Five brewery stops from Chuckanut 50km

I and my friend, Todd, were sign up for Chuckanut 50km run near Bellingham, WA on Mar. 17th.  The day we left from Corvallis, OR on early Fri. morning to get to the first our stop at Seattle. After 4 hrs driving, we made to Elysian Brewing Co. (Capitol Hill Pub)

 Although I do not have any pics on the Elysian brewing Co., the selections of beer were very interesting and 8 regular beers, another 8 seasonals, and 2 cask conditioned ales were on Tap. The beer at Elysian is good, but it is totally depend upon what you selected from the beer menu.  I had Valhalla (hoppy red ale) and Bete Blanche Tripel. Both are equally very good beer to enjoy the first beer on the road trip.  Additionally, I do like Rapture Heather Ale from 12 beer of Apocalypse series and Idiot Sauvin from the Manic IPA series. The RHA has great bitterness with citrus flavor from the Northwest Glacier hops. This beer contains Heather that added extra bitterness to the beer in clean way.  IS IPA uses Nelson Sauvin Hop from New Zealand. This beer isn't typical hophead IPA in NorthWest. Overall impression to this beer is mild IPA yet citrus aroma from the hop presently added to the medium bodied biscuit like malt. Slightly sweet aftertaste and very drinkable IPA.
Overall 4.3 / 5.0.

After our late lunch stop at Elysian, the time was already past 4 pm on Friday afternoon. We caught our legs with traffic jam getting out from the Seattle. I think I don't like living in the city with a car owner for this reason.  We finally made out from the Seattle and got to a Chuckanut Drive around 6 pm.

Amazingly nice weather in March! This 20 miles scenic drive from Burlington to Fairhaven is great if weather is nice.

After we stop by the place to pick up our bib numbers and all free goodies, we are off to Chuckanut brewery and kitchen at Bellingham.  The St. Patrick's day was on the same weekend of the Chuckanut 50 km race, and the brewery was no exception to have some St. Patrick's day color.

 
 Kolsch added green color. Enough to say. It is kolsch.
The Chuckanut brewery offered Pilsner, Helles & Vienna Lager, Dunkel, and Kolsch. It usually six rotating taps.  The owner of brewery, Will Kemper, had taught brewery engineering at Davis, CA in the 1990's. No wonder why the brewery has more German, eastern European style bier. You can read more about at:   Chuckanut Brewery
It is rare to see in PNW for such styles of beer, and I admired it. I did like Dunkel and Vienna Lager most. I was not a fun of Kolsch but drink it for St. Patrick's day. Pilsner was very light. I think Sudwerk brewing has higher standard than Chuckanut brewing in similar styles of beer.  It is worth stop by at least once for good food and beers in Bellingham, WA.
Overall 4.0 / 5.0

The weather on race day morning was sprinkle of snow/rain condition with 32-34F. Ok. It is still in North West crappy weather in March.  I did 4:58:12 and 77th place. No significant injuries from the run is a bonus.

 Look like I am having good time in snow, but it was cold! My left foot toe off still on outer side of foot than on the big toe side.  May be the result of "Lazy ass" biomechanics.

Post race photo with two elite female runners, Joelle Vaught (L) and Pam Smith (R). They are amazing runners!
Photo by Longrun Picture Company.

With a 5000 ft of elevation gain and loss in this race, I can have a beer or two. (Indeed, the finisher gets a ticket for free pint at Boundary Bay Brewery in Bellingham, WA).

Boundary Bay Brewery has an excellent IPA. Hoppy and grapefruit aroma more than citrus, slightly stinky side of hop. It is bit chewy aftertaste from caramel like malt. Unfortunately the place was jam packed already at Sat. afternoon from the celebration of St. Patrick's day. So I did not try many beers from the brewery, but IPA, Irish Red, and Scotch Ale were very good!  The downstair has a nice beer garden/patio too.
Overall 4.0 / 5.0

Thanks to Todd's friends who are living in Bellingham kindly offered us to stay this weekends. Plus we had great time in the hot-tub to relax soared muscle after the race.

On Sunday mid-morning,  we decided to head back to Corvallis. Yes,  another 7hrs of driving. We manage to leave from the Bellingham around 10:15 am, and we already had a quick stop at Mt. Vernon. There is a Skagit River Brewery just off from the I-5 Exit 226. We got there at 10:55 am, and the brewery just opened on Sunday 11am.  Right on the time!

 Drinking Irish Red Ale.
The place has 8 to 9 beers on taps, but I was not impressed with the taste of beer much. Or too early in the morning to drink a beer? Nah, It is never too early. I would give a overall of 3.5 / 5.0.

Another an hour and half of driving to get back to Seattle. We stop by the Pike's Market.  Of course we went to the Pike brewing.

 I have never been to Pike brewing pub even though I have tasted their beer from the bottles. To be honest, I wasn't a fun of Pike Beers before. The draft beers from the bar were different story. The rich imperial stout was very good. high alc. % but smooth and very drinkable. It has chocolate, toffee flavor from the malt but not overpowered my taste buds. Another one I tried was Belgian Tripel. It was clean finish with a lot of clove/orange spices. It was bit sweet side of the beer. I also had a pretzel with imperial stout infused mustard. I want this mustard! It was very good.
Overall 4.2 / 5.0  

The last stop was at crab pot place for quick early dinner. Dungeness crab was tasty, but snow crab was o.k.

After this, we straight back to Corvallis within 4hrs drive. I was tempting to stop by Portland for another pub, but Todd has to get back by 9pm, so we just passed this opportunity.

Brewery Tour Fall 2011 (Oct. 8-9) PART II

From Brewery Tour Fall 2011 (Oct. 7-8)

7. Bear Republic Brewing Co.

Bear Republic had good selection of beers but the Racer 5 IPA was the most hoppy, strong grassy note from hop I experienced. It was the beer to kick your taste butts by strong bitterness! Another contender was the cousin of IPA called Black Racer IPA. It isn't burned coffee like malt taste you imagine from the color of the beer and is like more of toasty bread.  Compared to Racer 5 IPA, I noticed the fruity hop note but beer had very strong bitterness experienced. The XP pale was still hoppy side of pale but highly drinkable. Also Rye beer was good. Bear Republic also tried to create own Belgian styles, but isn't as excellent taste as North Coast. Monkey High Five Belgian Porter was earth note (more like stink seafood) with mild clove/banana but not so much.

Overall 3.8 / 5.0

(Nice backyard patio to hangout for tasty beer. Wait. We saw many crazy people in the bar too. Also someone burn joints next to patio that was looks like a city park. )


8. Lagunitas Brewing Co.

Probably the Lagunitas is well known name because the company focus on distributing beer.  The tasting room open till 8 pm on Sat. and Sun. and till 9 pm from Wed. to Fri. The tasting room and patio is very nice.  Lagunitas beer always sweet aftertaste for me. It is very present and drinkable for most of beer style. I cannot take much for Brown Shugga that was too sweet like candy. I did enjoy the seasonal Octoberfest. Toasty malt with fruity hop refreshed me very well. I also like Little Something Wild. The earthy funky note from belgian yeast added pinelike woody note and nice combination of toasty malt aroma.  Beer food snackies were good too.

Overall  4.2 / 5.0

 (Nice Trailer)

 (Let me in! It is still before 8pm!)

 (Nice patio to hang around for happy hrs!)

(Famous Big Mouth Pint glass)


9. Russian River Brewing Co.

The brewery is most famous for belgian style/farmhouse ale than English style ales, but Blind Pig IPA and Pliny the Elder are the famous for long time. The Pliny the Younger (Triple IPA) is usually released in Feb., but this famous beer would not last long. People (beer geeks) standing outside for more than 5 hrs. to taste this 10.5 % IPA.  Hummm, I wonder how much complexity it would have for taste and aroma.  This can be the dream beer for West coast IPA fan. The Pliny the Elder is very strong hop note and bitter taste. Indeed it is double IPA, the hoppy aroma is more of spicy tobacco or cigar like aroma than fruity hoppiness. The bitterness is not stick around so long, so it is still drinkable and delicious. However, I preferred to taste Blind Pig IPA that was far more balanced with grassy and fruity hoppy note with toasty malt taste with bitter aftertaste. It is far more crisp and drinkable beer than Pliny the Elder. Russian River IPA is another good IPA. It stronger aroma of hop and bitterness than the Blind Pig. It is somewhere between Pliny the Elder and Blind Pig IPA. My two favorit Belgian style is Damination and Consecration.  Damination has funky yeasty note and banana/clove note is very similar to North Coast Pranqster.  Also Consecration is the best kriek like farmhouse style ale with current. The amount of sourness from this beer may not favor many beer drinkers, but it is still very drinkable and great beer to open your mind for many style of beers available in West coast. The wood oven style pizza is very good too.

Overall 5.0 / 5.0

   (The end of the Saturday. we were indeed bit tired from the driving we did and drunk a lot of beer.)

Next morning with bunch of drunkers. We need water, coffee, breakfast, and beer.

Driving toward to Sacramento, CA
Some kind of Factory we saw...

Darn, that was the yellow piss beer factory.

10. Sudwerk Restaurant and Brewery

It is located at UC. Davis, and the beer style is famous for Pilsner, Hefe, Lager, Marzen, Bock, and Weizen.  Yes, the beer list is more of German style to Eastern European style beer.  Please do not disappointed by reading it so far. I admit myself that I was not a fun of those style either until I step in the Sudwerk to taste the good beer. I mean really good European style lager. Lager was very crisp and honey like aroma. It is very good. Marzen was more nutty malty aroma with sweet candylike note. It was not as sweet as Lager. The Pilsner was my favorite. It was very fruity and hoppy with good combination of bitterness.  The food at Sudwerk was also good and bar tender was very nice! It was the worth stop by.

Overall 4.6 / 5.0  

 (UC Davis has master brewers program? What about Oregon State Huh?)

 (We missed a day late for OctoberFest)

 (Nice students/master program tap room behind the restaurant)

 (Sunday, 11:30 am open. Let me in!)

 (It is still 11:00am at parking lot)

 (Nice bar area)

 (Open fermenter)

 (Taster samples)

 (I've seen it at brewing supply store. The famous yeast strain company!)

 (Humm, Beaver Lager is probably not gonna be well suited like Aggie Lager. May be Beaver believer red ale?)

Now moving from UC Davis to Chico!

(Sacramento. Real Golden Gate Bridge....)

(Rice Fields)

 (Playing Angry Bird on iPad!)

 (55 more mile to get Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.)

(Serious time with AngryBird! He is not sleeping.)

(There is the Sierra Nevada Brewing!)

11. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

The Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. located at Chico, CA, and this brewery is already huge production size of crafted ales.  I do not think the category of "micro-brewery" would fit this place anymore. Indeed its extensive distribution network, the beers from Sierra Nevada is easily accessible to most of grocery stores in USA.  I pick the best 5 beers from Sierra Nevada at this time.  #5: Poter that was most drinkable one. #4: Celebration Ale was the winter seasonal ale that is still hoppy one.  #3: Bigfoot was the good barley wine that is more fruity side than the muscular barley wine flavor.  #2: North Hemisphere Harvest is probably much more hoppy than regular Torpedo IPA. Highly recommend it! #1: Fritz and Ken's Ale from 30th Anniversary collection (Stout). It was very roasted coffee and chocolate like aroma and taste. Although it is not as smooth as Old Rasputin from North Coast brewing Co., the rich flavor of beer gets better when it warms up bit.  Also this beer feels high alcohol from the first sip that slows me down for sure.  The company puts a lot of good styles of beers, but I felt some styles are not distinctively different. I felt the same aftertaste for some of the beers.  Food is very good. The restaurant would be perfect place to enjoy the beer and food pairings.

Overall 4.2 / 5.0

 (Nice display room with huge copper brewing kettle underneath)

(All those huge fermenter tanks!)

(Mt. Shasta)

(Mikio was driving from Chico, CA to Ashland, OR.  Can you really trust Asian guy driving in U.S.A?)

(Cloud covered, looks like we are going back to rainy and gray sky Oregon)

(The last shot of Mt. Shasta)

#12 Caldera Brewing Co.
Ah, we are finally back in Oregon. The Caldera Brewing Co. is located at Ashland, and the company was the one of pioneer to put good ale beer in CAN.  I personally have no against feeling to CAN of beer. You can carry easy with CAN for hiking, climbing, etc.  It can chill down very quick with stream of cold water. You can smash the empty CAN to bring trash back from camp site easily. But some people claimed that the beer poured from the CAN can taste metallic. I guess it has pro and cons.
I do like Pale Ale more than IPA from the Caldera. I think the IPA has complex of three hops (Simcoe, Centennial, and Amarillo) instead of just a Cascade hop in Pale, and this gives me more strong hoppy bitter aroma and taste. Another good IPA is called Hopportunity Knocks. It is very hoppy but rather simple aroma than regular IPA.  Another good beer is called Mogli. This imperial porter is nice chocolate flavor with woody aroma.  Foods are more like regular pub foods. There are few interesting beer like Hibiscus Ginger Beer and Rose Petal Imperial Gold Ale, which I did not try this time.

If you are looking for more of great foods with beer, I recommend to go Standing Stone brewing Co.  It is located at only one block away from Caldera Brewing. Co Tap room.

Overall  4.0 / 5.0

We were finally drove back to Corvallis, and the time was already shifted to Monday 1:02 am.  It was great and memorable trip we did!