Well, it was Earth Day, and I wanted to go on a long-ish bike ride, and the Issaquah Brewhouse was in the middle of celebrating their 12 year “anniversary” (they started before that, but Rogue bought them in 2000). Seemed like the perfect time to go. Google maps said it was an 18 mile ride, one way, and would take an hour 55. As usual, I left later than I wanted, around 2:45, and so had the pleasure of pedaling there during the hottest part of the day (it was a scorcher — 70!). Managed to arrive at 4:25, however, which made me feel pretty good. I was mighty thirsty as I walked in, and as I eyed the bar for an empty stool I saw an old friend and co-worker of mine, Ed, who I hadn’t seen in several years. Originally I thought I would spend an hour there before biking home, but good times were being had catching up with Ed, and then I ordered some dinner, and then there was a brewery tour at 6:00 that had the dubious honor of being the shortest and most stationary tour I’ve been on (to be fair, the brewing space is not much larger than the equipment, which makes it pretty much impossible for more than one person to move around), and then I received a free beer, and then it was 7:00, and I didn’t want to bike all the way back to Seattle at that point. The transit center, as it turned out, was an easy bike ride from the Brewhouse, and so I wimped out and took the bus home. One of these days I’ll have to do the round trip ride, because they only had three of their beers on tap, and they were all pretty darn tasty.

Flight o’ Frogs at the Issaquah Brewhouse — Issaquah, WA

Rob’s Picks
• White Frog – Nice lemony and bready flavors that balance the slight banana flavor very well. Very refreshing after a bike ride.
• Contraband IPA – Floral/citrus hop mix. Nice grapefruit flavor (I don’t say that very often), light malty base. Really good.
• Frosty Frog – Thick and creamy dark ale with great whiskey/alcohol flavor. Yum!

The fourth beer in the picture is the Chatoe Rogue Single Malt Ale, which sounded a lot better than it tasted, unfortunately. The free beer was the Rogue Freedom Hop, which was good and crisp. One of these days I’ll have to take another trip to the Oregon coast and do a long overdue “official” visit of the Rogue Brewery.