A friend and I hopped on our bikes last month and went on a five day tour, from Seattle to Bainbridge to Port Townsend to Whidbey Island to Anacortes to San Juan. We pedaled along at a fairly leisurely pace but still had time to visit three breweries en route.

Conveniently located at the end of the bike trail into town, the Port Townsend Brewing Company has a tasting room but no kitchen. Which is fine because they have some great beer. There’s a Mexican place just across from them, if you’re hungry. They also sell logo pint glasses, so I got to carry one of those around in my panniers for the rest of the trip. What surprised and delighted me most about this place was that they had four different IPAs on tap. You don’t see that very often.

Port Townsend Brewing taster tray – 1 — Port Townsend, WA

Rob’s Picks
• Chet’s Gold – slight hoppy edge, refreshing, goes down easy. Good for a hot day.
• Bitter End IPA – good! Decent hoppiness, citrusy. My fave of the four IPAs.
• Hop Diggidy IPA – little crisper than the Bitter End, floral
• Strait Stout – a touch on the light side, but a good all-around stout
• Peeping Peater Scotch Ale – smoky, really nice
• Imperial IPA – kinda creamy, nice!
• Barley Wine – wow. Best barley wine I’ve tried (but I usually don’t like barley wines). 10.5% – extremely dangerous. Usual strong taste reserved for the finish.

The Rest
• Pale Ale – ok, but nothing remarkable
• Reel Amber – ibid
• Brown Porter – ibid
• Boatyard Bitter – not bad, but kind of blah
• Single Hop IPA – spicy edge, not an intense hoppiness. My least favorite of the four IPAs.