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.