old shingled house in a quiet residential neighborhood, the Parkway Tavern is a retro gem with a beer list very much of the moment.

  As for the bar itself, I’m sure you’ve heard those stories that begin “there used to be a beat-up old drop ceiling in here. We pulled it down and found this . . .” Which, when you look up, turns out to be acres of gorgeous stained wood. That’s the Parkway’s thirty-plus tap front room, with mahogany paneling, cherry wood tables, and polished bar. There’s also a working fireplace and a game room of sorts in the back where guests play pool, darts, shuffleboard, and pinball (yes!). And don’t leave without a visit to the Zebra Room. You’ll know it when you see it.

  PHILOSOPHY

  There’s an old bar sign that reads “the liver is evil . . . it must be punished,” but with the excellent beers on tap here, you’re hardly taking hard knocks. There are multiple festivals and tasting events here year-round for barrel-aged beers, barley wines, and IPAs.

  KEY BEER

  This would be the perfect place for the roasty but unpunishing Moylan’s Dragoons Dry Irish Stout (5% ABV), or perhaps a fresh Russian River tap, as they’re frequent.

  Bellingham

  CHUCKANUT BREWERY & KITCHEN

  601 W. Holly St. • Bellingham, WA 98225 (360) 752-3377 • chuckanutbreweryandkitchen.com • Established: 2008

  SCENE & STORY

  Founder Will Kemper tells the story of walking into the old Rainier brewery (now shuttered) in Seattle to ask the brewmaster how he might get started in the trade. The brewer told him he’d have to have been born into it. Wrong answer. Kemper armed himself with the top degrees in brewing (which would lead to eventual teaching appointments in California and London) before going on to found the influential Thomas Kemper brewery (a venture which was later sold to Pyramid). He became a globetrotting consultant, setting up or running scores of breweries in Mexico, Europe, and in Turkey before making his most recent move, to Bellingham, where he set up this technically advanced brewery with an off-kilter name. Today the little seventy-five-seat Chuckanut brewery (built in a converted waterfront warehouse) is a sunny affair with six rotating taps, buttery walls, and a gleaming, fully automated brewhouse. Kemper’s latest venture was honored with best brewer and small brewpub of the year in 2009 at the Great American Beer Festival, which just goes to show you can’t keep a good brewer down. In 2015, the company announced plans for a larger brewery at the Port of Skagit, near the Skagit airport.

  PHILOSOPHY

  Clean, controlled, and mostly true to established styles, Kemper’s operation is one of a variety executed with a true perfectionist’s eye for detail. There’s an open kitchen with a wood-burning oven for preparing pizzas and tasty, healthy food to pair with his beers.

  KEY BEER

  Try the pale golden kölsch, with a refreshingly light, herbal, hay-like taste and crisp finish (5% ABV), which won a gold in 2015 at the GABF. They also took a gold in 2014 for their Chuckanut Dunkel.

  Schooner Zodiac • 1221 Harris Ave., PNB 2 • Bellingham, WA 98225 • (206) 719-7622 • schoonerzodiac.com

  Washington’s Puget Sound is known for roving pods of killer whales and soaring bald eagles, craggy remote islets with sleepy sea lions, bobbing otters, barking harbor seals, and the occasional humpback. It’s also home to a handful of breweries accessible by sea. What better way to tour them than on a majestic 127-foot topsail schooner built in 1924? The Schooner Zodiac will occasionally set sail from Bellingham on multi-day tours with steaming breweries in the looking-glass every day, including but not limited to stops at Snoqualmie Brewery & Taproom, Chuckanut Brewery & Kitchen, and Port Townsend Brewing Company. In between brewery tours, the skilled onboard chef keeps your belly full, fueling afternoon kayak excursions among forested islets and sessions spent learning the ropes, hauling sheets and lines, and generally earning a bit of ale (dispensed freely when the anchor’s down). At last, it’s time to home brew some “Schooner Rat IPA” under the stars with noted Northwest brewers—if you’ve got the energy to stay awake.

  Mukilteo

  DIAMOND KNOT

  621-A Front St. • Mukilteo, WA 98275 (425) 355-4488 • diamondknot.com • Established: 1994

  SCENE & STORY

  The merchant ship Diamond Knot sank in 1947 a quarter mile from Port Angeles in 135 feet of water carrying precious cargo: an esti
mated 5.7 million cans of choice Alaskan canned salmon. Insurers said it was a lost cause, but crewmen and locals jury-rigged a vacuum system to hoover the edibles out of the ocean, and the successful mission came to symbolize local, er, can-do spirit. When home brew buddies and coworkers at Boeing Bob Mophet and the late Brian Sollenburger decided to launch a self-distributing brewing company without quitting their day jobs, they were discouraged, too. But they channeled the fabled can-rescue operation, took over a converted transit building garage that once housed a pub, and started brewing big beers with boatloads of Northwest hops in every batch. Just fifteen years later, the business has grown to include this location, a gloriously funky spot with sawdust on the floors and crowds of locals, a second brewpub, and a third establishment, a beer bar.

  PHILOSOPHY

  Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

  KEY BEER

  The big, burly, and pungent Diamond Knot IPA put these Boeing cabin boys on a downwind. Look for dry-hopped versions with Simcoe, and the Shipwreck XXXIPA, an Imperial IPA with a leviathan’s bite.

  Stevenson

  WALKING MAN BREWING CO.

  240 SW First St. • Stevenson, WA 98648 (509) 427-5520 • walkingmanbeer.com • Established: 2000

  SCENE & STORY

  Just across the river from the Oregon beer-blessed town of Hood River in the scenic Columbia Gorge, this small-town brewpub has a bevy of tanks shoehorned into a back room, twelve taps, lots of wood paneling, and a collection of bottle openers on a vertical wood beam next to the cash register. The pub fare is heavy on pizzas, and the patio is great in the summer, with live music in a grassy little garden area. In homage to the legendary Sasquatch, there’s an ambulatory theme to most of the beers (Jaywalker; Old Stumblefoot; Pale Strider). And there’s just something to love about a place where the bathrooms are themed “Readers” and “Dreamers.”