Top 5 WA Breweries.

I share that general rule. I wouldn't know a good one now because I won't drink one. So I'll have to trust you on this one.

 

Fremont
Holy Mountain
Cloudburst
Chuckanut
Reuben's

 

Ya I was really impressed with Whitewall the one time I was up that way (I dropped a buddy of mine off at work one time... he did the brewing course at Skagit and they were his internship).

It's funny to me, also, that people associate Skookum so heavily with the current en vogue IPAs etc, as I've never had an IPA from them (not sure I"ve actually even encountered one), and only ever tried their stouts/barleywines/old ales. Which were quite good. But it meant they fell under the 'I haven't tried enough from them to rank them' (dis)qualification for the purposes of this here thread.

 

Gonna give this a go from an out of staters perspective. Having visited the Seattle close to 20 times in the last couple years.

Urban Family
Fremont
Georgetown
Stoup
Reubens

it’s hard to choose 5.

 

Four of these were no-brainers, but I was stuck on #5. There are a lot of breweries in the the next 10. Anyway, mine are:
Fremont
Georgetown
Reuben's
Black Raven
Bale Breaker

I'm sure Cloudburst and Holy Mountain should be on my list, but Holy Mountain makes more styles I'm not interested in, like sours and tart saisons (really like their barreled stouts on first try, but am unwilling to wait in line so long for them any more), and unfortunately, I have not had enough of anything from Cloudburst. Perhaps the next month of crowlers (if I can find them now that most beer stores are closed) will change my vote.

 

I just realized that I've already been to Whitewall Brewing. It was a quick stop on the way home from a high school baseball game in Mount Vernon. Folks were nice. Can't recall the beer much, though.

 

I don't drink Holy Mountain much anymore due to a combination of the lines, moving releases to Friday and still having a line, and those potholes trying swallow my car but remembering the beers I've had from them would be hard to keep them off the list. Call of the Void and Vol. 12 for example. Simply wonderful.

I also almost never drink Chuckanut because I honestly don't see it that often but they have blown me away on multiple occasions with styles of beer that I don't get excited about.

I do wonder if we instead ranked top 5 based on consumption if our results would change. I know mine would.

 

My original list (in no particular order):

• Fremont
• Chuckanut
• Reubens
• Wander
• Georgetown

My revised list (based on consumption):

• Fremont
• Georgetown
• Reubens
• Bale Breaker
• Chuckanut

(Sorry, Wander. Bale Breaker is easier to find around Portland in cans and on draft.)

 

Do we consider Grains of Wrath a Washington brewery (I mean...they are located in Washington)? I know they tend to get lumped in as a Portland metro brewery. Totally forgot about them. Taking them into consideration, my list is actually:

Fremont
Holy Mountain
Cloudburst
Chuckanut
Grains of Wrath

(removed Reuben's...which was hard, because I really like their beer, but have to give GoW some love)

 

I've been in Redmond longer than Black Raven and I never go if that tells you something. I was always surprised they were so well liked.

My biggest issue is I dislike all of their pale ales and IPAs and that's a huge portion of their lineup. Updraft, Trickster, Wisdom Seeker, Squaker, Beaktweaker, etc. I find them all way to heavy on the malt and I don't care one bit for the flavor. I always assumed someone with very different taste buds must be drinking it. Add to that I'm not big into lagers and I don't like coffee and I've basically covered their entire tap list on any given day.

They do make some wonderful beers on occasion. La Mort Bourbon (all La Mort beers, really), Great Grandfather Raven, Splinters. The problem is they are rarely available and tend to have a lot of variation between batches making them pretty hit or miss. Great Grandfather is a miss for me this year and I can't remember time there was a batch of La Mort Bourbon.

Their sour beers are even more hit of miss. Some times they are complete vinegar bombs and other times delicious. These are even more limited and usually only at festivals on "surprise" carts wheeled around at random times or hidden behind secret phrases.

The Woodinville taproom is nice though and there is a lot more indoor space in case it rains during the Flock Party.

 

If I were to redo my list based on consumption, then Reuben's and Fremont would easily bump Holy Mtn and Chuckanut off of my list. But, an important caveat here is that's purely based off ease of acquisition. Holy Mtn and Chuckanut are the superior breweries. #fightme

(Side note: My Reuben's consumption will increase even further once cans of Robust Porter are available at muh usual grocery store.)

 

As one of the people who included BR on their list, a lot of that inclusion was based on experiences over the last five plus years. I haven't really had much from them recently outside of the occasional Trickster or Grandfather Raven (both of which I still enjoy reasonably well), but remember really liking a variety of styles from them over the years. It's entirely possible (and unfortunate) that the quality has not kept up, or that they have not kept up with the times, but of the Washington breweries that I've had more than one or two styles of, I remember enjoying a wide variety of their options over time, and at the very least have felt that they were very well made. But, again, a lot of that evidence falls further back in the timeline as you note, so who knows.

 

Completely agree. I’m on the Eastside, and as hard as I rooted for Black Raven, I’m genuinely surprised to see them on a few lists here. Seven years ago? I’d put them in my top five. Now, not even top ten.

 

Skookum
Holy Mountain
Reubens
Fremont
Floodland

 

Fremont
Reuben's
Skookum
Structures
Wander

Excellence across a wide variety of styles is what sets these apart from some of my other favorites. Wander bumped Holy Mountain entirely due to accessibility. Even before I left Seattle, I gave up going to HM due to ass pain.

 

When does the voting happen?