I was holding off on writing up my Seapine Brewing post because the owner/brewer Drew was still tweaking his recipes the first two times I visited. On the third visit, he said he’ll probably never stop experimenting with them, so I’ll just have to post this with the caveat that the beers may not taste the same as when I took my notes. The differences will be left as exercises for the reader.

Anyway, Seapine’s an interesting place. It’s a little off the beaten path, between the 1st Ave axis of Epic Ales, Schooner Exact, and Two Beers, and the Georgetown/Airport Way group of Machine House, Georgetown Brewing, and Emerald City. On 4th Ave, just south of the West Seattle Bridge, it’s definitely worth a visit — the tasting room’s been getting progressively nicer each time I drop by, and now that he has a juicer, it’s tempting to spend my free summer weekends down there drinking fresh-squeezed radlers. That’s making me thirsty just thinking about it.

Seapine Brewing taster tray — Seattle, WA

Rob’s Picks
• La Fantasma Blonde – 5% – Crisp start then breadiness, floral and some grapefruit hops, bitterness. Good lingering flavors.
• Seapine IPA – 6.7% – Big juicy citrus, grapefruit and light floral hops. Bit of sweetness, too. Medium caramel maltiness, light breadiness on finish, and a touch of lingering bitterness.
• Super “C” French Saison – 6% – Smooth, some bubblegum sweetness, some honey, light funk, subtle coriander.
• Sea Witch Milk Stout – 6.2% – Big chocolate/coffee aroma and flavor. Creamy and smooth, with a good sweet edge, underlying roastiness, and decent bitterness.
• Radler – Fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice mixed with La Fantasma. Great grapefruit tang + interesting underlying Blonde complement = awesome summer beverage. You can see the juicer in the picture above.
• Black Ale – 4.8% – Roasty malt aroma. Smooth roastiness and somewhat sharp citrusy hop flavor that gives it a nice zing. Light and a bit spicy on the tongue, with a lingering maltiness.
• High Pockety – 7% – A bit of an experiment. Was supposed to be an IPA, but he didn’t have enough hops that day. So I guess it’s an imperial pale ale, maybe? Whatever its style, it was really good. Nice hop profile and somewhat sharp malty aspect. Very drinkable.

The Rest
• PNW Pale Ale – 5.5% – Third time I’ve tried this, and they’ve all been significantly different. The most recent batch was crisp, fairly sweet with a touch of bubblegum, and fairly bitter. Light floral and herbal hops, light caramel malt. Fairly complex. First two were pretty different (pine and citrus, then floral and citrus), and I quite liked both of those. The next batch (which was in the fermenter) had a different recipe, so there’s always a chance this’ll move to the Pick list next time I visit…

That brings up a good point: What to do with different versions of the “same” beer? Use version numbers? Create a new “Obsoleted” list? Add more and more tasting notes to the same entry? I think I will just put off that decision until after my next visit. Have to say, though, I do like the somewhat sinister “Obsoleted” list name. Feel free to comment below.

Oh, the pictures from my first time there weren’t very good, but I took one I was pretty happy with the next time. I was all set to use that as the main picture in this post, but then I took a more traditional taster tray pic on the third visit. It was a hard call on which one to use, so I’m including both. I will do my best not to take more pictures and further confuse the issue…

The picture I was going to use before I took the one with the taster tray. I love everything about the glass in this, although I wish I got less of the table top.

My previous post was on Washington’s largest brewery. This is on one of its smallest, Rooftop Brew Company. They are about as far north in the Queen Anne neighborhood as you can get – not quite along the South Ship Canal Trail, but on the other side of Nickerson St, behind the 7-11, in a rather small garage – and the Ship Canal separates them quite effectively from the Ballard and Fremont brewery scene. That bit of distance has given them a good little neighborhood brewery feel. You know, every neighborhood should have its own microbrewery or two (or in Ballard’s case, ten), especially one as cool and friendly as Rooftop. I really like their logo glass/public health workaround system – buy their glass and, as long as you keep bringing it in with you, all beers are $1 off. Otherwise it’s full price in a compostable plastic cup. You save a bit on their beer, and they don’t have to install an expensive glassware sanitizer system. Not sure this will make sense if and when they expand their facilities, but in the meantime it’s pretty awesome.

Rooftop Brew Company — Seattle, WA

Rob’s Picks
• Belgian Wit – 4% – Crisp, light and spicy, with a bit of clove (less so banana). The coriander and orange peel are not overpowering, which is good. Bready finish.
• Dry-Hopped Wheat Ale – 4.5% – Big citrus and piney aroma. Flavor not as big but at a really nice level. Light and smooth.
• Makeda Coffee Porter – 4.7% – Made with cold-press Makeda coffee. Great coffee aroma. You need to like coffee to like this beer. Fairly dry, with subtle dark chocolate flavor and an underlying bitterness.
• IPA – 6.5% – Big citrus and piney aroma and flavor. Good caramel maltiness. Really solid.
• Hoppin Honey Braggot – 9.5% – Sweet citrusy aroma. Floral and citrus hop flavors balanced nicely by honey and caramel sweetness. Good lingering flavors, though sweetness does build up a bit. Doesn’t taste like it’s almost 10%.
• ESB – Floral and some citrus hop with caramel and biscuit malt. Subtle underlying bubblegum sweetness. Smooth. Nice mix of flavors.

The Rest
• Imperial Porter – 10% – Strong, sweet, alcohol and coffee aroma. More sweet, alcohol flavor than coffee/chocolate. Bit of Kahlua edge. Hint of dryness. Still a work in progress.
• Steamer – 5.2% – California Common-like pale ale. Floral aroma and flavor. Caramel and biscuit malt. Pretty smooth. Light lingering bitterness.

Oh yeah, you’d think that with a name like Rooftop, they’d have a roof deck, but no, they’re just in a little garage. Start small and dream big, right?