What's up in Bellingham?

Boundary Bay brewing company and Chuckanut are my favorites up in Bellingham. Both make good quality beers, I personally think if you like German style beers Chuckanut makes some of the best this side if the Atlantic.

 

Hey, fellow Hamster here. Obviously, all the breweries in town are worth checking out. Boundary Bay is the oldest, turning 20 this year, and is often the focal point for events in town. Chuckanut makes great lagers (BTW, they are releasing their Marzen tomorrow afternoon), and the occasional British ale. Kulshan is about to turn 3, has a really good line-up of brews, and will be opening a new production brewery within the next couple of months. Wander and Aslan are both finishing up their first year in business. It's not much of a stretch to say that Wander may be the best brewery north of Seattle. Aslan has been making progress, and their beers are steadily improving.

Out in the county, North Fork has been making great beer and pizza for long time now, and you will be making the journey out there sooner, rather than later. In Ferndale, is Menace Brewing (although, they are now scouting for location in Bham), and also run a baron Railroad Ave called The Local, which is the only place to regularly get Menace's beer.

You're going to find good beer in every bar and store. Some of my bar suggestions are: The Local, Archer Ale House, Copper Hog, The Green Frog, and The Up&Up. Elizabeth Station is the only specialty beer store in town, and their pricing sometimes reflects that. But, you can get great beer at the various Haggens (I saw a bottle of Utopias at one recently). I tend to do most of my bottle buying at downtown location of the Food Co-Op.

Shoot me a message, and we can trade digits. I'd be happy to show you around town a bit, and I'll letya know next time my buddies and i get together for a "Cellar Dive". Cheers!

 

When they started, the beers were bad. Right now, the Batch 15 IPA, and Disco Lemonade Berliner are solid. They had a Sour Brown I tried, and liked, last week, but I had had a bunch of Barleywines before hand, so my view on that is questionable.

 

I think the real question is how often anyone has had a decent non-alcoholic beer!

 

You should probably also remember that PNW people don't tend to rate beers as often as other parts of the country.

I really like Aslan's Disco Lemonade berlinerweisse.

 

What is the availability of Melvin beers in Bellingham these days? Do you still get 2x4 IPA on a consistent basis?

 

Not really. Melvin has a distributor up here, but the truth is that we get the beer when the brewer, who is originally from Mt. Vernon IIRC, comes over to go boarding at Mt. Baker. This winter has been great for me, as a snow hater, but it's been tough on all the businesses out in the county who depend on sliders for a big chunk of their yearly income. With the lack of snow, there's been no reason for him to come over this winter. http://www.bellinghamherald.com/201...state-and-north-cascades.html?sp=/99/101/102/

 

Just a little update here. I was in the Fair Haven neighborhood last Friday night having a couple pints at Archer Ale House. On my way back to the bus stop, I happened to walk by the location of Stones Throw, and there lights and activity. Their concrete guys had just finished pouring the floor for the cold room, and for the tasting room. Walls have raised in the tasting room as well. Their brewing equipment got some attention from the welder, and modifications to the shipping containers that will become the brewhouse have started.

They're hoping to have beer out in the system by the annual April Brews Day Fest at the end of April, and having the tasting room open by Ski-to-Sea weekend. They might just make it.

 

April? That's a fast turn around...

 

Well, they've been working on it for a year, or more, now. Various snags happened along the way, plus the City of Bellingham moves at a snail's pace when you're trying to get permitting done. It seems that they're at the point where stuff is starting to come together at once, which makes it look like it's happening fast.

BTW, they are building the brewery in their back yard. When it comes time to site the containers, a crane will be called in to lift them over the house. Another fun fact I learned the other day is that the lawyers office next door recently remodeled the upstairs space, into an AirBnB spot. Yup, rent a room with a view of the beer garden!

 

I meant more that how are they gonna have beer ready in a few weeks? Oh, END of April. That's doable.

 

Missed these updates, glad to see them return!

 

Eh, a batch of IPA only takes a couple weeks, give or take. The brewer,Tony, has brewed commercially before, and there have been homebrews made to test ideas. I had a hazelnut brown a few months ago that was pretty tasty.

 

If that's the story, can't imagine there'd be much Melvin ever crossing into Washington - given the whole Jackson Hole thing they have going on there in Melvin-ville

 

Distribution is supposed to increase once the new brewery is built.

 

Last winter was a good snow winter, and they were over here every 3-4 weeks. They've got an old school bus on 4wd chassis, it's pretty neat bus.

 

Melvin's still around... saw Hubert on tap a week ago Monday at E-Station and 2X4 was just on the day before yesterday as part of their 3 year anniversary weekend.... they have had 4x8 on tap once or twice as well recently.

Seen Melvin on tap @ The Porterhouse in Mount Vernon and also The Train Wreck in Burlington.