Shortly after my little ride to Elliott Bay Brewing, I came down with a very annoying and lingering sore throat, which really cut into my biking and drinking time. After a week and a half, I caved and saw a doctor, who kindly prescribed me some antibiotics. Rather than heeding my brother’s advice of gargling acid, or some such, I started on the course and several days later felt well enough to get back in the (bike) saddle. A short ride seemed in order, and so I headed for the brand new Reuben’s Brews in Ballard. By strategically missing their grand opening earlier that week, I was able to sample their Imperial IPA, which just went on tap. At least, that’s how I console myself.

Update! May 12, 2013: I was driving through Ballard several months after my first visit and after some random turns, saw the Reuben’s Brews sandwich board on the sidewalk, which reminded me that I’d been wanting to stop by again. The owner Adam remembered me, surprisingly enough, so I guess I should make a point of visiting more often.

Shiny new beer at Reuben’s Brews — Seattle, WA

Rob’s Picks
• Doubloon’s India Wheat Ale – 6.9% – Floral aroma. Nice floral hop flavor with creamy mouthfeel and subtle breadiness. Bitter finish. Bit of subtle citrusy sweetness too. Really drinkable.
• Imperial Oatmeal Stout – 8.4% – Chocolate/coffee aroma and flavors. Slight alcohol edge on start, then flows to chewy chocolate/coffee finish.
• Red – 5.4% – Smooth and malty, with good caramel flavor. Subtle floral hoppiness. Quite drinkable.
• Imperial Rye IPA – 8.4% – Floral aroma. Sharp floral/grapefruit/piney hoppiness with smooth rye base and some caramel maltiness. Some lingering bitterness. Pretty compelling.
• American Rye – 5.4% – Lemony/rye aroma. Light citrusy flavor and slightly spicy on the tongue. Good bitter edge, and quite drinkable.
• American Brown – 5.9% – Slightly darker than the Roggenbier, with a coffee aroma. Surprising citrus blast with the coffee/chocolate flavors, with an underlying bitterness. Lingering grapefruit and coffee flavors. Very interesting.
• Imperial IPA – 9.4% – Pretty intense and lingering citrus flavors, good malty backbone, and a nice bitterness. Doesn’t taste like 9.4% — pretty cool.
• Robust Porter – 6% – Chocolate/coffee aroma. More chocolate than coffee flavors, and fairly creamy. Subtle bitterness. Pretty thick for a porter but very drinkable.
• Dry Stout – 4.9% – Chocolate/coffee aroma. Roasty coffee flavor with bitter edge. Somewhat creamy, somewhat dry. Really interesting mix of flavors and mouthfeel.

The Rest
• Belgian Pale Ale – 5.7% – More clove than banana aroma and flavor. A bit creamy. Pretty nice, but not sure I’d go for a whole pint.
• Roasted Rye IPA – 7% – Floral/citrus hoppiness and malty sweetness, plus caramel, with rye base. Very interesting. Some lingering bitterness. Kind of a dubbel/IPA hybrid.
• Roggenbier – 5.3% – Malty/banana/clove aroma, and nice brown color. Malty sweet and banana/clove start to dry brown finish. Creamy smooth. Interesting, but a bit too sweet for me.

As I was finishing up the tasters and trying to decide which one to have a full pint of, I checked Twitter and saw that Lantern Brewing (a tiny nanobrewery) was hosting an open house that evening as part of the Phinney/Greenwood Night Out. So I settled up instead and started pedaling to the second brewery of the evening, wondering just how long of a night this was going to be.