I was pretty interested to give Chuckanut a try after reading about them in the latest issue of Northwest Brewing News.  They are one of the few Northwest breweries to predominantly brew German style lagers (and no IPA!).  Plus they have a rad name that makes me giggle.  Come on now, don’t pretend that Chuckanut doesn’t roll off the tongue.  Seriously though, with styles like Dortmunder, Dunkel, Kolsch, Marzen, and Helles on the menu, it was well worth a trip.

Chuckanut Brewing Beer Sampler

As one must do when first visiting a brewery, I ordered the beer sampler.  I really enjoyed tasting three and a half lager styles side by side to really taste the difference (Kolsch is a ale/lager hybrid of sorts).  I’ve visited breweries where I found many of the beers to be rather similar, but Chuckanut did well to distinguish their brews.  Of the golden tinged beers, I found the Dortmunder to be on the hoppy side, the Helles sweeter and more malty, and the Kolsch to be fruity.  The Organic Amber and Pale Ales were also enjoyable.  I really liked that they listed brewing information, style descriptions, and food pairing suggestions on the menu for each beer.  For dinner, we enjoyed some fresh mussels steamed in beer, tasty wood stone oven pizzas, and some desserts drizzled in an amazing blackberry sauce.

Erik enjoying Kolsch Night at Chuckanut

Chuckanut beer steamed mussels

Holly was pretty excited about the pizza

We attempted to find a liquor store on the way home so that we could bring back some craft brew at affordable prices, but were too late in the day for our quest.  We settled on Walmart instead, where I found Deschutes Black Butte Porter for $6.97, less that half of what I paid in Canada last week.  Interestingly, this delicious craft beer was situated just above BLL on the shelf and selling for the same price, which would you choose?

Deschutes Black Butte Porter and BLL for $6.97

It was a successful sojourn across the line for some tasty German beers and well worth the trip.  We’ll surely be back again.

Cheers,

Chris

There are a couple of great sounding events going on in Bellingham WA, just south of the Metro Vancouver, taking place in the next few weeks.  I just want to point a couple of them out:

• Tuesday February 17th – Chuckanut Brewery and Kitchen in Bellingham will be hosting a Kolsch night.  Kolsch is a relatively hard to find German ale, and with pints coming in a $1.50 it is hard to pass up this opportunity.  From my understanding this event will be occurring every Tuesday until otherwise posted.
• February 23rd 6:00PM – Chuckanut Brewery and Kitchen is putting on a winter beer dinner.  Tickets will need to be purchased in advance online.
• February 24th – Boundary Bay Brewing Company is presenting a Fat Tuesday extravaganza.  Dixieland Jazz and a special menu should make for a great evening.  I believe Dix Brewing in Vancouver is also hosting a Mardi Gras party on February 19th.  Why not enjoy both.

These are just a few of the great beer events taking place in the Pacific Northwest.  Although Vancouver is nowhere near Washington as far as craft brewing goes, Vancouverites are still quite fortunate to live in  such a great beer region, so please take advantage of what is right in our own backyard.

Erik