Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Winterhop reveiw





This past weekend (1/19-1/20) my wife and I travelled with friends to Ellensberg for their Winterhop Brewfest. Here are a few of the highlights to wet your whistle.




  • http://www.lahtneppur.com/brews.html - Lapt Neppur had a Winter warmer, this was a Belgium style aged 3 months and at 9% is very full bodied. Their stout was tasty, but not as memorable. Lapt Neppur is located in Waitsburg near Walla Walla. We stopped there on Labour Day weekend last year and filled up a couple of growlers. This defanately a great little roadtrip destanatin, just make sure you make reservation at Whoop'en Up Hollow http://www.whoopemuphollowcafe.com/ for some good creaole cookin'.


  • http://www.rogue.com/locations-issaquah.html - Rogue is practically an institution in craft brews, and I've tended to overlook their taps the last few years. I was pleasantly surprised by Bullfrog Ale, hoppy enough for me but not to hoppy for Robin. This beer is brewed in Issaquah and the gentleman behind the taps assured me they real frog.


  • http://www.roslynbrewery.com/ - This is where we started and after waiting in line to get our wristbands and tasting mugs for 30 minutes it's hard to be subjective, but both the Roslyn Dark Lager and the Brookside Pale Lager were might tasty. The dark was smooth and malty without back of the throat grab I usually get from amber lagers, and the pale clean and bright.


  • http://www.iron-horse-brewery.com/ - Ellensburg's hometown favorite, I discovered the Brown at Hill'shttp://www.hillsrestaurantandlounge.com/ and had also tried the Irish Death so I was looking forward to trying their other offerings, they did not disappoint. The Rodeo Pale was light and hoppy, while the Imperial Red was thick and hardy perfect to take the chill off.


Altogether Robin and I managed to try 21 beers from 11 breweries and only made it halfway through the list. The weather mostly cooperated with highs in the 40's and the sun peaking out from behind clouds. We will be looking forward to doing this very nice festival again.



1 comment:

John Speare said...

Nice.

Did you bring any beers back for your friends?