Final Update: Trade Route is now Northwest Brewing. And I never did get a Trade Route logo glass. Harumph!

About a year and a half ago I went on a brewpub tour with some friends, and one of the stops was the Laughing Buddha Brewery. While it was a fun, informal operation, they weren’t really set up for tastings even though they had a taproom area. So I only got to try little sips of their various fruit- and spice-styled, east-meets-west-esque brews. I wasn’t all that thrilled with what I tried, and they were all out of logo pint glasses. Alas. Then there was some sort of legal silliness with their name, and the next thing I knew they were called Trade Route Brewing and had moved a bit further south. So before they changed again, I figured I ought to pay them another visit. I went down to exotic Pacific, WA, with a friend, and this time they had the taster thing down, but, unfortunately, the new logo pint glasses wouldn’t arrive for another month. Doh! I’ll have to call first before heading down again. Might be a nice, if long, bike ride later this spring or summer.

Update! August 14, 2010: a friend and I went on a bike trip that featured a stop at Trade Route. There were a few changes — new brewmaster (from Snoqualmie Falls Brewing), new IPA — and one thing that hadn’t changed — still no logo pint glasses! What’s up with that? I think they owe me one by now. Anyway, the Infidel Lime IPA is gone, replaced with the cleverly named Trade Route IPA. There may have been some other beer changes, but I didn’t pay too close attention.

Trade Route Brewing — Pacific, WA

Rob’s Picks
• Jet Stream Lager – cidery aroma, bit of an orange-y flavor, light, crisp – not bad. Caveat: If you switch from a darker beer to this one, it’ll seem like you’re drinking water. Formerly called Dragon King Lager, I believe. 4.5%
• Chieftain Amber – Floral aroma, well-hopped, more like a pale ale. Pretty decent. 6%
• Midnight Ale – actually pretty good, quite tasty. Formerly called Pandan Brown Ale, I believe. 6%
• Trade Route IPA – well balanced IPA. Not too hoppy or crisp but pretty solid.

The Rest
• Mango Weizen – mango more on the aftertaste – not overpowering. But kind of a blah hefe. No need for lemon wedge, though! 5%
• Ginger Pale Ale – “beer meets ginger ale.” Very strong ginger aroma. Ginger taste lasts a while. Slight stale edge. Not very hoppy at all. 5%

Retired
• Infidel Lime IPA – actually quite nice. Not a light IPA, and can’t really taste the lime, fortunately – masked by regular citrus-y IPA flavor. 7.5%

Well, this would have caught up my brewery posts, but I managed to hit two others during a road trip last month. Will the breweries never stop? It’s becoming a Sisyphean task to visit and document them all. Not to mention that I’ve nearly run out of shelf space with all these logo pint glasses I keep buying. What’s a guy to do?