Seattle International Beer Fest

Eben and I attended the first day of beer fest at the Seattle Center; it was a beautiful Seattle day and the place was crowded, but not jam packed. We met up with my friend Lynn (who was with her father and brother) and thankfully they had made friends with an awesome Canadian couple who let us share their table. All in all, it was a great time!

(FYI, I’m not 100% sure I got the pictures right… there was a lot of beer flowing…)

Here is what Eben and I tasted:

Black Berry Ale- Cascade Brewing
This beer (or rather, lambic) was sour, and delicious. It had a very fruity tart taste and a pretty pink color.

Cascade blackberry ale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cabernet Barrel Scotch Ale- Naked City
whoa. not my style at all, very thick (and really smooth if you like the taste of bourbon) it was like a slap in the face. However, trying to look at it from a different perspective, for what it was it was a good scotch ale. I just don’t really liked it… Lynn and Eben really did.

naked city cabernet barrel scotch ale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black Butte Porter 23- Deschutes.
THIS WAS AMAZING; roasty and chocolatey with a touch of cofffe rounded off with a mild hoppy taste. I gotta get some more of this! (Pictured next to this delicious beer is a spicy mac n’ cheese from Skillet Street food… if you’ve never heard of it, take a look

Deschutes black butte porter 23

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steelhead Double India Pale Ale- Mad RiverGood mild fruity flavor, nice beer. A darn good IPA, but probably not something I’ll go search out in stores.

mad river double india pale ale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imperial Younger Special Bitter- Rogue
Bitter, tasty and strong! I always love a good bitter beer.

Imperial Red- Rogue
This was a pretty typical hoppy red. A little sweet, a little bitter, good all around!

Inception- Oakshire
WHOA. This was a crazy beer with lots of funky flavors; the beer was described at the festival as having flavors of funkified leather, sweat. So, naturally we had to try it. It wasn’t unpleasant, but you could totally tell why it was described like that. I was kind of fungusy, but it was good! I honestly am not sure if this is the right photo below… but oh well!

Oakshire Inception

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bourbon Barrel Imperial Overcast Espresso Stout- Oakshire
This beer was delicious!! With flavors of chocolate and espresso (really strong espresso flavor). It was dark and smooth and an all around yummy. I would love to have this beer after a long day of snowboarding!

’08 Elijah Craig Bourbon Imperial Russian Stout-Stone
In my notes I wrote “WHOA. NO WAY JOSE.” Again, this one was Eben’s pick and both him and Lynn really liked it. I am just not a fan of bourbon in my beer (usually, obviously I liked the one above so I can’t really say that now can I…)

Anthem Cherry Cider- Wandering Aengus Ciderworks
I love cider; I’m not ashamed. And this one was tart and sweet with an amazing strong cherry flavor, super refreshing after a day of strong beer.

India Pelican Ale- Pelican
This beer was strong and hit ya like a sack of bricks in the back of your throat after the first sip. Tasty but this one packed a waloop of taste! Dry and bitter! yum!

Moonlight Magic Mead- Mtn. Meadows
I have to say, this is not what I wanted to end the day with. I like Meads for what they are, sweet honey but I’m not a huge fan. I was hoping for a crisp sweet sip and was totally disappointed. This was a dry mead and I thought it was pretty icky, it kind of tasted rancid. I know that’s harsh, but it really was not very good…

All around, it was a pretty good beer fest!

Cheers!