Day sipping
On a mid-February outing to Whidbey Island, I ended up at the newest Penn Cove Brewing location in Freeland. Set on a 5-acre farm, the brewery-in-a-barn opened in May 2021 and is Penn Cove’s third Whidbey Island location. It’s a long drive to south Whidbey from Whatcom County, but absolutely worth visiting if you’re island-bound.
The Freeland brewery’s greatest strengths are its idyllic location and outdoor seating options. A sprawling lawn sprinkled with Adirondack chairs is the obvious choice for sunny days. The patio is covered in winter, with fire tables for warmth. Upstairs, a small rooftop area provides views of the Olympics across Puget Sound. There’s a food truck on site and it’s a perfect place for families to spread out. If you can imagine plopping Fairhaven’s Stone’s Throw Brewery down on an island farm, you wouldn’t be too far off.
Inside the small taproom, Penn Cove serves a solid variety of regular and seasonal brews. Expect the usual lineup of ales and lagers along with fun collabs featuring ingredients from local farms (like Farmer Dale’s Pumpkin Stout and Mutiny Bay Blueberry Blonde). Pints are pricier here than what Whatcom and Skagit residents may be used to, with most beers in the $7.50 range. But that’s the price you pay for a taste of island life so close to Seattle.
Brews news
The 2022 Skagit Farm to Pint Ale Trail Passport is now available at 13 breweries across Skagit County. You can pick up a passport at participating breweries (or print one off the website) and collect stamps to earn a souvenir pint glass. The Ale Trail is a great way to get acquainted with Skagit Valley’s beer scene — and maybe discover some breweries for the first time. Whatcom County has its own version known as the Bellingham Tap Trail.
As a reminder, there are a couple of beer events you may not want to miss this weekend. Time and Materials Taphouse will host its Grand Opening from noon to 11 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26 with 20 beers on tap, small plates and live music. Also on Saturday, the Kulshan Roosevelt Taproom will host Night of the Helles featuring Helles lagers from Kulshan Brewing, Chuckanut Brewing, Otherlands Beer and Wayfinder Beer.
Recent releases
Some of us think of a.m. hours as “coffee hours” and p.m. as “beer hours.” But in 2022, does it even matter anymore? Stemma Brewing has a solution: Cold Coffee Pale Ale. A collaboration with Narrative Coffee — the coffee bar opening soon next to Elizabeth Station — this brew is made with coffee beans grown in Colombia and roasted in the Netherlands. Stemma serves Cold Coffee Pale Ale in 16-ounce ceramic mugs, which are available for purchase at the brewery.
Menace Brewing is now offering a pair of dark winter-warmer brews in bottles. Their Rye Whiskey Barrel-Aged Chili Alpha Ruby Ale with Peppers and Bourbon Barrel Aged Upside Down Oatmeal Stout are available in 500-milliliter bottles at the brewery. If all of that barrel-aged goodness is too much, consider Menace’s house-made sparkling water. Flavored with organic fruit juice from grapefruit and papaya nectar, this bubbly palate cleanser is available on tap.
Kulshan Brewing has released the second of three 10-year anniversary celebration beers. Full Send Robust Porter celebrates the opening of Kulshan’s second location, K2, in 2015. Kulshan shifted into high gear at the time, expanding from a small neighborhood brewery to an all-new production and packaging facility. They haven’t slowed down since. Full Send is available in cans and on draft at both Kulshan locations.
Boundary Bay Brewery is now canning two of their newer hoppy brews. Dry-hopped with Simcoe and Citra hops, Rainbow Science Hazy IPA is for the tropical/fruity/hazy-loving crowd. On the opposite end of the IPA spectrum, Enchanted Frontier Cold IPA “boldly goes where few IPAs have gone before.” Popularized in the Pacific Northwest by Portland’s Wayfinder Beer, the Cold IPA style utilizes lager yeast and fermentation style to produce a crisp, snappy, lager-like IPA. Rainbow Science Hazy IPA and Enchanted Frontier Cold IPA are available on draft and in cans at Boundary Bay.
