Fremont vs. Black Raven

Guess everyone's different. I think the same thing about Fremont's various IPAs with the exception of Cowiche. I would take Reuben's Rye IPAs and Crikey and even Georgetown's Lucille over Interurban, Brother and Sister any day. Not even close for me.

 

Let me be clear that I'm not baffled that others love Reuben's so much but rather why I don't. I think I'm missing something.

 

I would say both Fremont and Black Raven are both excellent, but Black Raven is a little more adventurous and has a better overall line. Fremont wins with the IPA, Pale, Barleywine, Stouts while Black Raven wins with Saison, Porter, Scotch, Sours, Belgians, Barrel Aging. The big thing is that Fremont beer is a lot easier to find.

 

Fremont wins barleywine? Their best was a one off - Old Bridge Rider. Old Birdbrain, I'd say, wins the barleywine war.

 

Fremont makes more traditional English style barleywines. Brew 1000 they had on a couple of weeks ago was amazing. Old Birdbrain is good but a little too hoppy for me.

 

I think it's worth revisiting @Texwild's comment above: "Seriously, though, why compare Fremont to Black Raven? We have different models for now ..."

I don't think it's so clear. I also don't think there can be a "winner" when they're playing different games. Last time I was at Black Raven I had a really nice Marzen (Taven Hall), a black saison with pumpkin (Jackdaw) that I thought was really unique and flavorful as it warmed, and one of the best kristalweissen's I've had (Sunthief). Unabridged was a very solid saison experiment, trickster is better than interurban, wisdom seeker is not inferior to brother or sister (matter of taste which you'd prefer I suspect), la petite mort / pour les oiseaux are great belgian styles, and grandfather raven / splinters / old birdbrain stack up pretty well against fremont's barrel aged offerings. Black Raven does a lot more seasonal beers ... just released Festivus and Gunpowder plot last week. Some of their one offs - a wine barrel aged belgian dark and a cognac barrel aged wheatwine - have been incredible. I really like the experimental chocolate sour though opinions are divided on it. Show me Fremont's lagers and belgians? Show me their barrel aged saisons? Hell ... show me a regular scotch ale, nitro dry stout, or stout (I guess Dark Star as an oatmeal) on offer at Fremont. And, for folks that want a more comfortable / adult atmosphere, it's nice to have a place with fewer kids and dogs (though I get that this makes visiting black raven difficult for folks with kids and dogs; what's a benifit for some is a detriment for others).

Different strokes for different folks, right? They're about as different as they could be. A simple way to look at it is Black Raven went "experimental" and favored the brewpub and now are scaling up; Fremont went "mainstream" and favored distribution and now their improving the pub experience and are getting more experimental. When I go to Fremont I find that there are a bunch of things I'm simply not going to bother with - Wandering Wheat? Universale? - and that their offering doesn't always provide a lot of variety. Hopefully that'll change with expansion ... I've made this claim elsewhere, but I think their normal lineup needs some tweaks - two winter warmers, some sub-par beers - and "rationalization." It's super IPA / IIPA heavy and has a lot of stylistic gaps. Not that they need to cover all bases, but variety is good. No regular barleywine? Never done a russian imperial stout? What about some regular easy drinking beers that are non-hoppy ... not APAs / IPAs. What about a brown? An amber / red? I go to events at Fremont and am stoked to drink stuff like KDS and variants on tap. But I'm generally happier with the variety of options at Black Raven. I suspect a lot of people claiming it's no contest don't go to Black Raven that often.

Just an alternative take. Please note, I love them both and can't wait A) for Black Raven's expansions to deliver more benefits and B) to see how Fremont's expansion allows them to be more experimental.

 

I did dig brew 1000. But, again, sounds like a one off. I wanna see a regular in their lineup before I concede "superiority"!

 

I'm hoping that was a test batch for their regular barleywine.

 

That would be a good thing; it "seemed" more robust than the base beer for old bridge rider ... bet it would take kindly to some barrel treatment.

 

Had a great few beers the other night at Ruebens. Have had many great beers at Fremont. Drinking in Seattle is a rarity for me as I live far and driving drunk isn't cool. I have not been to BR. While a little off topic, I also drank at Stoup and Maritime the other night. Maritime has always been just ok to me. But at the brewery and drinking their Imperial IPA on cask knocked my socks off. Stoup was excellent as well. Their Pils was as good or better than what I drank while living in Germany. Long story short, I'm not going to lump breweries into favorites anymore. I am slowly learning what others have tried to impart to me (JohnMichaelMichaelson) we are very blessed to live where we do and there is an abundance of great beer!

 

I rarely make it to Black Raven anymore. Too many beers so little time. I do get to Fremont though whenever I can. They're the bees knees . . . . what? Did I say that?

 

Surprised you say BR takes the Barrel Aging category...not saying you are wrong but KDS and BBOMB are the two best BA beers in the state in my opinion...havent had the variants of KDS but given how good KDS is i am guessing they are good too...which BA BR beers do you think top those ones?

 

I love Fremont, but man I thought Batch 1000 was some bad stuff. Incredibly sweet.

 

Those 2 are excellent, but overall BR has more barrel aged beers that are also very good.

 

Not that sweet compared to a JW Lees.

 

I say love the beer in your hand and enjoy the ride...this is craft beer. No one comes out of the gate fully fledged and that is the thrill of our scene. Look at what BR has done in a short time and you have to be amazed. Balebreaker, Stoup, Reuben's, same thing.

Fremont is on a rocket ride and working to expand (one of the fastest growing breweries in state history so far) while keeping a bead on quality first, our crew (no cost healthcare, pension plan, free public transport cards, training budgets, time off and a fun place to work - no one has ever quit in five years) and diversity of our beer.

Fuck,I wish I could put more beer out there right like lagers and goldens and many, many saisons but we do manage to keep the beer people demand going (best selling craft beer in the state this year and the third best selling also) while putting out our porter, stout, wheat, pale, etc (I know not everyone here respects this, but this is craft beer too, even if not everyone wants a wheat, and we're proud of each one of these) and working in a berlinerweisse, rye saison, two barley wines, many barrel projects, kolsch, the largest production of fresh hop craft in the state from our own organic hop yards, etc...

Damn, I sound defensive but the point to me is to enjoy this time and revel in our choices (Old Scholhouse, Sound, Iron Goat, Chuckanut, Kulshan, Boundry Bay, Maritime, Hales, Georgetown, Elysian....and how many more?) while not buying into the "best" game. I'm just proud to be part of this amazing community and offer the best we can in beer and as a place to work that has meaning and purpose....Because Beer Matters.

BTW, posting this while drinking a sweet Deschutes Fresh Squeezed, about to open a sweet Crux barrel aged stout and signing off to read to my boys. Cheers to our amazing community!

 

You're a class act. But I don't have to be. Fremont is the best brewery in the state. Hands down.

 

Which BA beers from Black Raven have you had?