Naked City Brewery and Taphouse is onto something. Who doesn’t want to get naked and drink beer? Sadly, however, when I showed up all naked and thirsty, they made me put my clothes back on. Oh well. Probably for the best.

Anyway, Naked City mostly serves all sorts of interesting beers from other local breweries, but they do have three taps of their own beer, which change a couple times a year. I think they’ve brewed three new ones since I visited — I’ll have to go back (fully clothed) and check them out again soon. And they don’t do samplers. You either have to order three pints (or schooners, if you’re a wimp) or get three meager sips (if you’re cheap, like me). I did follow up with a pint of the porter, though.

Update! June 11, 2011: Biked here with Wayne, and they had six — count ’em, six — of their own brews on tap. Another Belgian-style, too, but after my time in Europe I think I may have become something of a Belgian beer snob. Oh well. Also had the Field Roast BBQ sandwich, which was pretty darn tasty. Followed up the tastes with a pint of the Strong. Still haven’t had their Hoptrocity IPA, so I’ll have to come back…

Several sips of Naked City brews — Seattle, WA

Rob’s Picks
• Cry me a River – 8.5% – Naked City’s consolation beer if you didn’t get a glass of Pliny the Younger. Double IPA with great piney/hoppy aroma. Really good piney and citrusy hoppiness with just enough maltiness. Smooth, too. Strong caramel flavor as it warmed up. A very fine beer.
• Screening Room Strong Ale – 8.2% – Good hoppy beer, nice citrus/floral combination. No sweetness, which is a welcome change from European beers, but it still has an underlying malty taste. Subtle alcohol taste, too.
• Czech Point Chickie – 4.2% – Bubbly and light, but it has a hoppy kick. Color is very light. Not watery at all for such a light-colored beer. Nicely done.
• Black Maria Cascadian Dark Ale – 6.2% – Good toasty caramel hoppiness. Fairly dark in color, but light on the tongue.
• NC-17 Malt Liquor – 8.8% – Pretty dangerous — doesn’t taste strong. Not too hoppy, very drinkable. Fairly malty, but not too sweet. Bit of caramel, too. Sort of tastes like a light amber. Never thought I’d be a fan of malt liquor…
• Ferocity – Belgian-style tripel. Quite smooth. Slightly strong alcohol taste but otherwise really good. 9% — schooner only, to be safe…
• Piper’s Watershed Porter – pretty solid. Kinda dry, kinda chocolatey. 5.5%

The Rest
• Schokoladen Weizenbier – 5.5% – Chocolate aroma. Strong chocolate flavor, with light toasty hefeweizen finish, but kind of watery. A touch tart, too. Chocolate/hefeweizen mix didn’t quite jibe with me, unfortunately, but it could make for a nice light dessert beer.
• Jersey DevAle – 8.5% – Belgian-style tripel – Has the strong caramel flavor, but not as much of the alcohol flavor, plus a bit of a honey taste. Also quite effervescent for a Belgian. Extra points for the name, though. Well-made, but I gotta cling to my new-found Belgian beer snobbiness.
• Cluster Cuss Barley Wine – 12% – Interesting. Strong scotch-like aroma. Strong alcohol flavor, less strong oak/scotch flavor. Very smooth — nitro tap. Good, but I don’t think I could drink a whole schooner.
• Ginger Peach Wheat – sweet start, wheat finish. Interesting but not really my style. 4.5%

According to their web site, they now have an IPA brewed up. Seems like good motivation for me to catch up with the brewery posts. Still have four more to go (with a fifth planned for this Saturday…).

I’ve had a bit of a brewery posting blockage because of Big Al Brewing, but it’s time to purge the system. When my friend and I showed up, they were out of four of their year-round brews, so most of the taster tray consisted of seasonal and “local hero” beers. I’ve been meaning to return and try out the Irish Red, Smoked Porter, IPA, and Abbey Wheat before writing up this post, but haven’t gotten around to it. When I do, though, I’ll update this post.

Big Al Brewing taster tray — Seattle, WA

Rob’s Picks
• Papa Charlie’s Pale Ale – pretty standard pale ale, but good. 4.2%
• Tutta Bella Amber – nice and drinkable (goes right down), but again, pretty standard. 5%
• Local Hero #7, Belgian Pale – really nice! Smooth, to a great finish. 6.6%
• Belgian-style Tripel – Similar to LH7. Not quite as good, but still good. Doesn’t have the great finish. Doesn’t taste like it’s 9%. Dangerous!
• Winter Warmer – nice little winter brew, but once again, pretty standard. 7%

The Rest
• Winter Mint – Minty fresh! No need to brush in the morning. Actually, the mintiness isn’t too strong. It’s interesting as a taster, I think, but I’d probably get sick of it if I had a whole pint. 7%

So, Big Al seems to have pretty strong seasonal/small batch beers and standard but good year-rounders. (I’ll see if this theory holds up on my next visit…) Ahhh, feels good to get that out. Now I have only five or six more brewery posts to write, and I’ll be feeling regular again.