Seattle Breweries – Reuben’s Brews, Stoup, Lucky Envelope, and Holy Mountain

The breweries in the neighborhood of Ballard in Seattle have exploded recently such that they are close enough together that you can walk to a number of them after parking. For me this meant visiting Reuben’s Brews, Stoup, and Lucky Envelope in one monday afternoon. I wanted to visit Populux as well but they were closed that day. Each brewery had a few tasty beers but nothing to the level that would justify the hype behind them.

Reuben’s Brews

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Reuben’s Brews is the first one I wanted to visit due to reading about it online from another blogger. They had a massive tap list but the seven beers I ordered didn’t impress me enough to get me to order another flight. I tried three sours, three IPAs and one stout. The three sours were all very interesting though my favorite was the Kentucky Common. It was really smooth with notes of caramel and some mild tartness. It had a delightful smooth finish that I don’t get much. My sister really liked the dry-hopped sour because it exhibits tons of lemon with a mild tart kick. I also enjoyed the fruited sour I had because I thought it had some good balance, just the right amount of fruit, and a good tart finish.

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I picked my IPAs to try by the two varieties they had available in cans. Both seemed to exhibit bitterness over aroma and both also seemed to have a wheat malt base that I didn’t really care for. Though one of them had some nice tropical fruit and pine after it warmed up, it was just fairly average. The experimental IPA was really off-putting and the flavors reminded me of Sorachi Ace hops. Neither one of us liked that one at all. I later told the bartender they should put a note that it tastes similar to Sorachi ace because that hop is very polarizing. The Porter was really tasty with lots of caramel, roast, and mild smoke.

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For such a new brewery, I was surprised that they had almost 20 beers on tap. It seemed to me like they need to spend more time coming up with some killer core beers but I hear their IPAs are quite popular around the area. If you like kettle sours, it should be an interesting place to stop by but I wouldn’t recommend trying everything on the board. They have a nice open atmosphere and tons of outdoor seating and street parking.

Top 3:
Kentucky Common Sour
Fruited SOur
Porter

Stoup Brewing

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Just a short walk from Rueuben’s is Stoup, where they have a shorter tap list and the IPAs are more flavorful. I did not care for the ESB I tried. It was really pretty tasteless and thin. Their seasonal witbeer was pretty good with lots of spice, some mild fruit, and hints of lime. The Mosaic Pale was quite popular there and my sister really liked it. I thought it was well done and had a good amount of citrus and fruits. It also had some notes of green peppers, which was a bit strange. I preferred the Citra IPA instead, which had a lot of tropical fruit notes. The North West IPA was an interesting take on the style, lots of sticky, dank pine character that dominated over the malts. The porter was solid but lacked the sweetness that I enjoyed in the one at Reuben’s.

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Stoup seems to have a good start on finding the right flavors for their IPAs but the hops weren’t bursting as much as they could have been. They also have a nice open ambience and a good amount of outdoor seating.

Top 2:
Citra IPA
Mosaic Pale

Lucky Envelope

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I started with a helles at Lucky Envelope and really liked the fruity apricot hop character and crisp helles taste. The Session IPA was smooth and fruity, and done well. The IPA was nice and fruity without a ton of bitterness and exhibited lots of tropical fruit. The grapefruit version was quite tasty, with a bitterness to the beer that suggested lots of zest was added to the beer. Their Peanut Butter Stout was also quite delicious with tons of nutty flavor and a smooth finish without being too sweet.

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Top 2:
Helles
Peanut Butter Porter

Each of the three Ballard area breweries I visited had something tasty available. They make for a fun walk between the three. Then my husband drove us to Holy Mountain for our last stop of the evening (almost!)

Holy Mountain

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Known for lagers and wild ales (lagers?) Holy Mountain has developed quite a reputation very quickly. Many of their bottle releases sell out incredibly fast. Thankfully they have plenty of other good beers available for those who happen to stop by without planning like myself. I won’t bother describing the specific style of most of the beers since they are almost all wild. Though they didn’t offer tasters, we were able to do half pours of everything and create a flight still. I also left with a few bottles to go.

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I started with Kiln & Cone their pale ale, which was really smooth and quite fruity. After everything else we tried their Three Fates lager, which we should have started with as well. It was quite tasty lager with an earthy back and some floral hops. Ceremony has the unique flavor of cake frosting and coconut while finishing with some mild funk. My sister liked it more than I did but it was interesting for sure.

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Demon Teller was a nice mix of brett and funk with some mild tart and a nice dry finish. Fellowcraft was a bit more fruity than the demon teller and had some nice grapefruit notes. Witchfinder was hoppy and mineral forward, solidly fruity, and good and funky. I got a bottle of this one. Most of the brett beers were tasty though none of them stuck out either as really bad or clearly the best. They are a bit isolated as far as breweries go and my sister tells me not very easy to get to by public transit. If you want anything special, follow their social media for the extremely limited releases.

Overall, I would highly recommend Holy Mountain but the three other breweries didn’t knock off Fremont Brewing or Bellvue Brewing from my previous favorites from an earlier trip.

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

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Calgary Breweries in Alberta Canada – Wild Rose and The Dandy

I only visited two breweries in my time up in Calgary because the more interesting part of Calgary is the nearby Banff National Park where there are two small breweries, one in Canmore and one in Banff that I’m sure are great compared to the macro beer you can find in most of the convenience stores but also nothing exceptional. Out of the two breweries I did visit in Calgary, one was fairly disappointing and the other was exceptional and quite impressive. WIld Rose Brewing is a larger brewery and sounded like they had some interesting beers but I finished about half of the total tasters because some were not for me. The smaller brewery, The Dandy Brewing, was excellent almost across the board and set my bar so high that when I went to breweries in Seattle the following day, some of the hyped breweries, while solid, didn’t live up to the same standards.

Wild Rose

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At Wild Rose I tried 8 tasters. Of those, half were tasty. The Velvet Fog was a really tasty beer of half wheat and half pilsner malt that was crisp and delicious with lots of nice notes of spice and citrus while keeping everything very balanced. This was one of the best beers of the bunch and I expect it is quite popular. The Electric Avenue was a fairly standard lager with some floral hop notes. Cowbell Kettle Sour is a tasty light alcohol sour with lots of fruit, citrus, and lime, with a strong tart finish. The lime comes on strong from the use of lime leaves. The Wraspberry ale was not very tasty at all and while it had some smooth raspberry flavor it also often tasted like cough syrup. It might be better mixed together with the kettle sour.

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The Barracks Brown was also not really my thing. Brown ales in general tend to be lacking in flavor and this one was also strongly smoky. The IPA was fairly standard old-school bitter-forward IPA with a strong malt backbone. As it warmed up it exhibited some solid darnk and resinous qualities. Alberta Crude was a solid porter with a good amount of roast and some bitter chocolate. The Maibock was way too sticky sweet, exhibited notes of over ripe fruit and rasins and was quite boozy in the finish. I did not drink much of this. The other two seasonal beers, the Session Pale and Belgian Pale were both tasty versions of the style. The Session Pale has some solid galaxy hop flavors and the Belgian Pale exhibits lots of spice notes from the Belgian Yeast.

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While about half of the beers were disappointing, the highlights were nicely done and would be worth a stop to try the highlights listed below if you are in the area and need some tasty beers. The Velvet Fog would be perfect to fill in a growler for you to take with you out into the mountains.

Top 3:
Velvet Fog
Cowbell Kettle Sour
Alberta Crude

The Dandy Brewing

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More recently I have been a much bigger fan of small breweries and The Dandy was a good example of why. Though they seem to have already out grown their fairly small tasting room, the wait wasn’t terrible and the beers were delicious. I tried a taster of everything they had available and had a pint of my favorite after I finished because it was so tasty. I also enjoyed meeting with a number of locals at the bar and hearing about their experiences.

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The English Pale was the most juicy English style ale I have ever had and was super fruity with tons of apricot from the hops and some smooth caramel malts at the back. My husband even liked this one and he rarely likes anything besides stouts. The Oyster Stout was smooth with a nice mix of caramel and roast, a solid stout, though not as complex as the Alberta Crude at Wild Rose. The Hawkeye Pierce single hop pale was super juicy and not bitter with notes of grapefruit and melon. This and the English Pale were favorites for me and many of the other people around as well.

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The saison was nice and earthy with fruity notes and tons of flavor for the low alcohol. The Fusion Extra Pale was nice with floral hops that balanced nicely with peach and melon. The English Summer Ale is an interesting companion to the English Pale, really smooth with notes of floral hops and hints of peach. The TZE IPA was the most bitter of the bunch but had some light citrus kick to it. It is a solid IPA as well.

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Everything at The Dandy was tasty with the highlights below that were extra impressive. They clearly have learned the modern way of making delicious juicy hoppy beers and just to make clean flavorful beers. I’m excited to see what they come up with in the future and I can see they will make some great things.

Top 3:
English Pale
Hawkeye Pierce Single Hop Pale
English Summer Ale

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

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Salt Lake City Utah Breweries – Uinta and Epic

I make a point of going to breweries on my trips directly rather than going to bars. Utah has a few restrictive laws that limit the alcohol content of beers they can serve on tap. Any beer on tap must be less than 4% alcohol and anything higher than that must be served in bottles. This severely limits the ability of breweries to do taster flights because most breweries aren’t going to want to pour taster size pours from a bottle. Though certain breweries I have visited in other states choose to do that they may be limited from the option in Utah as well. The two breweries I visited were Epic and Uinta.

Uinta Brewing

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Uinta has a fairly large number of beers on tap despite the 4% alcohol restriction. I tried five of these and then ordered a bottle of the IPA because I couldn’t taste it on tap. The Gose was crisp and mildly tart with some light citrus notes and a light salty finish. I enjoyed the gose quite a bit. They also had a fruited version called Flamingose with pineapple added, which made the beer more cloudy with a darker yellow color. The beer was nice and fruity and had grapefruit notes and a bitter finish. The Baba black lager was smooth and light body with a mix of mild smoke and roast. I have had better black lagers but this one was not bad considering the alcohol restriction.

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The Session IPA was smooth and crisp with mild citrus notes and not overly bitter. I liked it better than the Wyld Extra Pale which while smooth and balanced had a bit more malt forward character and was overall too mellow. Hop Nosh IPA makes its way down to San Diego regularly but I wanted to try it fresh from the source, even if that meant in a bottle. The IPA was super smooth and nicely balanced with a solid malt backbone without being a malt bomb. The beer had good dank hop character and hints of juice and citrus. I didn’t try the double IPA or the other stronger offerings because ordering 12 ounces of each would be quite a bit much.

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Epic Brewing

I didn’t do any sort of tasting at Epic because I was more interested in their higher alcohol stouts. Though we did end up buying two bottles, one of the Oatmeal Stout, and one of the Imperial Stout, to enjoy in our hotel room. We also later shared a bottle of Big Bad Baptist at the Annex restaurant Epic has in Salt Lake City and later that evening opened a bottle of the Son of a Baptist at home since Epic beers make their way to San Diego as well.

The oatmeal stout was super smooth and delicious and scary easy to drink quickly. It had notes of marshmallows and a mild roast with a really velvety background. I found the imperial stout to be a bit too molasses forward. It had some hints of chocolate and roast under it but the molasses was overwhelming and killed it for me. The Son of a Baptist is a smooth and light bodied delicious coffee and chocolate stout that features coffee prominently with some mild bitter chocolate under it. In comparison to this, the Big Bad Baptist, aged in Bourbon Barrels was thick and sweet yet balanced perfectly without bourbon dominating too strong. Coffee and chocolate notes were both much more subdued here giving it a delicious balance.

Of the four i would soonest search out the oatmeal stout and the big bad baptist for future consumption. They are both delicious well-crafted beers.

While the two breweries listed aren’t the only ones you can visit in Salt Lake City, they are the two most prominent. If you do plan to visit either of them it might make the most sense to bring a bottle or two to your hotel room rather than drinking at the brewery because there is a fairly high markup to drink the big bad baptist at the brewery rather than taking the bottle to go. Though the brewery experience was not ideal it was a great companion to the hiking I did in the area that was quite gorgeous.

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

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Western Massachusetts Breweries

Those familiar with the area around Northampton, Easthampton, and other places around might notice quite accurately that I haven’t visited nearly all of the breweries in the area. I really wanted to visit Tree House to bring back some of their legendary juicy IPAs but their limited hours didn’t work with my trip. Similarly, I had hoped to visit Big Elm brewing but they are only open 12-4PM on Saturday. With what I was left, my local friend recommended I visit Element Brewing, The People’s Pint and the 3 new breweries in his town of Easthampton. The 3 breweries in Easthampton are called New City Brewing, Abandoned Building Brewing, and Fort Hill Brewing. Each has been open only about a year.

Element Brewing

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I have visited a lot of breweries in the past few years and have tasted a lot of different beers and my visit to Element is the first time that I have ever left four of six tasters on a flight more than 3/4 full because I was not enjoying them in the slightest. There are disappointing San Diego breweries that I have found at least to be competent enough that I still finished their flights of mediocre beers. This is even more disappointing because Element is one of the breweries in the area that is somewhat well known and popular and somehow has regular fans.

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The closest thing I can compare Element to is Reckless Brewing in San Diego, mostly because both breweries have a science theme and claim to brew whatever the hell they want with no attempt to brew to style (meaning they don’t really bother to make sure their dark beers taste like stouts or that their IPAs taste like IPAs, etc). I might not have cared so much that the beers were average if the brewery wasn’t in the middle of no where and charged $20 for a flight of six tasters, something which only makes sense if you are brewing sours the traditional way. Two of the six beers actually tasted like beer, and those two I will describe here. The rest aren’t even worth mentioning.

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If you still want to go to Element, please limit your exposure to the Extra Special Oak and Dark Element. The Extra Special Oak most closely resembles a Belgian Dubel style with flavors of dark fruit and caramel. The beer is smooth and not overly sweet despite the high ABV and finishes nicely with a mellow oak flavor. The Dark Element most closely resembles a black IPA though it does not have any roasted malts that typically give a stout its roasty flavors, nor does it have any body to speak of. But it does manage to showcase the strong hop flavors without knocking you out with bitterness.

Top 2: 
Extra Special Oak (oaked dubel)
Dark Element (black IPA)

The People’s Pint

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Not too far from Element is the popular brewery called The People’s Pint, where beers were a massive improvement and some were quite impressive. I tasted the Training Wheels Session IPA, Farmer’s Lunch Belgian Pale, Oatmeal Stout, and Double IPA. The Training Wheels was a solid session IPA, good and smooth with a solid mix of tropical hops and pine. The pine dominated a bit much for my tastes and the finish was a little more bitter than necessary but otherwise it was a tasty session IPA.

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The Farmer’s Lunch, though described as a farmhouse ale, is really more like a light Belgian style IPA, meaning it is not a traditional saison. The beer showcases some delightful tropical and citrus hops with some smooth Belgian spice under it all. The Oatmeal Stout was probably the most complex and delicious stout I have had at that alcohol level. The beer does a fantastic job of mixing chocolate, roast, coffee, and caramel in a very smooth easy-drinking stout. My husband really loved this and I quite enjoyed it as well. The Double IPA was a very delicious beer that mixed dankness, resin, citrus, and pine for a very smooth low-malt double IPA that hides its alcohol well and is not very bitter.

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The People’s Pint is primarily a brewpub and has a full food menu available as well. Their oatmeal stout is widely available around the area and reasonably priced as well. I would easily stop in for a pint if I happened by the area again in the future.

Top 2:
Double IPA
Oatmeal Stout

New City Brewing

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The first of my 3 breweries in Easthampton, New City is almost next door to Abandoned Building Brewing. I tried a flight of their Ginger Beer, Pale Ale, ESB, IPA, Rye IPA, and Dry Stout. The Ginger Beer is a delicious 8% alcohol ginger beer that has a smooth light body and spicy ginger kick that balances nicely with some mild sweetness. I can see why this beer has gotten them to be quite popular. The pale ale was quite smooth and balanced with with a bready malt base and a light but present hop kick. The ESB is quite smooth and malty and has a nice prominent apricot flavor from the hops. It was also the most bitter of the bunch.

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The IPA is also quite balanced with a solid malt base and light citrus hop notes without being overly bitter. The Rye IPA was similarly smooth and balanced with super light bitterness and peppery kick at the finish. The IPAs here are not West Coast style but also not Northwest style with unbalanced bitterness and overwhelming malt flavors. They are some of the most subtle and delicious versions of the styles I have had outside my typical preference. The Dry Stout was a solid dry stout with a good mix of roast and dark fruit malts. While not as flavorful as the People’s Pint Oatmeal Stout it was still quite solid. New City isn’t making any crazy styles but they are doing a fantastic job making balanced IPAs that are not malt bombs.

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New City is in a massive abandoned brick building and has a combination of bar seating and other indoor seating. They sometimes have live music on weekends as well as the occasional food truck.

Top 2:
Ginger Beer
Signature IPA

Abandoned Building Brewing

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I was recommended Abandoned Building mostly for the stout, which was not available on tap when I came by. I went for the IPAs instead, which after New City were disappointing and fairly average. I did bring home a few bottles of the barrel aged stout from Abandoned Building though and I hope to try these soon.

The Pennhurst Pale was fairly balanced with prominent bitterness, some fruity hop notes, and a bitter dry finish. The Hydra Pale was also fairly standard pale though slightly less bitter and more citrus forward. Dirty Girl IPA was surprisingly less bitter than the two pale ales but otherwise very similar malt background with some apricot notes from the hops. The Double IPA was the closest to the West Coast style and presented a good mix of citrus and dank flavors. It didn’t really stand out that much from the rest though. In all the beers seemed pretty similar and focused on bitterness over aromas. Still, it might be worth stopping by if you are in the area so you can try the stout.

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Abandoned Building is also interesting because of their location inside a similar massive brick building to the one where New City is located. To get inside you have to come through an entrance way that looks abandoned and through a door that would not normally suggest a brewery. They have no windows inside so it can be a nice way to escape the sun.

Fort Hill Brewing

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Fort Hill is the largest of the three breweries I visited and according to my friend has the most money behind them. Most of their beers focus on lagers, so I tried their King Mark Vienna Lager, Hera Pils, Lagerhaus session lager, Session IPA, Rauchbier (smoked beer) and Dopplebock. At this point in my day, I didn’t really distinguish much between the Vienna Lager, Pilsner, and Session Lager other than the Pilsner was the most hop-forward of the bunch showcasing some delicious German hops. Hera Pils is probably one of the best pilsners I have tasted and really impressed me. The Session IPA didn’t stand out much either, aside from being the most bitter of the bunch. It wasn’t really bursting with hop aromas.

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My friend insisted that I try the Rauchbier and I thought it was smooth and balanced between a light smoke flavor and a sweet back end. The Dopplebock was also quite smooth, sweet, and tasty with notes of plum and a very light body. If you are a West Coast beer drinker who generally shys away from lagers I would recommend going straight to the Hera Pils because it was the most delicious of the bunch. I probably would have ordered a pint before we left except my phone had indicated a storm might be on its way. I think that was ultimately a false alarm but it got us to leave.

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Fort Hill is inside a massive farm house and has a nice homey feel inside. When we visited they had live music playing as well, which was the main reason I was quick to leave when the storm warning showed up on the phone. You can find their cans of beers around town and I greatly enjoyed drinking a six pack of their Hera Pils the following day in my hotel room.

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Top 2:
Hera Pils
Session IPA

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

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North Park Beer Company – North Park San Diego

North Park has been exploding with small breweries and satellite tasting rooms lately. Depending on where you live you can easily walk to a number of different spots. North Park Beer Company hasn’t been open very long but it has been in the works for quite some time and it shows with their gorgeous interior design. Most small breweries focus more on beer and perhaps a certain theme over looks, especially the small ones in industrial areas of town. North Park Beer Company has a classic interior that is a mix of a British pub and an iconic train station. You would assume as soon as you enter that they serve food and that is in the works, partnering with Mastiff Sausage Company, a local favorite that can be found at various breweries in food truck form. Even with a large space and quite a big crowd when we visited, it didn’t get unbearably loud. They still have a fairly small lineup of beers but what they had tells me that they know how to make a good beer.

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I tasted their light scotch ale, hoppy red, IPA, stout, and San Diego style pale ale. The scotch ale was a bit too light for me, coming in at only 3%. I didn’t get much flavor from it. The hoppy red was really smooth and balanced with mellow malts and fruit notes from the hops. It makes for a very delicious red IPA that should become a local favorite. The IPA was sticky and dank with a good thick mouthfeel and tons of pine character. It was well made but I found it a little too bitter compared to the more mellow hoppy red and SD pale. If you love simcoe forward IPAs this one might be your favorite. The stout is a very dry stout with a caramel base and a bit of a hoppy finish. It is an average stout but I usually don’t care for the dry variety and neither does my husband. The San Diego style pale ale was super smooth and light on the malts with some nice fruity hop character. Bitterness was almost nonexistent and overall a very impressive beer.

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Over time the lineup of beers will grow but if North Park Beer Company keeps the three hoppy beers I had as core beers, they will become popular very quickly. I was also very glad to see the pint glasses they used which had plenty of room for giving customers a good size head on the beer without skimping on the beer. The line for 16 ounces is a few inches below the rim of the glass. One day when this is standard practice at every brewery I won’t need to point it out. Based on my recent visit, word travels fast about new breweries in the area and people are already flocking to this young brewery.

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Top 2:
Hoppy Red
SD style pale ale

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

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Exploring San Diego's Craft Breweries