Magic Brown

Approaching the summit, with Sahale in the background (in the cloud to the right) photo by K.C. Klein

The name. The mountain. Magic is situated right off of Cacade pass (near Sahale), but it is just S and E from the pass rising above Trapper Lake.  I climbed Magic Mtn on the front end of a week long trip, on the famous Ptarmigan Traverse – one of the most traveled climbing excursions.  The day trip to Cascade Pass is certainly one of the “must go to” areas of the N Cascades, with several options for continuing the trip, including over to Magic and it’s environs.

The beer.  Springtime is tricky for us, especially in Seattle. The first week of April brought near freezing weather and recently it has been warm and pleasant. We decided to cover all bases and made a brown and hoppy pale.  However, Magic Brown itself can fit the schizophrenic weather perfectly.  It is dark and malty for the cold, but it’s body is light enough that it will be great on a warmer day as well. Unlike the typical “brown,” we built this brown up to have some more residual malt character by adding some extra munich, caramunich, and other specialty malts, but keeping the overall alcohol content and roast character down.

Malt: ESB, Special B, Crystal, muncih, caramunich, carafa 2, flaked.  Hops: Apollo, golding.  British ale yeast.