I picked up this beer during my trip to Seattle this past fall. I was looking specifically for local/regional beers that I couldn’t get back at home. I hadn’t heard of this Spokane, WA, brewery before, so I thought I’d pick up a bottle to bring home with me. However, when I got home, I think I saw a bottle or two from this brewery at my local liquor store. It was still a new/different brewery I hadn’t had before (I just wish that maybe it was a beer I could get locally that would have been sacrificed – broken – in my luggage, instead of a Russian River brew). Well, tonight, the kids headed upstairs for bed, and I decided to sit down, relax and have this beer.

Location: A 22oz bottle, poured into a Sam Adams perfect pint glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.

Numbers: 7% ABV, 80 IBUs, ~ 210 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: It’s reddish-copper in color and very clear. The head fell almost immediately to just a thin layer at the top. The aroma is a nice balance of piney hoppiness and malty caramel.

Taste & Feel: The body is medium and the mouthfeel is somewhat crisp. The caramel maltiness is prominent in front, followed a good dose of piney-citrusy, slightly earthy, hop bitterness. It’s primarily the bitterness, and not the hop flavors, which grows strongly in the finish and lasts for a minute or so in the aftertaste.

Food Pairing: This beer has a very good amount of bitterness, and I think it needs a food pairing that’s sweet to balance out the bitterness. I’d go with a sweet BBQ sauce on ribs or a pulled pork sandwich. The sweetness would counteract the bitterness and the heartiness of the BBQ would easily stand up to it.

Overall Impression: When trying out a new brewery, I usually like to try their IPA, because it’s pretty easy to cover up flaws with tons of hops. True to style, this beer had a good amount of hoppy bitterness, but there was also a good amount of malty sweetness. I realize it’s been over half a year, since my trip to Seattle, so I’ll take that into consideration, but the hops contributed mostly bitterness, and less from a flavor perspective. It wasn’t a bad beer, I just would have like a bit more of the hop flavors to come through. Overall, it was above average, and I’m very open to giving more of their beers a try.

My Rating:

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