Avast, me hearties! Pour me a pint o’ grog, and I’ll spin ye a harrowing tale about me ride to the 7 Seas Brewery, awash with rude parrots, blood-sucking beasties, and zombies! All true, I tell ye, all true. Arr!

The adventure begins in the exotic, southern port o’ Tacoma, where the booty map led us along the trail o’ dread pirate Scott Pierson, across the treach’rous Narrows, and into Gig Harbor, where the streets are so thick with scurvy dogs ye need a cutlass in one hand and a pistol in yer other, aye. At the 7 Seas taproom, the lovely wenches smartly quenched our thirsts, but soon twas overflowing with bilge rats, and so we set sail to Port Orchard. Along the way, a nasty critter or two landed on me arm and commenced a bloodthirsty frenzy of biting. Arr! We rolled our bikes onto the ferry to Bremerton and then onto the ferry back to Seattle. A pleasant voyage back, with several zombie beauties shuffling around on decks en route to the Red, White, and Dead Zombie Walk. Shiver me timbers!

7 Seas Brewery, with tasters — Gig Harbor, WA

Rob’s Picks
• Hop Prophet Fresh Hop Pale Ale 2012 – Great citrus/piney aroma. Piney and grapefruit hop flavors to a perfect malt counterbalance, with an underlying sweetness throughout — touch of caramel, touch of sugar. Subtle grassiness as it warms up. Awesome!
• British Pale Ale – 5.4% – Crisp, smooth, good malt/hop balance, nice bubbliness.
• Ballz Deep Double IPA – 8.4% – Upping the maltiness and hops, thicker on the tongue. A little sweeter, too, with a bit of a caramel flavor. Good lingering hoppiness. Darker in color than your usual IPA.
• Rude Parrot IPA – 5.9% – seasonal – Strong citrus/piney flavors that linger a long time, but light on the tongue.
• Cascadian Dark Ale – 7% – seasonal – Smooth, kinda porter-like but a touch thicker. Subtle smoky/coffee flavor. Slight alcohol flavor as it warms up.

The Rest
• Cutt’s New Amber – 6.2% – Pretty mellow. Fairly typical amber.

Well, I think I’m all ready for Talk Like a Pirate Day now.