Always in the Last Place You Look: Tacoma, Washington

The first thing you need to know when you visit Trade Routes Brewery is, you are not lost.  You have the right address.  This is where the brewpub is located.
I drove past it several times, pulled over, checked the address, drove past a few more times and repeated this process more times than I care to admit publicly before I realized the truth.  The Trade Routes tap room is located right in the warehouse where they brew their beer.  I have to admit, I thought it was really cool.  It felt like I had stumbled upon a secret party that only certain local people know about.  

The name, Trade Routes, kind of defines their style.  They take ingredients that classically make up the idea of 'trade goods' and mix them with common beer styles.  The results are simplistic, I think that was a comment I made after every beer, but all of them were very drinkable and delicious.

Hoppy Bitch

Hoppy Bitch IPA:  I think I have stated before that adding hops to an IPA is almost a competitive sport in the Pacific Northwest.  Brewers here push the IBU's up to the point that you wonder if it wouldn't be better and more cost efficient to graze on a handful of hops.   I guess that's why this one surprised me.  Don't get me wrong, the hops are there.  There is a decent dose of citrus and pine hops, but they are not overpowering and make for a very drinkable beer. 

Mango Weizen: Fans of sweet, fruity beers will immediately  order a pitcher of this one for themselves alone.  It has a light peach or pear aroma.  It has a nice creamy mouthfeel with a medium body and lots of peach pear and tropical fruit flavors.  I thought it was too sweet and simplistic, but I doubt I was the target audience for this creation. This is the perfect beer for someone who always says that they don't like the taste of beer.

Ginger Pale

Ginger Pale: The aroma of this beer is absolutely stunning.  I was immediately hit with ginger, clove, coriander and citrus notes.  The flavor was much lighter.  It kept the same spicy profile as in the aroma, but it was muted somehow.  This is a sweeter ale with hops that add more to the spice profile then to the bitterness.

Sumatra Coffee Stout: As a rule, I find coffee stouts to be pretty easy to describe.  Take a cup of espresso, chill and pour into a pint glass.  This stout is right in line with that style, it smells like a coffee shop at 6:00am and tastes like a carbonated cup of joe.  It has a medium body and finishes slightly dry, but is pretty much all coffee flavors and aroma.

That's it for this week.  I'm back in the Midwest next week and exploring the budding world of micro-distilling.  It is a part of the craft spirits culture that I have yet to include in this blog, mostly because they are so hard to find.  They are slowly but surely emerging, but we'll get into that proper then.
Cheers.