This was the business trip from hell. We flew from Indy to
Seattle arriving at midnight. We were in meetings all day after we arrived. We left
Seattle that night on the redeye to Atlanta. On arriving Atlanta we went straight into
meetings and flew out of Atlanta at five headed home. I’m not even complaining about
the time zones!
So we’re in Seattle for about 24 hours. Taking out time
for work and sleep that left time for three pub visits! We made it to Red Hook,
Hales’s, and just caught Hart on our way to the airport.
 Trying to
decide where to go and not certain who had food we chose to start at Red Hook’s
Trolleyman Pub. The Tolleyman was a beer serving room at the brewery and only had minimal
food amounting to an upscale bowling alley snack bar. Red Hook is a huge operation surely
approaching the upper limits of the term ‘microbrewery’. We had their ESB,
Ballard’s Bitter, and Double Black Stout. The ESB was a fine traditional english
bitter. Ballard’s Bitter is a Seattle style bitter with a hoppier flavor than the
ESB. (This is more to my liking.) The Double Black Stout was one of the finest beers
I’ve tasted. Double Black is brewed with Starbuck’s coffee! It’s rich and
creamy with a subtle coffee flavor. It’s probably more than subtle, but I don’t
want to scare you off. This is definately worth finding and is supposed to be available
nationally. I asked the bartender where to go for good beer and good food. He directed us
two blocks north to Hale’s.
Hale’s Ales
 We were greeted
by a friendly hostess who offered us loud or quiet seating. We chose the loud seating with
the live Jazz. The quiet seating is out with the brewing equipment and deathly quiet.
Hale’s Ale are brewed open vessel - "in the
traditional European style". In case you had any doubt they have installed mirrors on
the ceiling so you can view the action. They had a pretty large capacity for a pub. They
have a kegging line visible from the dining area and they were finishing up the last
kegging of the day when we arrived.
They offer several of their beer served "Dublin
Style" - meaning nitrogen dispensed instead of CO2. I’m a big fan of
nitrogen, so these were the beers for me. I sampled their ESB, Pale Ale, and Irish Stout.
All had a creamy head due to the nitrogen. The ESB was a good mild ale that I could drink
all the time. The Pale was more of an English Pale than I would have expected for the
northwest. The Stout was smooth and creamy - more like Murphy’s than Guinness.
We had a pizza topped with "yummy Italian stuff".
For dessert we went for broke. The other guys split a Porter cheesecake and I had the
Hale’s Stout Float! I’m not kidding. The Porter cheesecake had a rich Porter
flavor blended with the usual. The Hale’s Stout Float is the Dublin Style Stout with
a scoop of ice cream and a chocolate brownie on the side. I figured you only go around
once and I was not going to miss my shot at beer and ice cream. It’s two great tastes
that taste great together. I think you could pull this off at home with a Murphy’s
nitro-can and a good vanilla ice cream. Don’t forget the brownie!
 On the way to the
airport we stopped at Hart Brewing. This is near the Kingdome and the Mariners were
playing a late game. We decided to chance the traffic and stop for a quick beer. They
offered more beers on tap than I could conceivable attempt to consume even if this had
been our first stop. They serve Pyramid and Thomas Kemper labeled beers. As near as I can
tell Hart bottles beer for these two which originated elsewhere in Washington, but
I’m not certain. Thomas Kemper is a line of lagers. Pyramid has ales with Bitter,
Brown, Scotch, Porter, and Stout and several fruit beers. I tried the white beer. The
Stout Float was a tough act to follow and so this didn’t make an impression on me. I
bought a case of their Apricot Ale to take home for my wife. She says it’s almost
as good as Jim’s Peach Ale. I carried this on the plane through the Seattle, St
Louis, Atlanta, and Indy airports. Now that’s true love. (more...)
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