Brewery Blog

NW Peaks Black Blonde

The name. The Mountain. Black Pk is the 17th tallest mountain in WA situated just W of Washington pass on Hwy 20.  Albeit a trek from Seattle, WA pass and its environs offers spectacular scenery, great rock climbing opportunities, and great destinations.  Black Pk is one of them, just past Heather and Maple passes.  The route past Lewis and wing lake and up most of the mountain is straightforward, while the final couple hundred feet is fun class 3 with just enough exposure to keep your mind on the task at hand.  Even if you don’t make it to the summit, the trails in the area are a worthy destination if you are venturing a ways out of Seattle.

The (made up) style. After brewing this concoction I asked myself, what type of beer is this since it doesn’t fit the mold of any style?  The best I could come up was a “black blonde” which also fits its namesake mountain.  We modeled this after a schwarzbier (also known as a black pilsner), which is a German dark lager that has the attributes of a pilsner but also contains just enough black malts to make it dark.  In our version we used an ale yeast.  Since a “pilsner” fermented with an ale yeast is usually classified as a blonde, by analogy we called this a “black blonde.”

The Beer. Black Blonde is a nicely smooth non-overpowering beer.  It has a nice balance between the residual malt sweetness,  light floral hop character, and minimal roast notes from the dark malts.  Don’t be put off by the slightly dark appearance, Black Blonde is not overly roasty, but rather a nice crisp, balanced character.

Easton Blonde (Belgian)

Easton Blonde

The name. The Route. Throwing a wrench in the cogs, this beer is named for our route up Mt Baker, as opposed to the mountain itself.  The Easton glacier sits on the S side of Mt Baker, and is one of the two most common routes up the volcano.  This was my first route up a Cascadian volcano.  While climbing volcanoes is not for everyone, the area still offers great accessibility and trails (park butte) in a gorgeous setting with a snow-capped mountain rising above you.  The common route to the Easton is “railroad grade”, the trail so aptly named from its pitch that would be perfect for a locomotive to climb slowly and gently, ending at the Easton glacier about 4,500′ below the summit.  The next 3500′ were full of meandering through crevasses adding what seemed like another few miles because of the meandering.  But after the “slog” there are some of the best views of the surrounding N cascades.

The Beer. Easton Blonde is a Belgian blonde, with Leffe blonde being the defining commercial example for the style.  Easton blonde has a slight sweetness to it, but is dominated by the peppery and phenolic notes that are typical of Belgian style yeasts.  These notes are complemented by the spicy hop aroma and flavor offered by noble hops. We added some sugar to the brew (which is standard) allowing for an increase in alcohol compared to our other beers, but retaining a dryness that allows for drink-ability.  The slight (at about 6% ABV) alcohol warming also increases the perception of the spicy, dry, phenolic character that defines the style.

Magic Brown

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.

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