Slideshow: SoDo’s Nanobreweries
Take a tour of three tiny Seattle breweries south of the stadiums.
Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jun 13, 2011 at 10:18AM
3 Comments
Click through the slideshow to see inside Epic Ales, the last stop on our nano tour.
View Slideshow »THE TOUR BEGINS AT TWO BEERS: Here are its storage tanks and fermenters, which share a space with the bar and tasting room.
View Slideshow »Joel VandenBrink, founder and head brewer of Two Beers, takes a break with one of his brews.
View Slideshow »The official Two Beers Mascot, Willis the dog. The name of one Two Beers beer, the Crooked Belgium Wit, was inspired by his feet.
View Slideshow »The Trailhead ISA, Two Beers’ 2011 summer ale.
View Slideshow »A fine day for a tasting on Two Beers’ patio.
View Slideshow »ON TO SCHOONER EXACT, the largest of the three nanos. This is its brewing facility.
View Slideshow »Schooner’s boiler and grain tank.
View Slideshow »Don’t miss the Constellation IPA, a 12-brewer collaboration currently on tap at Schooner’s tasting room.
View Slideshow »Stacks of kegs sit in Schooner’s storage room. The brewery plans to expand this year to make more space for a grain room and a kitchen.
View Slideshow »Schooner’s owner and brewer Matt McClung takes a quick break from making a batch of raspberry wheat. The beer will be on offer at the Washington Brewers Festival over Father’s Day weekend.
View Slideshow »OUR LAST STOP IS EPIC ALES. Its motto, “every possibility is conceivable,” is etched onto the entrance of the tiny brewery.
View Slideshow »Cody Morris pours a pint of his Lyli, an ale made with green tea and intended for summer BBQs.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Morris’ entire work space totals just 180 square feet. That’s nano, people.
View Slideshow » Illustration:This one’s made with mushrooms.
All right, here’s what I’m suggesting: Right this minute, by whatever means necessary, arrange it so that your Friday afternoon is cleared of responsibilities.
Because on Fridays, beginning at the magical hour of 3pm, (or “beer o’clock,” as we say here in Enablerland), all three of SoDo’s very small breweries are open and ready to pour you local beer straight from the source.
I’ve also heard tell of sports folk, ultimately bound for Safeco and Qwest, who work their way through the three nanos and then stop off for dinner and more beer at the Pyramid Alehouse.
Below you’ll find hours and other info for Two Beers, Schooner EXACT, and Epic; but the main event on this post is the slideshow from Seattlemet.com photographer Lucas Anderson. He’s provided a mouth-watering look into what to expect on your nano tour, including the summer seasonals currently on tap. Enjoy.
THE BREWERIES:
Two Beers Brewery
4700 Ohio Avenue South Unit A, SoDo
Tasting room hours: Wednesday through Friday 3-8pm, Saturdays 12-4pm.
The brewer: Joel VandenBrink
Schooner EXACT
3901 1st Avenue S, SoDo
Tasting room hours: Monday and Thursday 4–8pm, Friday 3–8pm, Saturday and Sunday 12–7pm.
The brewers: Matt and Heather McClung
Epic Ales
3201 1st Ave South, Ste 104, SoDo
Tasting room hours: Friday 3:30–8pm and Saturday 12–4pm.
The brewer: Cody Morris
Tags: Craft Brewing, SoDo, Microbrew, Seattle Beer, Nanobreweries
Not to be overly critical, and I really do applaud you for covering the beer scene, but calling Two Beers and Schooner Exact “nanos” is a bit misleading. Epic is a nanobrewery for sure. And a very good one, at that. Two Beers and Schooner Exact are full-blown commercial craft breweries. All three are microbreweries according to the law, but the term nanobrewery defines a subspecies. Each day, five days a week, Two Beers and Schooner Exact brew as much beer as Epic brews in a typical month. All three of these breweries are excellent, but only one qualifies as a nano. There you have it, now I sound like that overly critical jerk that always comments on my blog.
Don’t forget Emerald City Beer Company and their Beer Lab on Airport Way in the old Rainier Brewery. They seem pretty nano to me – and certainly tasty!
Good catch Kendall, and you are totally correct. But let’s remember that the other two were nanobreweries until recently expanding to 10 bbl (Schooner EXACT) and 7 bbl (Two Beers) operations. It is still an amazing experience to have them all in a close proximity, and as the people at Hess Brewing say “Once a nano, always a nano, in my opinion.”
http://hessbrewing.blogspot.com/2009/11/nanobreweries-in-usa.html