I have a close friend who lives in Seattle and he is coming to MN next week to visit. He offered to grab me some brews that available there, but he isnt a BA and I'm kinda new to all this, so he asked for a list. If you could get a few beers from Seattle area, what would they be? Im a huge IPA/DIPA guy....
If you haven't been, check out http://seekabrew.com/. There, you can look at the beers available in Washington, compared to the beers from Minnesota and see which of the breweries are interesting to you and available to him. Some interesting ones that jump out... Firestone Walker, Russian River, The Bruery, Green Flash
Pliny and Pig can be had, but on my trips out there, it's been hit or miss as to whether or not they've been around. As best I can tell, the area gets a RR shipment about once a month, and it goes quickly (perhaps a Seattle BA will chime in here). Deschutes, Firestone Walker (I really like Double Jack), HotD, and Ninkasi all have some pretty good hoppy beers on shelves in Seattle. I enjoyed Elysian Immortal, too. Have only been out there from the East coast a few times, but those were beers off the top of my head that I enjoyed while I was visiting.
No Blind Pig in WA. Pliny can be found at certain times but he'd have to be lucky or have great timing. Otherwise, get Double Jack/Wookie Jack, Maharaja, Boundary Bay's IIPA, and Fort George's Vortex IPA. Maybe he can even find you a growler of Boneyard's RPM or Hop Venom.
You sure? I could swear I bought two or three bottles of Blind Pig at Tacoma Boys while visiting the sis for Christmas year before last. Definitely true about the timing on Pliny. Beer guy was putting out the last of his bottles right when I walked in the store, and he was like, "Lucky you walking in right now."
Yeah, from what I've heard, they stopped sending Blind Pig to WA a while back. I would recommend getting Pliny and Leafer Madness. I visited Seattle recently and was able to pick up 4 bottles of Pliny after calling basically every shop that gets it. I didn't know to pick up Leafer Madness and I regret it.
I work at a bottleshop here in Seattle and as far as local brews go I'd recommend the Trumpter Stout from Skagit River, anything from Fremont Brewing, anything from Boundary Bay, perhaps a Whoop Pass DIPA from Silver City, and the Peste from Elysian if you like chili beers. Oh, and the Seattle Beer Week beer (Split Shot) that is still avialble at most places. Fort George also has a whiskey barrel aged Belgian IPA that I really like (Roses on Roses) and their cans of Vortex and Cavatica Stout are both delicious.
