Welcome back to Sip Northwest’s Bar Tab, a bi-weekly selection of what to drink in the Northwest now. This week, we are giving a partial sneak peek as to what will be poured tomorrow night at our Best of the Northwest Tap Takeover. Taste these five award-winning beers, ciders and much more yourself starting at 4 p.m. at TeKu Tavern, nestled in between Seattle’s Queen Anne and South Lake Union neighborhoods. Come on in, belly up to the counter and order a digital (or literal) drink with us.
Best Specialty Cider: 2 Towns Ciderhouse Rhubarbarian || Get your fiber in this sipper that melds Willamette Valley-grown Crimson Red rhubarb with Oregon-made apples. The fresh-crushed rhubarb juice is fermented with the apple for a fusion from the start. Tangy, acidic and borderline sour, red fruit flavors flesh out the palate and intrigue the bold.
Best Traditional Cider: Snowdrift Cider Co. Red || Red in apple flesh for a cider red in color, the estate-grown varieties used in this cider are descendants of those once found in the orchard-dense hills of Kazakhstan. Flavors reveal in similar shades of pink, like cranberry, candied strawberry and ripe watermelon, kissed by butterscotch but zipped up with bright acid and supple tannins.
Best Sour Ale: Boneyard Beer Gooze Cruze || Refreshing and juicy, there’s a pithy, citrusy bitterness that is indefinable but irresistible. It’s just a little bit funky and sour, like too-ripe fruit or maybe under-ripe berries. This is a complicated beer, yet easy to drink. It’s like there’s something wrong and that’s the lure, kind of like that girl you knew in college.
Best Kölsch: Dru Bru || Freshly sliced white bread and honey fill your nose, yeasty and sweet. It has a slightly creamy mouthfeel, yet the flavor is crisp with a biscuit-y, cracker-like maltiness that gives way to an unexpected and refreshing hop bitterness on the finish. Perhaps a bit more bitter than many other beers of this style.
Best Northeastern-Style IPA: Aslan Brewing Batch 15 || Golden, murky and creamy, it fills the nose with fresh-cut stone fruit, like apricot and plum. The tropical, pineapple and melon flavors are something of a surprise, brighter than the aroma suggests, and there’s a tiny hint of resinous pine in there too. Bitterness be damned — who needs it!
For the full list of the 2017 Best of the Northwest winners, click here!
