I’m excited about tonight’s review as Im being joined by a fellow beer lover, twitter junky, and CoreBrewing reader.. SudsyMaggie! Maggie will be helping me tonight’s review. I have recruited her for her sharp palette and strong beer knowledge to help me with tonight’s review… And now for the review..

Big Time Brewery & Alehouse has been in business in Seattle’s colorful “U-District” since 1988. They are a classic American Alehouse located in an old yellow brick building with high ceilings and lots of stained wood.

The pub has an antique bar, an extensive bottle and can collection, numerous historical brewery photographs, and lots of old beer signs and trays. Music is provided by a 100 disc CD jukebox with an eclectic mix of artists. An original 1950′s era shuffleboard in the back room gets plenty of use.

Time of Arrival: 5pm on the dot

The Atmosphere:

Casual college town brew house. From the outside it appears to be a regular bar but tucked to the side of the bar is the brewery. I’ll grab a few shots of it in few. (edit) oops, SudsyMaggie and I got a wee bit tipsy and it slipped my mind =(

So now for the brews..

Prime Time Pale Ale:
Beer Style: American Pale Ale:
OG:
ABV:
IBU:
A three time gold medal winner in previous Great American Beer Festivals, Prime Time’s delicate malt flavor and gently balanced hoppiness make it approachable to those unfamiliar with microbrewed beers, yet still has a sophistication that pleases seasoned drinkers of real ales. Prime Time Pale is brewed with Northwestern 2-row pale malt and just a touch each of English crystal and light dextrin malts. It is hopped with Yakima Chinook and Cascade in addition to German Hersbruckers.

Taster’s notes:
Grassy, filtered, golden hues, weak carbonation, clean finish, run of the mill, “not bad but nothing special”

Name: Atlas Amber Ale
Beer Style: American Amber Ale (1992 Silver Medal GABF)
OG: 1.056 IBU: ABV:

Atlas is Big Time’s most popular beer. Its mixture of pale, crystal, Munich, and light dextrin malts, with just a few pounds of roasted barley, give it a rich, robust malt flavor, and three distinctive Northwestern hop varieties (Chinook, Cascade, and Centennial) impart an aggressive hop character.

Taster’s notes:
Gorgeous amber hues, persistent head, malty aromas, nice hop finish, beautiful carbonation, good lacing,

Name: Bhagwan’s Best IPA
Beer Style: Indian Pale Ale
OG: IBU: ABV:
Building on a classic English style and adding some uniquely Northwest touches, Bhagwan’s Best has developed fiercely loyal following wherever it is served. Bursting with local hop flavor, bitterness, and aroma, it is a particular treat when served dry-hopped and cask-conditioned on Big Time’s beer engine

Taster’s notes:

Name: Coal Creek Porter
Beer Style: English Porter
OG: IBU: ABV:
Also a multiple medal winner at the Great American Beer Festival, Coal Creek Porter has a solid and loyal following among Big Time’s customers. Impenetrably dark at first glance, Coal Creek shows rich red highlights when held to the light. Its blend of dark roasted malts combines with three other specialty malts and unmalted flaked barley to give Coal Creek a satisfying roasted flavor and smooth texture. It is heavily hopped in the finish with Yakima Centennial.

Taster’s notes:
Coffee, chocolate aroma, sweet but nice bitter finish, very clean, beautiful dark beer, gorgeous lacing, coats the glass well. Balance and even drinking

Name: Damned Spot
Beer Style: Scottish Ale
OG: IBU: ABV
Assistant Brewer Chris Borgia’s first recipe. Big, contemplative malt flavors swirl in a dark eddy of currant and chocolate whilst subtle Fuggle hops drift afloat. Served only in our special tulip glass.

Taster’s notes:
Beautiful root beer brown color, excellent head retention, subtle malty aromas, hints of chocolate, slight ABV notes. WoW, sweet malty flavors on the back-end, outstanding carbonation. (more from the assistant brewer) I gotta say that this might be my pick of the night and that says a lot being the hop head that I am.

Yardbird’s Wheat
With 30% wheat and a hint of Munich Malt and lightly hopped with Hersbrucker and German Spalt, Yardbird is a quiet, refreshing beer with an accent on wheat.
OG:15.8 IBU: ABV:3.2%

Tasters notes:
Almost no aroma, similar golden hues at the pale ale, clean finish, slight bitterness. Not the traditional wheat but definitely interesting. It’s got a good flavor but I am not quite sure if I would buy a full pint.

Name: Trombipulator
Beer Style: Belgium Ale
OG: IBU: ABV
A Northwest interpretation of a Belgian tripel, Trombipulator was 1st brewed to commemorate Big Time’s five hundredth brew. A very big and pale beer, it weighs in at 18 degrees Plato (1.072 Specific Gravity), and is very heavily hopped.

Taster’s notes: A fantastic Belgium, outstanding spices, smooth with a very light lacing. Easy drinking with a nice hop finish

Name: Scarlet Fire IPA
Beer Style: American IPA
OG: IBU: Aromatic citrus aromas, great hop flavors, beautiful copper hues, good head retension. Easy drinking and I noticed a good coating on my tongue. Time to rinse and repeat!

Name: Bagwan’s best IPA
Beer Style: American IPA
OG: IBU: ABV
Extreme hop blast, as a hop head, I am falling in love. Very pungent aromas, copperish hues, good lancing and a outstanding lingering flavor.

Name: Hopfest
Hopfest is medium size light amber ale with a good portion of Munich malt for a firm maltiness to back up the hops. Each batch of Hopfest features a different single variety of hops. OG 14.5 Plato (1.058) 4.2% by weight 5.3% by volume.
Not a whole lot to say here, The bagwan was ultra hoppy that it almost put this one to shame. Sorry, perhaps I’ll begin with this one next time.

The Food

Starter: Loaded Potatoe.. EVERYTING on it! And I mean..EVERYTHING

Pizza 1: Margarhita Pizza!

A traditional Margarhita Pizza, if you like this style of pizza you will love this one. Excellent flavors, not over powering and just the right amount of garlic. This was our food pick of the night. Fanstic thin crisp crust to compliment the fresh toppings. A++

Pizza 2: Quatro Formaggio

provolone, fontina, parmesan, mozzarella and sun dried tomatoes. This pizza was good but was missing… garlic! An interesting combination of cheeses – unfortunately the Margarhita Pizza outshined this one.

Bar Chili – I a big chili fan.. but this was was pretty sad. Take it off the menu.. pluuueeehz!

Maggie is a veggie so she opt’d for the black bean soup that she said was outstanding. I’ll ask her to post a little something about it later..

Overall Impression
Big Time Brewery has been in business for 20 years now for a reason. They have fantastic brews and reasonably priced food to suit the college crowd. Its summer time and most of the college crowd is out but I would imagine that during the fall when school is back in session, this place is packed! Come for the brew and stick w/ the pizza.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 2:38 am and is filed under Brewpub Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.