I have to say, biking from Seattle to the Silver City Brewery in Bremerton is a pain in the butt. I’ve done it pretty much twice (the first time I didn’t bike the last half mile down Auto Center Way (sounds like such a scenic road to ride on, doesn’t it?) because I was running late and the taproom was about to close). From the north, first you have to get to Poulsbo, then it’s a long-ish ride along a highway that isn’t bad until it gets to Silverdale (home of their original brewpub, but all brewing operations have since moved to Bremerton, leaving just the pub there), where it becomes the main road through town and all the cars come out to play. From the south (my successful second attempt), it’s a pleasant ride to Port Orchard, but becomes decreasingly pleasant as you ride along Bay St to Highway 16 and the horrific junction with Highway 304 at the end of Sinclair Inlet. If you manage to survive that, then it’s a bunch of hills until you get to the warehouse/industrial district where the brewery and taproom reside. I suppose the way to do it is from the east, starting at the Bremerton ferry terminal. Crossing Bremerton by bike isn’t all that much fun, either, but of the three options it is definitely the shortest.

That said, the taproom is pretty nice, and a surprising amount of people were there for a Wednesday (not that you can tell from my picture). While making my way through a four taster flight, I decided that all the bike shenanigans I’d been through with Silver City easily justified ordering a second.

Sampler #1 at Silver City Brewery — Bremerton, WA

Rob’s Picks
• St Florian IPA – 6.8% – Crisp, with a good malty base, floral/citrus (grapefruit) hop mix, and nice lingering bitterness. Bubbly and a little spicy on the tongue.
• Panther Lake Porter – 6% – Subtle start to smooth but dry coffee/chocolate flavors. Quite drinkable.
• Whoop Pass Double IPA – 8.5% – Strong floral and grapefruit citrus hop flavors. Caramel malty base.
• Sasquatch Stout – 6.2% – Good dryness, with coffee/chocolate and alcohol flavors that linger nicely. Not too thick, but still has a decent body.
• Oktoberfest – 6.25% – Not too strong banana/clove flavor, with some caramel and alcohol flavors, as well. Crisp and pretty drinkable.

The Rest
• Ridgetop Red – 6% – Sweet banana/clove and caramel flavors. Fairly creamy on the tongue. Pretty smooth but a little too sweet for me.
• Fat Scotch Ale – 9.2% – Amped up red. Strong banana/clove and caramel flavors, with a bit of an alcohol edge. Also fairly creamy.
• Clear Creek Pale Ale – 5% – Light start to bready finish. A touch of floral hops.
• Big Daddy ESB – 6% – Light start to floral hoppiness. Pretty crisp. Too floral for me, though.
• Siri’s “FaceTime” Session IPA – 4.5% – Pilot batch. Citrus aroma. Strong citrus/grapefruit flavor with light malty base. A touch watery, but interesting. Subtle floral hops, too.

Now that it’s 2013, I’m making a new year’s resolution to finish writing up all my 2012 brewery visits (4 more to go), as well as all the updates (don’t even want to count), before it’s 2014. And pretty soon I will have at least 6 more new brewery posts to write. 2013 is going to be a busy year. Should be fun.