There are over 180 breweries in Washington State and the city of Seattle is home to many of them. By my count there are over 70 breweries in Seattle and King County. How was I to decide what breweries to visit?
In my case, the answer was driven by 3 major considerations:
- time – with very little time allocated on this trip to visiting Seattle, I needed to be efficient in visiting breweries;
- family – our Seattle visit included meeting relatives, so the selected area required easy access by all;
- transportation – Seattle traffic is notoriously terrible, so minimizing driving time was key.
These 3 major considerations made the Ballard District the perfect choice for visiting both breweries and family.
Located in the northwestern portion of Seattle, Ballard is one of Seattle’s thirteen neighborhood districts. Current estimates put the Ballard District’s population around 48,000 persons. Ballard serves as home base to the North Pacific Fishing Fleet and is the historical center of Seattle’s Scandinavian and blue collar seafaring community.
More recently, Ballard has evolved into a hip, youthful, and socially vibrant community. The emergence of area-based microbreweries is one of the catalysts to Ballard’s evolution.
In fact, the brewing industry is a major component of all of Washington State’s economy. According to the Beer Institute, beer’s total direct and indirect economic impact to Washington State in 2012 included generating or sustaining more than 42K jobs resulting in over $1.6B in wages, as well as, contributing over $4.3B in total annual economic revenue. In addition, Washington’s breweries, many of them small and family owned, are integral contributors to their local communities. The Ballard District is a perfect pinpoint example of integral community breweries and their local economic, social, and cultural impacts.
Hence, I was delighted to visit five (5) breweries in the Ballard District (all within a 3 block x 3 block area perimeter) and gain firsthand experiences about their community interactions and contributions. The terrain in this district is flat so walking (or bicycling) from one brewery to another was easy.
Reuben’s Brews
Our first stop was Reuben’s Brews. Started by the husband/wife team of Adam and Grace Robbings, Reuben’s Brews opened in August 2012. Master brewer Adam had won some home brewing awards and used a Kickstarter campaign to help finance the creation of Reuben’s Brews. Brother-in-law Mike Pfeiffer helped build the brewery and signed on as a brewer at Reuben’s.
Since opening their five-barrel brewhouse, Reuben’s Brews has become one of Ballard’s most popular beer destinations and their beers have achieved recognition, including: 15 medals at the World Beer Championships, 5 medals at the 2013 Washington Brewers Awards, and 2 medals at the 2013 North American Brewing Awards.
Reuben’s Brews is active in their community. This past summer, Reuben’s collaborated with the Seattle Spurs and Seattle Gorilla FC (a supporters collective) to brew London Calling, with proceeds raising $874.76 for Street Soccer Seattle.
Overall the brewery/taproom can be a little cramped, but an expansive range of beers are kept in the rotation. I sampled six beers while visiting Reuben’s Brews.
My personal favorite was the Imperial Rye IPA (8.4% ABV / 80+ IBU). This Silver Medal winner from the 2013 World Beer Championships delivered intense pine, citrus, and rye grain aromas and flavors.
One beer that caught my attention was the Koyt (6.9% ABV /32 IBU). This brew was a collaboration with Wander Brewing. Koyt is actually a Dutch-based style of beer recently added by the Brewers Association to their beer style guidelines. This historical style was popular in the Netherlands from 1400-1550 and the style emphasizes use of significant amounts of oat malt and wheat malt.
As I sat sampling beers, the tap room and outdoor seating filled up. Many visitors arrived on bicycles and various groups of people met at the brewery to enjoy beer and conversation. Some of our family members arrived to begin our beer safari reunion. A bicycling beer tour company arrived with eager and thirsty customers. A steady stream of growler fills commenced. Clearly, Reuben’s Brews is a key social and economic element of the Ballard District.
Stoup Brewing
A short walk from Reuben’s, I visited Stoup Brewing next. Stoup Brewing opened in October 2013 under the leadership of Brad Benson, Head Brewer and Director of Brewing Operations; Lara Zahaba, Communications; and Robyn Schumacher, Brewer / Cicerone. The word stoup comes for Scotland and North England and means a drinking vessel, as a cup or tankard.
The brewery and tap room are co-located. Indoor and outdoor seating is available. During my visit, the tap room was filled with enthusiastic drinkers, including the beer cycling tour that seemed to be following us.
I sampled six beers during my visit and enjoyed all. My two favorites were:
- Bavarian Hefeweizen (5% ABV / 13 IBU) – this crisp wheat beer provides great banana, wheat grain, and clove aromas and flavors
- Porter (6.2% ABV / 45 IBU) – this winner of a Silver Medal in the Robust Porter category at the 2014 World Beer Cup offers provides rich dark chocolate and roasted coffee flavors with sweet malt cocoa and moderate bitter finish.
Stoup Brewing is a strong supporter of the Movember Foundation, an organization initially founded by a group of Australians to support men’s health care initiatives globally including Testicular Cancer, Prostate Cancer and Men’s Mental Health. The term “Mo” is Aussie slang for mustache. In the fall, Stoup Brewing releases #WHISKERSTOUT. Proceeds from the sale of this beer support a local Movember Foundation team known as “Schuchart Presents Rev. Harth and His Mustache Rangers”.
Hilliard’s Beer
Ryan Hilliard and Adam Merkl opened Hilliard’s Beer in October 2011. The 15 bbl brewery with 15 bbl fermenters is located in a former auto service garage built in 1947 which featured high ceilings.
The brewery and taproom feature expansive indoor and outdoor seating. On weekends, Hilliard’s brewery also houses and features an independently owned, fresh roasted coffee small business known as MmmHmm Coffee. We arrived early, which turned out to be advantageous because soon afterwards a very large crowd bringing chairs, pets, and picnic baskets arrived to enjoy beer and watch the Seattle Seahawks football game on the large screen TV at the brewery.
One of my favorite features at Hilliard’s Beer was the outdoor book exchange, which provides free books for reading and allows participants to leave books for others to enjoy.
Hilliard’s is also a business sponsor of The Nature Consortium, a nonprofit, community-based organization whose mission is to connect people, arts and nature.
I sampled eight different brews at Hilliard’s Beer. My favorite was their Original Singe (5.3% ABV /30 IBU). This light-bodied, German style smoked lager (Rauchbier) includes Beechwood smoked malt to create a wonderful mild smokey aroma and flavor. Just writing about this beer has me thirsting for more.
NW Peaks Brewery
Started by Kevin Klein, who is also Brewmaster, NW Peaks is a “nano-brewery”. As such, the brewery makes less than one barrel of beer per batch but can create several varied batches. The co-located tasting room is very small (claustrophobic to me) so the outdoor seating area was my choice for sampling seven different brews.
This small brewery focuses on community support through Thursday Appreciation Pints (TAP) @ NW Peaks. Each month the brewery teams up with a local non-profit to help their specific causes and give back to the local community by donating $1 to the non-profit for every pint (sample platter and growler fills as well) sold on Thursdays.
My favorite beer sampled was the El Dorado Pale Ale (~5.25% ABV). This beer provides a light malt backbone that balances an emphasized hop aroma and flavor with distinct notes of grapefruit citrus.
Peddler Brewing
As noted on their website, “Owners Haley Woods and David Keller combined their love of riding bikes, brewing and drinking beer, and desire to own a business when they opened Peddler in March of 2013. Dave’s younger brother Mike Keller joined the team in July of 2014 to help with sales and distribution.” Dave is also the Head Brewer.
The brewery and tap room are co-located. Ample indoor seating exists and some limited outdoor seating is also available. Indoor rack space (for up to 9 bicycles) is provided for the crowd of enthusiastic bicyclists that frequent this brewery. A bike work station is also provided for cyclists to do some tune-ups, pump up their tires, or even fix a flat. The bicycle theme can be seen throughout the brewery from the bicycle brake-lever faucet handles in the bathroom to the gears in their concrete counter top.
Peddler Brewing is also a frequent supporter and contributor to non-profit events that support cycling and cycling safety, as well as events supporting Washington State environmental conservation.
I sampled four beers while at Peddler Brewing and absolutely enjoyed all. The Pedal Strike Pale Ale (4.6% ABV / 22 IBU) is an excellent session pale ale that delivers great grapefruit citrus and pith flavors. My favorite beer was the VeloHoptor Imperial IPA (8.4% ABV / 100+ IBU). Pouring a clear copper gold color with thick white foam, this full-bodied beer provides rich and balanced aromas and flavors of malt caramel and citrus and delivers a tantalizingly dry, bitter finish.
I feel fortunate to have visited 5 great brewery examples for the Ballard District. Each is an integral community contributor providing positive local economic, social, and cultural impacts. All have delicious beers that you definitely should try.
Also, a big thanks to ThePlanetMike for Ballard District and brewery recommendations.
