Brewery #7: Mac & Jack's Brewery

Mack & Jack's is the first Brewery I have gone to that doesn't actually have a taproom. This brewery gives tours once a week on Sundays at 3:00 and it's the only way to get a sampler of beer directly from the brewery. They also have a retail store that is open throughout the week where you can buy growlers and pints and other souvenirs.

I think because it was a Sunday before a Monday holiday that everyone and their mothers decided to show up to the tour. There were probably 50 people there and the brewery was short staffed for the day. The tour started about half an hour late and then once we finally got free beer I had finished it before the tour guide actually started talking. I think this would be a great free tour if you get lucky and go on a day when there's only about a dozen people. Because so many people were at our tour, the samples were small and you couldn't really hear what the tour guide was saying. I did get to see the inside of the brewery from right up close, which they don't let you do at the Redhook tour, so that was pretty cool. I'd also recommend going on a day when it's not cold and raining because you're standing outside or in an open warehouse for most of the tour.

One interesting tidbit that I picked up on the tour was that Mack & Jack's got their start selling to the Woodland Park Zoo. I thought that was pretty neat. There's a reason this beer is so popular in Washington, it's some of the most flavorful beer I've had on this tour so far.

Serengetti Wheat (4)

Good, solid wheat beer. A hint of orange and the wheat isn't overpowering. I wish I could've gotten a bigger sample of this one.

African Amber (4.5)

This is their most popular beer and you can find it in almost any bar in Seattle. It's a unique, malty amber with a great flavor. This is one of my favorite beers.

IPA (3)

For an IPA this one really isn't too bad. It's less hoppy than most IPAs and if I had to drink one, I would probably pick this one.

Porter (4)

This is a great porter. Not too watery like some of the ones I've had recently and it had a nice hint of coffee in it. I really enjoyed the combination of flavors in this beer.

The beer at this brewery is great quality and I'm honestly a little disappointed that they don't have a taproom. The tour was ok, but if I compare it to the Redhook tour it really needs some work. I'd say the beer is a 4 and the tour was a 3, giving Mac & Jack's a rating of 7. I bet if I went on this tour again in the summer with fewer people I'd raise the score quite a bit.

Brewery #6: Maritime Pacific (Jolly Roger)

The Jolly Roger fits it's name to a T. It's a tiny bar that's covered in pirate garb and smells like fish. The entire floor is one big painted pirate's map and there are skulls and treasure and parrots all over the ceiling and walls.

The place was packed, and because of it's size, it only took about 30 people to do the job. When we got there, there wasn't a single place to sit. We waited a while for the table and when one finally did come up and we went to sit down, we were told there was a waiting list for the tables. This meant people at the bar, who already had seats, got to move to a table. This freed up a couple of seats at the bar, but when I went to sit down, the waitress told me I couldn't sit there because it was a regular's seat. Rude! Just when I was about to say "screw it" and go somewhere else, a waiter finally cleared a table for us. Needless to say, the Jolly Roger was not off to a good start.

We finally got the beer and Kyle hated all of it because he thought it tasted like fish. Luckily, my smelling and tasting senses are not as easily linked, so I thought some of the beer was actually quite tasty. Aside from the bad service, this place was not too shabby.

Clipper Gold Hefeweizen (4.5)

This was a really great hef with just a hint of lemon in it, even without the addition of an actual lemon. It's a very smooth, cloudy beer. I'm not sure what makes it cloudy, but whatever it was, really added to the flavor.

Nightwatch Dark (4)

This was a good, malty, dark amber. The taste was just right.

Portage Bay Pilsner (3.5)

Good, solid pilsner. It was sour and dry just like a pilsner should be.

Old Seattle Lager (2)

This beer had a very mild flavor. I couldn't point out any good or bad tastes. To me, that means the beer isn't a very good one. This is the one Kyle was convinced tasted like fish.

Seasonal Dunkel (2)

Kyle described this one as going from good to bad to terrible. The aftertaste was pretty chalky and I had a hard time finishing this one off.

I didn't have any food at this bar, but the beer was pretty hit and miss. I'd say with the bad service, the serious need for expansion, and average beer, that the Jolly Roger deserves a 5 on the rating scale. A 3 for the beer and a 2 for the bar. I don't think I'll be going back to this place any time soon.

Brewery #5: Hales Ales

If you haven't noticed, I've had to mess with the template a few times to get the comments option to work. Since I don't know much about html I had to resort back to a generic google template. It's not my favorite but at least people can tell me what they think.

As far as ambiance goes, Hales really isn't the best. If you're just going for dinner it feels too much like a bar and if you're going just to drink it feels too much like a restaurant. I wish we had gone on a different day when the brewery is open to take the tour. I think that would've been it's one redeeming quality.

The waiter at this place was really creepy. He accidentally spilled one of the samples on Kelsey and kept giving us free stuff for the rest of the night. Which, was pretty great, except that meant he kept coming by and getting awkwardly close and breathing really heavily. Not my favorite guy, but I gave him a little credit because he probably saved us $20 on his own dime for spilling a little beer. Thanks Kelsey for taking one for the team.

The sampler at this bar gives you a choice of any five beers they have on tap. We got two samplers for a total of 10 different types of beer. It was brought out on this big tray and the beer was set on top of a chart with the names on it. The only problem was, there were more beer names than beers on the tray and it was difficult to tell which was which. The waiter told us when he brought the beer but it was hard to remember. So I made my best guess as to what type of beer I was having, you guess is as good as mine as to whether or not I'm right.

It was brought to my attention during this meal, that I should be rating the beer on some type of scale. This would help with my lack of adjectives to describe the beer. There were multiple suggestions, some complex and some kind of kooky, but I think in the end I may just rate the beer on a scale of 1 to 5 and the bar on a scale of 1 to 10. The extra 5 points for the bar will include the ambiance and the food and the overall good time that was had.

Wee Heavy Winter Ale (4)

This was a decent winter ale with a little bit of spice. I would say this beer is good but not great. The most anyone could get out of me at the table was "pretty good".

Cream Stout (3)

This beer is a nitro and to be honest, it's a little weird. I don't think I like the mixture of the cream and the stout and making it a nitro unfortunately didn't help much.

Nut Brown Ale (4.5)

Great beer! This one has just the right about of nuttiness and tastes pretty smooth. I actually wrote "Not too nutty. Yummy yummy" on my notes.

Mongoose IPA (2)

Since I've been sampling beers I've had to try quite a few IPAs. I'm not really a fan of this type of beer, but I have come across a few that aren't too bad and even a little tasty. This is not one of those beers. This IPA tastes like flowers. So much so that I made a sour face after trying the beer, quite similar to that of biting into a lemon.

El Jefe (2.5)

This hef was too orangey. It also has that familiar taste that I have really grown to dislike in hefeweizens. I have no idea what that taste is, but I know it every time I taste it.

Kolsch (2)

Hale's german style beer. I'm guessing this is a lager because of the sour, unrefreshing taste. I didn't like this one at all.

Hales Cream Ale (2)

This was a nitro but it wasn't cold enough. Almost like they had poured the beer half an hour before bringing it out. It reminded me of flat bud light and pee. Maybe if it had been the appropriate temperature for a nitro I wouldn't have noticed the bad flavors.

Pale American Ale (4)

This one had a lot of good flavors and was pretty rich for a pale ale. No one else seemed to like it but I really enjoyed this one. It was a nice contrast to the horrid cream ale I'd had right before.

Hale's Special Bitter (4)

This one is also a nitro and actually the best of the three they have on tap. It had a good amount of hops and went down smooth.

Obrian's Harvest Ale (3)

The best I can give this beer is an alright. It reminds me of an ESB, which could be why I'm not a huge fan. Jenn really did like this one, so for anyone else who's an ESB fan, this beer might be good for you.

Overall, I'd say the beer at this bar deserves a 3 on the rating scale and a 3 for ambiance and food. It was a pretty average bar and really didn't impress me on any level, and for that, Hales Ales deserves an overall rating of 6.

Brewery #4: Dad Watson's (McMenamins)

McMenamin's was a blast. The beer was unique and the atmosphere was fun. The brewery is located in Fremont, which apparently is a pain to get to on a Friday night in traffic. However, it was worth the long wait and the long walk after we gave up on sitting in traffic and parked the car quite a few blocks away.

I really liked McMenamin's beer, especially the Ruby Ale. The sampler had 6 different beers and there were more on tap. Everyone had a lot to drink at this bar, so the pictures are a little goofy. I'm guessing this won't be the only time I get some hilarious pictures out of this little project.

Ruby Ale
This is McMenamin's raspberry ale. I've had cherry beer and apricot beer and even blueberry beer but this was the first time I've had raspberry beer. I found it rather delicious. It tastes like fruit juice and mixes really well with the Terminator Stout, which I'll get to later.

Hammerhead Ale

No one could decide if this was an IPA or not. The menu described it as a hoppy pale ale, so I guess you could call it an IPA if you really want. I thought this beer was really good. It had a rich flavor and the hops weren't overdone.

India Pale Ale

I thought this beer tasted like nail polish. I hated it. Everyone else at the table thought it was pretty good but no one could tell me why. I might be a little bit biased because I don't like IPA's but even if I did, I think this beer would still taste like toes.

Porter

This is your typical chocolate, coffee flavored porter but the blend seems to be a little off. It tasted a little funny but I can't put my finger on what was wrong. Overall, it was nothing impressive.

Terminator Stout

The Terminator is a good stout. It's a little watery but had good flavor and was easy to drink.

Seasonal Madness (Nut Brown)

I'm not sure if the nut brown is actually their seasonal or if they just ran out of the seasonal and gave me the nut brown. I could definitely taste the nuts in this one and I rather enjoyed it. I give this beer a thumbs up.

RUBINATOR

This was my favorite beer of the night and it's not even a real beer. This is the combination of the Ruby Ale and the Terminator Stout. It's not on the menu and I never would've thought of it without Kelsey mentioning it. I think there should be more raspberry stouts. The subtle fruit flavor is a good contrast to the typically thick, chocolaty beer. It's a great mix and if you ask for it the waitress will definitely know what you're talking about.

So there you have it, Dad Watson's was a fun brewery with some great beer. This will do it for the long list of McMenamin's breweries since the beer is the same at each location. If you ever want to check another one out they're in Queen Anne and Seattle too.

Cheers!

Brewery #3: Gordon Biersch

To be honest, this brewery didn't have a lot going for it from the start. For one, it's inside a mall, which completely ruins the atmosphere, and two, they only brew lagers, which really aren't my favorite. We showed up for happy hour on a Friday night to save some money.

Before I get to the beer, which really wasn't very impressive, I want to talk about the food. Happy hour food was $5 appetizers and normally that means not too much food to fit the smaller price. This brewery was different. The food was good size portions and was absolutely delicious. I almost forgot to drink the beer because I was too busy stuffing my face with tasty sesame buffalo wings and garlic fries and southwestern egg rolls. If you need a reason to go to Gordon Biersch, go for the food, not the beer.

Anyway, here's the five beers they have on tap. I'm not good with German and I tried to copy the names from the menu, but they aren't perfect. Good luck pronouncing some of these if you ever go to order your own.

Czech Pilsner

This beer was pretty sour, but it was ok for a pilsner. I've had some great pilsners in my beer tasting lifetime and this wouldn't rank high on the list.

Hefeweizen

This hef has a strange after taste. I don't know why this doesn't take like your every day hef, but maybe it has something to do with being a lager. I didn't like the taste and had trouble finishing it.

Marzen

This was definitely their best beer. It's an amber ale with a smooth, mild taste. If I could have stopped at this one I would've only had this beer to drink all night.

Schwarzbier

This was a solid dark lager. I liked the smokey taste to it and there wasn't any over the top coffee or chocolate flavors. It's simple, but in a good way.

Seasonal (Winter Bock)

Kyle described this beer as tasting like water. It was dark and smooth but really didn't have any flavors that stood out. I've had some bad seasonals and some great ones, but they all had one thing in common, a very strong, distinct flavor. This beer had nothing. I agree with Kyle.

If it seems like I'm less than excited about this brewery it's because I am. There isn't much to write about because there isn't much to the beer. I'm not sure if it's a lager thing or if this brewery is just too watered down, but I really wasn't impressed. Like I said, building your brewery in a mall just doesn't make a great first impression.

Brewery #2: Issaquah Brewhouse (Rogue Brewery)

Issaquah Brewhouse is one of those little, sweet surprises. Like putting your hand in the pocket of a jacket you haven't worn in a long time and finding $5. It's a good twenty minute drive east of Seattle, but aside from being a little out of the way, the bar is a blast. When you walk in you see an enormous bar with three sides in the center of the room. All three of the back walls are lined with taps of tasty beer. We had a big group with us this time so we sat in the second room which, as it turns out, has shuffleboard! The bar wasn't too crowded for a Saturday night, I'm guessing because it's pretty far out of Seattle, so everyone got to play as much shuffleboard as they wanted. Our waitress was a really laid back girl who knew her beer and gave helpful advice when people struggled to decide what to order.

Rogue beer is some of the most delicious beer I've had on tap. Typically you can find their "Dead Guy Ale" at most bars in Seattle but beyond that you'd have to go to a specialty beer store to buy any of their other delicious beers in a bottle.

This brewhouse was great because the sampler they offer is 4 small glasses of any beer they have on tap. This was a very long list. I tried the first four out and then decided that another sampler with four more beers would be a perfect idea, so I got a second sampler. The waitress was so nice, that when I asked last minute to change one of my beers she just brought me an extra. So below are the nine beers that I got to sample at Issaquah Brewery. Here goes...

Shakespeare Stout

This beer is like drinking coffee. I love that in beers. The difference between this beer and most other stouts is that it's incredibly smooth like a Guinness. I didn't notice if it was a nitro, but if not, I'm very impressed with this one.

Kells Irish Lager

This is the lightest beer they had. I thought it was delicious. It didn't have anything very special about it, but it's simplicity was refreshing.

Juniper Pale Ale

I didn't really like this one. Kelsey made the comment that it tasted "metally" and I agree. The after taste was almost like leaving a coin in your mouth.

Captain Sig's Deadliest Ale

The name of this one made me think it would be something really dark and heavy, but instead it was a lighter amber ale. It was a little too hoppy for my taste and I didn't really enjoy it.

Brewer

This is a really hoppy beer. The waitress described it as "very complex". I however, think it's too complex for my taste and I definitely didn't love it.

Glen Ale

This is a malty, sweet amber. It has a good taste and was by far the best of the ambers I tasted.

Chipotle Ale

When I asked the waitress about this one she said it was spicy but pretty good. I'm not sure I agree with her on the "pretty good" part. I've never had a beer like this before. It almost tasted peppery, and while it was a little spicy, I'm not sure it really had a taste that is generally liked in a beer. I passed this one around the table and no one liked it. In fact, most people disliked it much more than I did.

Mocha Porter
I couldn't really taste the mocha in this one. I'm not sure if my taste buds were shot by the time I got to it or if it's really just not that strong. The taste was decent but nothing special.

Double Dead Guy

I figured I couldn't go wrong since the single Dead Guy is wonderful. This one, I would way, was even better. It was sweet, and malty and delicious. In fact...it was double the delicious Dead Guy!

Overall, the bar was awesome, and aside from the experimental beers, the beer was awesome too. They had this great deal for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, so I left with two growlers full of their amber ale at 6 bucks a piece. You really can't beat that.

Brewery #1: Pyramid Breweries

Why not start off with a sure thing?

I've been to Pyramid more times than I can count. Working across the street from a brewery is always good for fun and never good for production.

So I decided to start the year off on a safe note and go with a brewery that I knew to be quality and wasn't likely to be damaged from any recent flood waters. Pyramid has a prime location next to Safeco and Qwest fields, so it's booming during the fall and summer but pretty mellow when the Seahawks don't make the playoffs. Finding a table for seven on a Saturday evening was no problem.

Two samplers were ordered and downed pretty quickly. The selection for the sampler was pretty typical, four year-round favorites and one delicious seasonal:

Apricot Ale

I've had this bottled beer before but surprisingly never on tap. It's a good fruity beer and a nice variation to the Hefeweizen. It's good but definitely not my favorite.

Hefeweizen

I really enjoy this hef. It's not too wheaty and not too hoppy. I would say it's just right, except when Kyle empties the entire contents of the lemon into the tiny 4oz. sample. Then it just tastes like lemon.

Crystal Wheat

I've had this once before in a keg for our last Halloween party. It's got this bite to it that gives it slightly more flavor than a typical light beer but once it gets warm it's not easily distinguishable from Bud Light. I'm surprised they call it a wheat because the wheat is hardly noticeable. That being said, if I favored lighter beers this one wouldn't be too bad.

Snow Cap

I love this beer. They call it a "winter warmer" that has a little bit of that chocolate flavor you'd associate with a stout or porter. It's great in a bottle and even more delicious on tap. If you like dark beers this is definitely one you should try out.

Thunderhead IPA

Ugh. I really hate IPAs. It's the hops that kill me. Some brews just really seem to overdo it. However, this one really isn't too hoppy. I kind of liked the flavor and really had no problem finishing the sample.

Overall, Pyramid brews some tasty beer. They have quite a few other options apart from the sampler and ones that I've had in the past have at the least been decent. They brew quality beer but they don't seem to take a lot of risks. I think the reason I didn't hate any of these, even the IPA, is because there really aren't any over the top, bold, extravagant flavors to turn me off.

I bought a pint at the gift store on the way out, so that took care of rule #3.

The picture makes it look like it's snowing, but don't be fooled. Kelsey just had some crap on her camera.

So, one in the bag, 85 or so to go. One thing's for sure, when people ask what I did in '09 my response will probably be "I don't remember, that was Year of Beer".