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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

Photo: Lucas Anderson

Click through the slideshow to see inside Epic Ales, the last stop on our nano tour.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

Click through the slideshow to see inside Epic Ales, the last stop on our nano tour.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

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 » Photo: Lucas Anderson

Joel VandenBrink, founder and head brewer of Two Beers, takes a break with one of his brews.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

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 » Photo: Lucas Anderson

The Trailhead ISA, Two Beers’ 2011 summer ale.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

A fine day for a tasting on Two Beers’ patio.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

ON TO SCHOONER EXACT, the largest of the three nanos. This is its brewing facility.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

Schooner’s boiler and grain tank.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

Don’t miss the Constellation IPA, a 12-brewer collaboration currently on tap at Schooner’s tasting room.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

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 » Photo: Lucas Anderson

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 » Photo: Lucas Anderson

OUR LAST STOP IS EPIC ALES. Its motto, “every possibility is conceivable,” is etched onto the entrance of the tiny brewery.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

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

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Tags: Craft Brewing, SoDo, Microbrew, Seattle Beer, Nanobreweries

Try Food-friendly Beers at Epic Ales

SoDo’s new “nanobrewery” opens its tasting room at 3:30pm every Friday.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Feb 26, 2010 at 10:33AM 0 Comments

SAM Remix begins at 8pm tonight—a full three hours after the universally recognized cocktail hour. What to do in the interim? Well here’s something: Epic Ales, the new SoDo “nanobrewery,” opens up its tasting room from 3:30 to 8pm every Friday.

Brewer Cody Morris—he’s the one that taught me the nerdy word “nanobrewery,” now I can’t stop using it—makes four different beers set to hit stores in early March, but you can taste them today inside his tasting room at 3201 First Ave S, Ste 104.

The Solar Transamplifier most resembles a Belgian witbier. “The major difference,” according to the web site, “being a change from wheat and oats to rice, and also switching from coriander and bitter orange peal to ginger and chamomile.” Terra-Saurus ale is made with shiitake mushrooms, and the Simple Ale is a hoppy and malty beer in the Northwest spirit. The fourth and final beer, the OTTO-Optimizer, is a porter brewed with Turkish coffee and designed to be sipped alongside dessert.

In fact, Morris says all four were created with food in mind. “For a wine person, restaurants are a great experience,” he says. For a beer fan, not so much. He aims to change that by offering local restaurants “true culinary ales” to pair with their food. The brewer points out that such a distinction is important for setting your beers apart in the glutted field of craft brewing. When Morris was working to get legal with the state, he was told there were 17 other breweries seeking licenses. That’s a lot of beer.

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Tags: Beer, Locaboozers, Craft Brewing, SoDo