I went to my first music festival in a long time this weekend, and while I enjoyed nearly every band I saw on stage, I was reminded why I don’t go to these things very often: you’re throwing money away. Concession prices make ballparks look reasonable. Beer prices are even worse, and the beer selection leaves a lot to be desired. I’m not above drinking a 24-ounce can of PBR on a beach while listening to live music, and there were times when I pivoted to Mango White Claw when the sun was shining (yes, this particular seltzer and flavor is a weakness of mine), but the biggest frustration was the craft beer option.
That’s singular. Option. I’m not complaining that there weren’t more options — that just seems like a wasteful logistical nightmare when you’re trying to cater to tens of thousands of festival-goers. But that option was Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA in 19.2-ounce cans. And that’s a great beer! But it’s a 6.7% ABV Hazy IPA. It is not a beer that I’m going to drink all day for two whole days at an outdoor music festival when it’s sunny and humid and 75°F. Any warmer and I probably wouldn’t have even ordered one. It actually makes me wonder, in the context of Threes’ upcoming Summer of Pils event, how beer drinkers fall into different camps when it comes to what the ideal “summer beer” is.
Let’s ask you, readers… which of these comes closest to describing your perfect summer beer?
I’ll share the results next week, to see if I’ve completely embarrassed myself by preferring White Claw over an IPA on a summer day.
A side note from this festival: this was a music festival consisting mainly of punk and emo bands, and I was astounded by the number of people in the crowd wearing brewery t-shirts and hats. And it makes me wonder — there are a lot (like, a strangely large number) of overtly metal-themed breweries, but aside from a few hardcore-themed ones I’ve come across over the years, there aren’t many punk or emo-themed breweries. Based on my experience over the weekend, there seems to be an audience for it.
A Brief Seattle Brewery Guide
I’m heading to Seattle later this summer. It’s a city I’ve visited many, many times and whose beer scene I feel gets overlooked for other cities on the West Coast, especially its more granola neighbor to the south, Portland. Seattle has so many high-quality, well-respected breweries. So here’s a guide to eight of those, with a few others for good measure. For more Brief Brewery Guides, you can see what I’ve done for London, Denver, and Portland, Maine.
The One With Everything: Reuben’s Brews
I’ll play favorites in other cities, just not my own. Reuben’s has been my favorite brewery in Seattle for nearly a decade. And it’s my favorite for a pretty simple reason: they have everything, and they do everything well. You’ll walk into the taproom to a lineup of nearly two dozen beers, all their own, and you won’t find a dud. The list skews a bit more IPA-heavy these days, but it’s still a diverse beer list that always has me drinking a little outside my comfort zone. And the judges agree — they’re among Washington’s most decorated breweries, with nine Great American Beer Festival medals and three World Beer Cup awards and countless more on the statewide level.
The Hazy Specialist: Cloudburst Brewing
If you’re into hazy IPAs and you’ve been to Other Half’s Green City, you’re probably already familiar with Cloudburst’s beers. But visit them at the source to see the breadth of their work — the IPAs that became their claim to fame shortly after opening in 2016 have taken a backseat to their lineup of award-winning lagers, particularly the outstanding Happy Little Clouds, a hoppy American Pilsner. Their original location in Belltown has a no-frills vibe that reminds me a lot of the original OH taproom, in fact. Except bigger. But usually just as crowded.
The Barrel-Aging Juggernaut: Holy Mountain Brewing
Holy Mountain is a barrel-aging brewery with homebrew roots — not exactly normal, but what’s fun about normal? These folks have consistently made some of my favorite beers in Seattle since they opened in 2015, and I watched the buzz about them grow from local to regional to international quite rapidly. Their new world-meets-old world approach has made every visit to their clean, industrial taproom in Interbay a drinking adventure.
The Sour Specialists: Urban Family Brewing Co.
In my visits to Seattle, I’ve watched this brewery evolve from the back of a restaurant on a busy commercial strip to an isolated industrial space in a desolate neighborhood to a gleaming space in the center of Ballard’s brewery district. Its beers have been constantly evolving over that time, too, and while their lineup is great across the board, their sours get the most attention. Fruited, blended, barrel-aged, mixed culture — you name it, they’ve done it.
The Award-Winner: The Good Society Brewery & Public House
Okay, look, you should never go to a brewery just to have one beer. One beer in a vacuum shouldn’t define a brewery. But when that beer has won three medals at Great American Beer Festival, a gold award at World Beer Cup, and countless other regional and state-level medals, you take notice. That beer is The Good Society’s First to Fall, an absolutely stunning Grisette that you should go to their West Seattle taproom to drink. But stick around for their other beers — they’re all excellent — and the great community-focused atmosphere in the taproom.
The British One: Machine House Brewery
Not many American craft breweries have seven cask engines, but when you’re making Milds and Bitters the way that Machine House does, you’d be stupid not to. This isn’t some new-fangled trend, though. The brewery has been making these styles and pouring them from casks in their taproom for a decade now. Machine House is relocating from the Georgetown neighborhood to a new space less than two miles away in Hillman City this summer, so when you go, things will probably be even more prim and proper.
The Neighborhood Hangout: Fremont Brewing
Back when I started going to Seattle regularly, you could count the number of breweries there on two hands. The newest of them back then was Fremont, and while they’ve grown to build a large production facility and expand their distribution footprint such that they’re known across the nation among beer nerds, their original Fremont location is still the perfect neighborhood hangout. Plus you’ll find some exclusive taproom beers there and the occasional surprise from the Barrel Aged Series.
The New Kid on the Block: Here Today Brewery & Kitchen
Less than a year into operation and Here Today is already gaining a loyal following, and accolades like a nod from Hop Culture as one of the country’s best new breweries of 2022 and a Best New Cocktail Bar honor at the 2023 Spirited Awards. Co-founder Chris Elford spent some time in beer in New York, curating the menu at Proletariat back when it opened in 2012. Here Today has churned out a broad lineup of beers, from IPA to Grodziskie to Bock to a Saison with heirloom corn and piloncillo sugar, a fun nod to brewer Mario Cortes’ heritage.
Honorable Mentions: If you go to Ballard (which, if you’re going to Seattle and like beer, you’d be stupid if you didn’t), in addition to Reuben’s and Urban Family above, Stoup, Lucky Envelope, and Fair Isle are all excellent. Despite it being in the most touristy part of Seattle, I’ve always enjoyed my experience at Old Stove near Pike Place Market, and on a nice day, the view is great. If there’s someone gluten-free in your travel party, Ghostfish makes some of the best gluten-free beers in the world. My favorite taproom on atmosphere alone belongs to Optimism Brewing on Capitol Hill — it’s welcoming, always bustling, and full of good beer. And Fast Fashion, a partnership of Stillwater’s Brian Strumke and The Masonry’s Matt Storm, now has a taproom in Lower Queen Anne next to the aforementioned pizza joint. If you’re looking to get out of the city, Tacoma has a great beer scene all its own, with spots like E9, 7 Seas, and Narrows Brewing all worth your time.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 3,095
Total breweries visited in 2023: 200
Total breweries visited in British Columbia: 48
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #742, Storm Brewing, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (Visited 22-Jan-2017)
I’m actually shocked that I hadn’t profiled Storm Brewing in this space before, because it’s truly one-of-a-kind. The brewery started back in 1994 and is a cornerstone of the Vancouver brewing scene, even if it doesn’t look or act like a lot of the breweries in town that have come since.
I walked around a corner and through a doorway adorned with a sign made from some very rough-looking metalwork to find myself inside the production space, with a “bar” that wasn’t much more than a table, a draft list made from that same metalwork, and a brewhouse that looked like nothing else I had ever seen. Founder/brewer James Walton was tending to the brewery as I sipped my first beer, a Cinnamon Bun Ale. “What is… all this,” I asked, gesturing toward what I assumed to be the brewhouse. He walked me through where each vessel had come from — some yogurt processing equipment, an industrial-sized soup kettle, and a lot of scrap metal. There weren’t exactly a lot of manufacturers making small brewhouse equipment in the early 90s.
But the weirdness has worked for Walton — his quirky system churns out a lot of different beers. There are some mainstays to Storm’s lineup, like a Pilsner and IPA, but a lot of what they call “brainstorms” — one-off batches that are brewed in small quantities and rotated into the menu on a weekly basis. They’re weird and wonderful.
On the sign outside Storm on my first visit, there was a Yelp review. It so perfectly describes the brewery that I use the same phrase when I recommend this place to others:
Long Read of the Week
A couple weeks ago I mentioned that the National Black Brewers Association announced its formation with three New York-area brewers and brewery owners on staff. Kate Bernot at Good Beer Hunting has this piece with a lot of context around the organization’s mantra, motivations and goals that’s very much worth a read.
One More Thing
It’s June 1st, so Happy Pride Month! A reminder that the NYC Brewers Guild’s Celebration of Pride is happening June 18th, with a lineup of beers brewed exclusively for Pride by more then a dozen of the city’s brewers. Tickets are available now.
Cheers,
Chris
Seattle in summer? Oh man will the stars align and we run into each other again like Providence?? Also no shame on the Mango White Claw, my go to beach drink is a Lime High Noon
SO CLOSE TO YAKIMA!!! Are you going to head this way?! The hop vines are just starting to climb. ;) You ALWAYS have a seat on the Little Hopper!!!
P.S. Blackcherry beats Mango. Every. Time. LOL!