I finally made it to the new location of the Maritime Pacific Brewing Company and its adjoining Jolly Roger Taproom. The Jolly Roger and I go way back — back to the early days of Vertical World 3.0, when a fairly regular group of us would climb most every Wednesday evening and then hit the Jolly Roger for post-climbing beers and/or Lil Mahis. Times change, though, and most of them are now married or have kids or got too busy with other things in life, and so I stopped going because going there by myself just wasn’t as fun (okay, so times change for everyone except me, apparently).

Anyway, one of the old crowd managed to make it out for an evening of climbing (his pregnant wife had just left on a business trip), and afterwards the two of us headed to the new and improved Jolly Roger. I’m happy to say it holds up well. Same decor, same (or an amazing copy of) bar and cupboards and taps, but in a space maybe three times as big. I felt right at home. In addition to the sampler (plus one), I had the Lil Mahis, and they (and the accompanying sauces) were just as tasty as they’d always been. Almost brought a tear to the eye.

Update! May 12, 2013: After several more visits to the Jolly Roger, I’m finally getting around to adding my notes. Hmm, all these updates I’ve been doing has worked up my appetite for some Lil Mahis…

Maritime Pacific taster tray — Seattle, WA

Rob’s Picks
• Navigator Dunkelweizen – Sweet malty start to nice caramel finish. Interesting bready mouthfeel but not so much in taste. Bit of spiciness on the tongue, too.
• Windfest Oktoberfest Lager – Subtle banana start but quickly overtaken by breadiness and a light caramel finish. Light, though not as crisp as your usual lager, and really drinkable.
• Autumn Pale Ale – 5% – Pungent spicy and floral aroma, but light and creamy. Sharp floral hoppiness with a light malty base. Pretty drinkable but some lingering bitterness.
• XPA 2012 – Lots of hop flavor going on: mostly floral with citrus and some spiciness, as well as some grassy undertones. Good biscuity malty balance and fairly complex finish of all the flavors. Pretty great.
• XPA 2011 – Fresh hop pale ale. Good citrusy hop aroma and flavor, with some floral notes, too. Good maltiness, with great lingering hop bite. Light on the tongue — goes right down.
• Islander Pale Ale – 5% – Pretty smooth with good strong hoppiness. Yum.
• Flagship Red Alt Ale – 5.2% – Nice balance, slight nuttiness, very drinkable.
• Nightwatch Dark Ale – 5.5% – Really nice. Dark in color but tastes light. Great balance. Not so hoppy, but double yum!
• Imperial IPA – 7.5% – Remarkably well-balanced, although not as hoppy as I’d like. Maybe I should’ve gone with the double dry-hopped version they had on tap…
• Jolly Roger Christmas Ale – Not as dark in color as I remember but so good. One of my favorite winter ales, bit of a caramel taste with an edge. And it’s strong – a friend of mine drank three pints and ended up slumped over and drooling.

The Rest
• Dry Hopped Pils – Lemony aroma. Initial lemony flavor gives way to breadiness. Pretty bubbly. Pretty good. Doesn’t seem too hoppy, actually.
• Old Seattle Lager – 4.3% – Light but not particularly crisp. Fairly bubbly. Pretty drinkable but not really my thing.

It’s good to know that while some things change, some things (besides me) stay the same.