Bottleworks Anniversary Beer

The brewer at the Northgate RAM is actually really talented. I've had some good stuff from him at a few events around town.

 

Bill Jenkins brews at Northgate Ram these days. He's formerly the head brewer of Big Time (among other local breweries), and a ridiculously talented brewer. Kevin Forhan preceded Bill (he's moved into a a sort of regional brewing management role) and he too once brewed at Big Time and other local breweries. Just like Bill he's a great brewer as well. I've had some pretty great beers at the Ram during both guy's respective tenures.

I've had many conversations with Trevor and Shawn at Bottleworks about how much they love Bill's beer so this doesn't surprise me. Is this going to be a draft only brew? I've never seen anything bottled from them. I guess that would be the only aspect of this that would surprise me.

 

Why are they the worst if you haven't had their stuff? Shouldn't you try a few things before deeming it bad?

 

My apologies. I thought this must be a joke. Admittedly it's been a while, but I've both eaten and drunk beer at the Northgate RAM and found both to be fantastically mediocre. I must have ordered the wrong thing.

Obviously Bottleworks (and some of you) know something I don't. So I won't judge this anniversary beer until I've tried it.

 

The seasonals are usually a good bet.

 

Fair enough, but I just pre-judge all mall chain brewpubs

 

Nice little bit of insider information. In a way, getting way from thinking about "brewery" to "brewer" is a next level transformation in craft beer. Think about many high-end restaurants; it's about the chef more than the brand of the restaurant. Granted, in many cases the two are synonymous - Trevor and De Garde, Nick and Block 15, Corey King and Side Project, etc - but in many other cases those lineages are unknown. For example, I wasn't aware until recently that one of the brewers at Fremont had history at Goose Island. It's even more intriguing when you look at places that craft beer people don't think of as crafty enough - the earlier threads about Gordon Biersch's Seattle brewer are a good example.

Last year I had one RAM beer - Tres Amigos, a tequila barrel aged IIPA from RAM Boise - and one Rock Bottom beer - Unicorn Hits Rock Bottom (a collab with Pipeworks) - that were both amazing. I'd be super intrigued to see a family tree of brewers that worked at these big chains and where they ended up.

 

A family tree of Bend would be fascinating. Pretty much everyone in that town worked for Deschutes at one point.

 

The standard lineup beers never change there, it's the seasonals and one-off stuff (that I've seen at festivals and other bars) that's good.

 

The head brewer of Fremont hails from Goose Island.

As for the Ram issue, i won't debate things I haven't actually tried but it sure seems like we're trying to put a silver lining on what is a very odd and disappointing choice for an anniversary beer

 

I try to judge with my mouth, not my expectations. You go into things expecting them to be good/bad they'll probably meet expections. I think it's called prejudice. ;-)

I get what you're saying - you look at past performance and extrapolate - but to be pre-dissapointed is harsh. Personally, I'm generally more excited when I get exposed to something new and surprising than "hey, another really good Alpine IPA." If it turns out this brewer has chops and the beer is good, that is exciting to me and I'd be grateful to Bottleworks for surfacing his talent. If it's "meh" I'll just drink something else and pretend it's the new anniversary beer.

 

Hear ya, and make no point to disguise my prejudice - but I'm just not getting excited for a beer made from Ram by a guy who just to brew for Big Time and Elliot Bay.

Plus I still don't understand why you would engage a brewery whose beer you don't even sell to celebrate your anniversary. Anyways, i'm sure this will be available well into the 22nd century, so I'll probably give it a whirly

 

That's a good point about brewers being like chefs. A good example for the old school heads in western WA would be Laconner. Back when Arlen Harris was there they made incredible beer. Once he was gone the quality took a nose dive and they really aren't on many people's radar any longer (though I've heard their beer has improved lately). Arlen took his talents to Rogue Issaquah (where he coincidentally made a Bottleworks anniversary beer that was fantastic ... and his second contribution to the Imagination series) and it's not a coincidence that the beer was great while was there.

What dirtylou said about prejudging mall chain brewpubs probably applies to how many of us think. If I didn't know Kevin's brewing before he started working at The Ram, the place wouldn't be on my radar. Same goes for Bill. I love the stuff he comes up with and can say if Denny's slapped a brew system in one of their restaurants (God forbid) and he somehow he ended up there, I'd stop in for a Moons Over Mi-hammy and a brew for sure.

Ok, maybe not. But I'd definitely stop in for a beer.

 

If memory serves Kevin didn't start working at The Ram Northgate until about 2009. So it sounds like your visit predated him.

 

I'm not putting a silver lining on anything. I have zero stake in this. The last time I even bothered buying an anniversary beer at Bottleworks was for Matt I think, so it really doesn't matter to me. I'm just sharing what I know.

I will say that having Bill do a beer for them makes a lot of sense. These beers used to be brewed by our local brewers and not outsourced to breweries with mega hype names. I love the local scene, and our local brewers. I remember how good those beers were. Most people around here these days wouldn't get excited by breweries like Laconner, Flyers, Rogue Issaquah, or Far West doing a beer but what they made back in the day was great stuff. Our locals have a good track record and I won't be surprised if Bill continues it.

A good brewer has a much better chance of making a beer good than a name does.

 

I'm not proposing that the Alpine/Lost Abbey/etc make the beer, I just find it downright strange that a bottleshop that sells 0 ounces a year of beer made at a given brewery would choose to celebrate their anniversary by having that brewery brew a commemorative beer. I mean they can do whatever they want, but it just seems weird.

It's like me celebrating my anniversary with a prostitute, or something. Yeah, or something.

 

But it wouldn't be the first time they've done this. Keep in mind a lot of Seattle breweries didn't and still don't bottle. Pretty sure when Far West did the imagination series they didn't bottle, and thus didn't sell any beers at Bottleworks. I don't think Flyers was selling any beer at Bottleworks when they did their beer for the series. I doubt they sought out Rogue Issaquah because they sold a lot of Rogue beer, but more because they wanted to have Arlen Harris do another beer for them. I can't remember the exact timeline, but Russian River may not have even been in the WA market on shelves when they did Deviation.

I'm sure it all boils down to them loving Bill's beer. I remember numerous occasions of talking to Shawn or Trevor about stuff over at Big Time when Bill was there and how much we all loved it. I think Trevor said they were all big fans and they always tried to keep something on tap from Big Time.

Also, Bill has deep roots in the scene here. He isn't a guy who worked at Big Time, Elliot Bay, and The Ram. He's worked all over (Hale's, and Pike come to mind, along with his two stints at Big Time ... and I can't remember if he worked at Elysian as well) for many years. In my mind, collaborating with a guy like that makes a lot of sense.

I'd imagine they've sold more of Big Time's beer while Bill was there than they've ever sold of Alpine!

 

ZZ Hop anytime ya see it. Got very well-lubricated at the Fathers Day fest one year when it was on tap in the lounge.