Snoqualmie Falls Brewery - Their sampler

Belgian tap - Blanche De Bruvelles, witbier.
Light and crisp with a good body, smells almost fruity, finishes smooth.

Summer
Tangy light beer. Again, has a smooth finish. I want some for my next BBQ.

Amber
Has a little of everything. Hops, malt, medium body very drinkable. A beer that would command its own tap space year round.

Copper Head & Nitro Copper Head
Hoppy american ale, hop taste lingers but isn't resiny.
Nitro version had a much better flavor blend with a creamy finish. My first nitro pale, I like it

Wildcat IPA
Great balance, strong hop flavor mid sip with a smooth finish - no lingering resiny taste, clean finish. Columbus hops used.

Porter
Roasty and dry with a sweet dry finish. Noticeable hop aroma and flavor.

Nitro Porter
Sooo smooth! Sweet roasty dryish finish, body is a little light for my taste but has great flavor!

Stone: Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

DARK heavy body, syrap chocolate tones, decent alcohol bite (not strong for 9.2%). When the beer warmed up a bit the alcohol tones really started to come out though. I haven't had a beer like this in a while though. Rich coffee tones seem to dominate this brew but if you reach for it you can feel the dark bitter chocolate. Dubbed a stout, it pours rich black with brown tones and light brown legging. The only time I could see the color was in the head and when poured from the bottle. Very good beer. This is up there with Deschutes Abyss (same kind of feel and body).

McMenamins: HammerHead Ale

Medium cloudy body, sweet flavor, light hop presence. Its not a bad beer, a little lighter than I'm used to. It has thick mouth feel, and a slight malty twinge to it. Not terrible for an Ale.

Georgetown Brewery: Manny's Pale Ale

Light body, clean finish. I've liked this beer for a while and everytime I have it it's a pleasure. Like many of their beers, Georgetown Brewery does an awesome job. This pale ale has a light hop presence but great for a pale. The alcohol is subdued but absolutely present. No harsh tones or off flavors in this brew! Someday I hope to try their other beers at the brewery in Seattle.

Rogue: Oregon Golden Ale

Pale ale's certaintly have a good thing going for them. Especially when crafted like this. Medium body and light hop with a slight flowery taste. Not as hoppy as some but a great beer. I think its body is what sets it apart. It is far more drinkable than some of its thicker counterparts. This one is up there for pale ales and I'd recommend trying it should you get the chance.

Rogue: Oregon Golden Ale

Pyramid: Broken Rake Amber

This is a seasonal from Pyramid. This amber is a little sweet but its light body has a nice finish. Good for hot days for sure. It claims of "malt" taste but its really mild. If you need something for a bbq, grab some.

ScuttleButt: Homeport Blonde

For a blonde, this was sweet, not much flavor. Maybe it was due to what precluded it. This bottle was VERY carbonated. I ended up shaking it to calm it down. Overall not my favorite.

Rogue: Brutal Bitter

I like it. Its an Imperial IPA but its not too thick like some I've had. Medium golden body, doesn't cling or coat the mouth (aside from the hops). Very good IPA. Imperial.... Eh, sure. Compared to what I would consider a standard IPA it does well. I would think Imperial would mean huge body and darker color. Maybe I'll change what I think about what an Imperial IPA should be. I think its about borderline too much hop but done VERY well. Not exceedingly dry hopped.

I guess I'd say overall great balance, great body, great hops, get some.

Chuckanut Brewery Sampler

Chuckanut brewery, their sampler... First off I want to say they have excellent salsa and were very friendly, their beer however...

Problem # 1: the sampler does not include all their beers, it cost me an extra $4 to try all 6 of their offerings.
Problem # 2: all of their beers suck. No really, they suck. They suck a lot. No joke. I expected a lot more from the Kemper's... Teh (yes Teh not The) Fail.

Their beers:
-None had much of a smell, none had any real body or any sort of head.

Rauch - Tastes like smoked salmon that has been marinated in root beer. Yuck.

Kolsch - Fantastic, you cloned Heniken, I hate heineken. I can't stand heineken...

IPA - Tastes like sour PBR with a horrible resiny finish. The Sierra Nevada pale ale i'm drinking to get rid of the taste of the Chuckanut beers has more hop flavor.

Vienna - Did I accidentally grab my water glass? You call this beer? Seriously, tastes like bottled water.

ESB - This was the best of their beers, but thats not saying much. Tastes more like a lager than an ESB. Brew Munkey MAD lager has more beer taste than this abortion of an ESB.

Stout - WTF. I can see through it. The porter I had at Birdsview on Friday was a million times darker and thicker. This looks like an amber, not a stout. It tastes like alskan amber and fat tire's bastard love child. I think this one disappoints me the most.

I can't remember the last time I didn't like any of a brewery's beers. I really hope you guys get things together and start making some beer that would make the northwest proud, and do it soon please!

Due to the unusual level of suckage this brewery has achieved I feel a second chance attempt is needed. Expect a second chance review in 6-8 months.

Imperial Stout

Left hand imperial stout

Found this at Burlington Haggen - Excellent stout!

MMMM smells roasy! It tastes thick and sweet, really getting the alcohol hotness on the first sip (over 10%). My next taste smooths out, kinda like a roasted coffee liquor with a chocolate finish. Wow this stuff is thick! Velvety smooth, as it warms I'm getting more chocolate taste and smell. The alcohol hotness is starting to come back, but I like it. I'm getting a bit warm and fuzzy and happy, its definitively an imperial!

Doesn't matter which hand you drink this one with (I used both hands...) but give it a try if you're a fan of big stouts!

Birdsview Porter

Birdsview porter, yum!

Took a drive out to baker lake, stumbled upon this brewery. Walked in, got the you're not from around here are you look. Ordered a sample of the porter, when I tried to pay for it the bartender told me not to worry about it. Cool, free sample!

The smell was interesting, molassesy coffee maple syrupy smell. Dark and thick! Wow this could be a stout! full body, pretty sweet smooth finish. not chalky like some porters. Subdued hops, focus is on the roasted malt, but I'm ok with that. Excellent sweet roasty flavor complimented by a full mouthfeel with a smooth finish.

Neat place too, I made the mistake of asking for a tour while the game was on, got a half assed "Here's where we brew!" tour. All of their equipment was covered with wood paneling, very different from the standard stainless steel look. I'm headed back for another sampler and a real tour!

Vertical Epic 08.08.08

08 is out!

I feel special, I got a bottle before 8/8/08!

Chuckanut Brewery Tasting

They had 6 beers brewed so far. Being that they just opened that's acceptable.

Kolsch - Sweet, bavariann taste, good body for a german beer. Extremely lightly hopped. Tastes like PBR but sweeter.

Rauch - Smells smokey, tastes smokey. Smoked salmon beer? Once again, this is a lager. Sweet, not good. Too much smoked flavor, it overpowers all other flavors.

Golden Ale - Sweet after taste, medium to light hop, light body but more presence than the Kolsch, very "fizzy".

IPA - NO SMELL! Shouldn't an IPA smell like hops? Too sweet for an IPA. It doesn't taste like an IPA at all. That is all there is to say about that. Boundary's IPA is better and we all know how I feel about that one...

Brown Ale - Tastes like nothing. I know what browns taste like, I don't like browns, but this doesn't taste like a brown. Its not nutty at all. Barely any flavor.

Stout - You can see through it, bad sign. Smells like nothing, shocking. No body, especially for a stout. Slight smokey flavor. Smokey coffee aftertaste? Better than the rest, but just not a good stout.

Nachos and yam fries were delicious. Not coming back for beer again.