Fremont Oktoberfest: not that local

Seattle's Fremont neighborhood, self-proclaimed as the Center of the Universe, is home to the eponymous brewery as well as a troll under a bridge, a statue of Lenin, and a sheet metal rocket ship. Just to its west, the still somewhat industrial neighborhood of Ballard has become a warm incubator for new craft breweries over the past few years.  This Octoberfest, held late in September on the Fremont-Ballard line ("Frelard") could have held fifteen or sixteen breweries within a mile and a half of its locus.

But it didn't.

Besides Fremont, I saw Hale's Ales and Peddler at this festival. No Reuben's, no Stoup, no Outlander, no Populuxe, no Bad Jimmy's, no Holy Mountain, no Naked City or Flying Bike.  No new brewers I haven't visited yet.  A number of breweries from Bend, a fair number of German imports.  Small breweries can experience festival fatigue this time of year, we must give them that.  Fresh hop days are just around the corner with more focused festivals.      

 Still, this particular festival seemed a lot more fun in terms of meeting local brewers six or seven years ago.   

  Ciders were more in evidence, as I suspect they will continue to be at beer events.  My most memorable taste was a watermelon cider from Pear Up Cidery near Wenatchee.  All the aroma you would expect and a distinct flavor.  Reminded me of that old county song about watermelon wine.

(Visited 09/21/18)                                                

Great Canadian Beer Festival--Notes

     On September 8 I found myself in Victoria, B.C., taking in the aforesaid festival held in a baseball stadium (home of the HarbourCats, who play in the West Coast League with the Bellingham Bells. the Wenatchee AppleSox, etc.).  The festival drew around ninety brewers, snuggled into some sixty-seven booths.  The very lively craft brewing scene here in British Columbia was here in full force but representation from the eastern end and middle of the country seemed slight.

     "Well, yes, it's not all that national," local beer writer Joe Wiebe told me.  "We have a couple of breweries from Quebec, a couple from Ontario--it's a big country and a long way to travel, from the Maritimes, say."  Joe added that the name, Great Canadian, had been the title of this festival from its beginnings, 26 years ago, the oldest festival in Canada held in an outdoor setting.
      I thought, of course, of the Great American Beer Festival, held in Denver every September like this one, and such a prestigious event brewers from every corner of our big country clamor to get in.  Denver is not too far from the middle of the USA, and it is the capital of a state so passionate about local beer they elected a craft brewer as governor.  Project Denver's longitude up into Canada and you are somewhere between Moose Jaw and Saskatoon, so you see the problem.
      Anyway, there were some fine beers pouring in Victoria that afternoon.  One of the more unusual was called Beets By Sinden, from Town Square Brewing in Edmonton (one of four Alberta brewers who pooled their resources to share a single booth).  Now, I didn't live twenty-plus years in Montana without knowing what beets meant in that part of the world--big foot long sugar beets.  But no, said the brewer, Drew Sinden, I'm using those dark red beets you get as a vegetable side. Adds tartness and a redder coloration to an ale.  Had to agree with the man, he made a tasty brew here.
     Another concoction caught my eye in the program: Wild Sour Lavender Gruit.  This came from Moody Brewing in the Vancouver suburb of Port Moody.  First time I tasted a lavender-bittered beer I spit it out, it was awful.  That was in Omaha. Second time I tasted one, in Anacortes, it was pretty good, I finished my festival four ounces.  This time it was damn good.  Stats per the program: 4.5% abv, zero IBUs.  And yet it had some distinctive bitterness, kind of a lemony finish.
      I found Field House Brewing in Abbotsford, visited once before, several years ago, and gladly had another wee glass of their Salted Black Porter (6.5% abv, 23 IBU).  The magic ingredient here is dutch droppies, a salted black licorice candy we can blame the Netherlands for.  Next time I'm in Lynden, Wash., I look for some. 
     My best-of-show was an IPA, so it must have been toward the end of my tastings.  Sip an IPA early in a festival and your scorched earth taste buds may not respond to any gentler brew.  This was called Passionfruit Destiny IPA and it is made by Fuggles and Warlock in Richmond, near the Vancouver airport,  6% abv and 62 IBU but not a hop bomb.  Infused with fresh passionfruit in the (secondary?) fermentation, it was just delicious. 
(Visited 09/08/18)

Two standouts in B.C.'s lower Fraser valley: Dead Frog and Four Winds

   Some time back I tracked down Dead Frog Brewing in the community of Aldergrove, B.C., just over the border from Lynden.  They had a production brewery in a business park, no tasting, just off-sales of bottled brews.  They hooked up with Walton Beverage when the Pepsi distributor decided to add some craft beers to its lineup--one of the few Canadian beers to make it over the Beerlin Wall (a/k/a 49th parallel), and I was happy to pick up an occasional bomber of their Rocket Man Pale or Classic Nut Brown Ale in Bellingham.
     Fast forward to 2018:  Dead Frog is opening a classy brewpub along with expanded production capacity in the middle of Langley, B.C.

Just off a major exit on the TransCanada Rte. 1 freeway, the pub will be much easier to reach from Vancouver.  The kitchen offers a few choices in sandwiches with salad sides, well prepared.  Tables inside and out on a patio, and gleaming wood bar and bench areas will all told hold plenty of people, and it will be a venue for bands to make music.
The beer choices are extensive.  I sampled a Brett Ale, aged two years in unspecified barrels for a tangy sour flavor, just 11 IBUs but strong at 7.3% abv.  Wonderful aroma.  Next flight was the Winter Beeracle, a dark, chocolate-orangey flavored winter ale. Kind of a spice chest aroma.

Third up was the classic nut brown, nutty enough for those of us who have Samuel Smith to thank for the introduction to this fine style.  22 IBUs and 5% abv.  Last on the line, the Moscow Mule, a tart lime and ginger flavored ale.  Just 18 IBUs to remind us there are more acid flavors than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio.  Some of Dead Frog's offerings are sold in cans as well as bottles.

(Visited 09/03/18)



The graduation from a production brewery with tastings or perhaps food trucks to a regular pub is a course not all brewers choose.  But I am happy to learn that Four Winds Brewing in Delta, BC is choosing that direction. Presently, this award-collecting brewery operates a small pub on its premises in a business park; tacos for lunch and space for perhaps twenty people to eat and drink.

And more than twenty often show up.  In two years, though, Four Winds will be in a proper pub in the Southland Farms development just now going up in the Tsawwassen community snuggled up against the aforementioned 49th parallel.  And about a mile or two from my new digs in Point Roberts, Wash.
Last visit here, I had a taco with a pint of Norwegian Wood, a really fine Belgian Saison with a transporting aroma, taste both fruity and dry, and wonderful  Enigma hops and a yeast from Norway (so it isn't just a Beatles riff).
Carry on, Four Winds, until you can get that new place built!