Varietal Beer Company

been wanting to check this place out for awhile, was finally cruising through at a time when they were actually open, and it was awesome! so sick to be in this part of the world during hop harvest time, its really unimaginably awesome, and these guys are doing some special stuff with fresh hops for sure, but they make a ton of great beer, have an awesome spot, super nice people, and i cannot recommend a visit highly enough, especially this time of year! its a modest space thats somewhat unassuming from the outside, although there is a big patio area on the side of the building with green space, some seating, and a food truck that served me a pretty fabulous shrimp po boy, i think the food rotates, but there seems to be more space outside than in, with more than half of the footprint being taken up by the brew house itself, tanks and everything visible there in the back. there is some picnic table seating around the front half, a lovely two sided bar where we posted up, and a lot of natural light. an impressive beer list greets visitors, i think 16 taps when we were in, all really exciting beers i reckon, but we stuck to the fresh hop stuff. i loved all of them, a clean lager infused with fresh centennial, so tidy and drinkable, a fresh hop ipa with citra, and a fresh hop double called wetwolf that used fresh simcoe, all just brimming with brand new hop goodness and very well refined, but they had other lagers, a stout, and a bunch of non fresh hop ipa types, plus even more diversity in an impressive packaged beer cooler, so lots to pick from in here. the service was awesome, real friendly, informative, knew all about the farms they work with for the hops, was eager to chat beer and ingredients and it really enhanced our experience. the food truck was solid, the vibe was chill, the energy was great, and the beer has pretty much always spoken for itself from these guys. i really do reckon they are one of the great beermakers of the northwest, and this place is absolutely worth making a trip to, even from a considerable distance. super heady wine grape beers too! i loved our time here and cant wait to go back!