Seattles favorite brewery

Mrs. vurt and I stopped in last June, near the start of our "Planes, Trains, and No Automobiles" vacation. As I commented at the time on Facebook: "A pint of House IPA (malty, resiny, burly) for the wife, and some Czech Pils (flowery, a bit smoky) for me. Right next door to Stoup, so convenient af."

Solid enough beers, but definitely the 3rd best after visiting Reuben's and Stoup.

 

I went to Obec around the time they opened and had their pils. It was pretty solid but I've never been back since they're 21+ and if I'm gonna go to a brewery without my kid it's going to be Holy Mountain.

 

Obec is nice enough, though I've never been blown away by their beer. As others have mentioned, it's tough competition with Stoup and Reubens just near, and growing increasingly so with Cloudburst, Urban Family, and Fair Isle opening in the area soon.

 

I'm so glad that Cloudburst is opening a spot in North Seattle, but damn parking around their new location sucks.

 

What's this about a new Cloudburst location?

 

Yeah, just what the Ballard area needs is more hazy IPAs.

 

When visiting Ballard (which is close enough for me to be a fairly frequent visitor), I prefer hanging out in the following order: Stoup, Obec, Lucky Envelope, and Reuben's. I'm talking strictly about the comfort and vibe, not the quality of beer. Stoup and Reuben's are hands down superior to the other two but Reuben's is often just too much for me and it's really not that comfortable.

 

Whatever dude, you’re getting Fair Isle for those non hazy beers. I rarely go downtown so it will be nice to have a Cloudburst outpost that’s easier to get to and that I can take my daughter to.

 

MMMM...Fair Isle

 

If Cloudburst is now synonymous with "hazy IPAs" in the pejorative sense of a few forum negheads rather than the perpetually experimental and bold sense in a wide range of styles I have always considered their hallmark, then clearly I'm missing something.

Kudos to them on their well-calibrated expansion, and for doing everything as right as they, or anyone else, could have in this volatile market since their opening 4+ years ago.

Steve and company are part of the solution, not the fucking problem.

 

Lighten up, Francis

 

I wasn’t aware there was a problem but I’m very happy to hear Steve and company are providing a solution.

 

Not even the problem of selling your soul to brew styles you don't care for or can't do in pursuit of fickle consumers in a tough economic market with slim margins? All while Big Beer wages a war against you for, if I may, brains and market share?

If Steve and company don't stand against all that, I don't know does. Or who will.

All due respect, coming from one of the grumpiest guys in this forum, this is rich.

 

Cloudburst provides some clickbait jabs at AB InBev, etc because it’s good marketing and good for the industry. I’m happy they do it, because someone has to continue to keep the big guys in check. In that sense, I agree.

But the “ big beer problem” doesn’t exist to the extent public outcry makes of it. Beer is down, overall, especially big beer. Hell, Sam Adams would be bankrupt if it wasn’t for their seltzer right now. And yes, they are big beer. SAM trades publicly, which means they have duty to shareholders. I bet it’s a great place to work, though, and the Brewers Association is so important and wouldn’t exist like it does without Sam. I strongly disagree with their move to expand the umbrella of “independent craft” to cover fizzy, flavored alcohol water and cider. And the logo is flat out stupid. C’est la vie.

To say you’ve sold your soul to work for big beer, or to say big beer is waging war against beer, is flat out false. Where I work (take a guess lol) we brew whatever we want, and a lot of it. It’s just a different scale. We do everything we can to support the local industry. And I have health care, which I need. Would love to work for a small guy, or even a medium sized guy, but the employment situation is almost always unsustainable.

When the economic shakeout happens, it’s going to be bad business and bad beer to blame. But I’m not naive, a small vocal minority will continue to dominate the conversation and I’ll just stay out of the conversation and keep doing what I’m doing.

 

Cloudburst makes hazy IPAs? LOL good one

 

https://www.thestranger.com/slog/20...s-new-hazy-ipa-from-cloudburst-great-question

[shrug]

 

If you can't handle me at my worst, you don't deserve me at my best.

 

Welp, looks like Machine House lost to Populuxe. This can only lead to one possible conclusion: the "people" taking the survey are objectively wrong.