My trip to the Pacific Northwest was for the Nebraska vs Oregon football game, not just searching out craft beer breweries to visit. The trip had us in Seattle for 2 days before the game, so I knew I could find a few good places to try!  I have to thank my family, especially my wife for spending time searching out the places I will be talking about. I only scratched the surface when it comes to Seattle breweries. I am sure you could spend a week or more visiting all of the wonderful breweries!

The day we arrived in Seattle, there was ash in the air from all of the local wild fires.  After walking around Pike Place Market, my son and I discovered the Old Stove Brewing Co taproom which had a nice view of Elliot Bay. On that particular afternoon, the ash really limited the visibility of the bay. Never having any of the Old Stove beers before, it seemed like a good idea to grab of flight of 4 beers to try. I choose 3 IPAs and their amber ale called Amber Waves. All of the them were really good. My favorite one was the Piston Hondo DIPA. This beer has great citrus aroma and flavor. The caramel malt smooths out this 87 IBU IPA. As you can see from the picture, this beer is a beauty and the flight glass is also pretty cool! I would recommend stopping in here especially if you are looking for a relaxing place where you can enjoy the fresh air and the incredible view of the bay.

I almost never found Cloudburst Brewing. Google Maps had me going in circles. My wife thought I was completely crazy. I asked a couple of local people and they got us closer to the taproom. What should have been a 5 minute walk from our hotel took us nearly 30 minutes to find the taproom. Cloudburst has an interesting atmosphere. The opening into the brewery is a garage door. You walk into a narrow passageway of tables that leads you to the place you can order your beer. As you are doing so, you can also see the beer being brewed which is awesome! No flights which is a bummer for someone that is from out of town like me.

The beer that I tried was a dry hopped IPA called Pretty Little Liar. This IPA had a very nice hop profile of Simcoe, Mosaic, Citra and Hop 438. I like the name of the beer but didn't have time to find out the story on how it was named.  This was a solid IPA with a nice citrus flavor. The menu that day had several other IPAs that looked very interesting including a Red IPA but there was still one more place to go on this National Beer Lover's Day. Come to find out, I wasn't the only one trying some of the Seattle breweries on National Beer Lover's Day, so was @kellyfromtexas. More to come on this...

Pike Brewing Co was my favorite Pike Place Market brewery.  The atmosphere in the tap room was incredible! They had multiple flight choices which I really like. The one I choose was the "The Next 6 Sampler".  This is a great flight because it has 3 local guest tap selections and 3 Pike Brewing beers that are next up on tap.  The three guest taps were:

• Pacific 1897 Pale Lager

• Wet Coast Brewing Sneak Thief Milk Stout

• Scuttlebutt Brewing Amber Ale

Out of the guest taps, my favorite was the Wet Coast Brewing Sneak Thief Milk Stout.  Now onto the 3 from The Pike...

• Pike Space Needle

• Pike Hive Five

• Pike Harlot's Harvest

From the Pike Brewing Beer Menu...

Pike Space Needle - Golden IPA. Unique golden India Pale Ale with assertive hop character and floral notes; brewed with four varieties of aroma and flavoring hops from the Yakima Valley.

Pike Hive Five - Honey Ale. A delicious collaboration brew from Pike made with superb honey from Salish Lodge & Spa's apiary. A biscuity golden ale hopped with Yakima Valley Hops.

Pike Harlot's Harvest - Spiced Pumpkin Ale. Big, bold, voluptuous; burst of caramel & molasses with a smooth sweetness and the boldness of a monastic style double ale. 

My favorite was the Pike Harlot's Harvest. This Pumpkin Ale has so much flavor! I really loved the generous amount of spice in this ale. Some Pumpkin beers come up flat on taste, not this one!

Oh so you are wondering what happened with @kellyfromtexas... We tweeted back and forth all afternoon. I looked up from across the bar and there Kelly was with Michael. When I realized it was them, I jumped up from my bar stool and headed over. We quickly introduced ourselves as my wife came up thinking we had known each other for years. It was so much fun getting to meet Kelly! This was the first time I ever met a Twitter friend in another city. National Beer Lover's Day was a great way to meet a new friend!

I really enjoyed my couple of days in Seattle. Great sight seeing, seafood, and craft beer. If you make it out to Seattle, I hope you get a chance to check out these Pike Place Market breweries.  

Cheers!