When we sat down with John Robertson, co-founder and managing member of Bellevue Brewing Company, he had just returned from the Craft Brewers Conference and he was adrenalized by the innovation and future of beer. “From the equipment to the packaging to the general trade involvement, everything is rescaled, rethought and perfected for craft,” Robertson says. He has good reason to be jazzed—the Bellevue, Washington brewery is about to start canning and is looking to expand into a second location that will be triple the size of the current, allowing the brewery to break into more specialty brews and larger production overall. Also increasing BBC’s footprint is a partnership with Bellevue College, in which the brewery is holding a beer appreciation class for credit to get into larger universities with fermentation programs, and a classroom-style collaboration with Total Wine in Bellevue to promote education for the consumer.
And the beer that started this all was the extra special bitter (ESB), a flagship brew that Robertson says they built the entire brewing program around. Built on a core of pale ale and caramel Munich malts, the initial aromas are lager-esque, with almonds, sweet grain and bread. Enhancing the nose are touches from the Cascade hops and warm fruitiness from the Palisade hops. Balanced malt sweetness with some tame but noticeable bittering in the finish, this ESB is a textbook definition of the style well-done.
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