Hallå from Ballard—the birthplace of Hilliard’s Beer, one of the first craft breweries to can their suds in the Pacific Northwest and now one of the first Pacific Northwest breweries to export beers to Sweden. It only makes sense—the Seattle brewery is based in the Nordic, maritime Ballard neighborhood that is loud and proud of its Scandinavian roots. Outside of their Swedish expansion and popular line of canned ales, Hilliard’s also kegs a few draft-only options that warrant a trip to northwest Seattle. The brewery itself is worth a look—it is currently going through the process of growing from a 6,000-square-foot facility to a 16,000-square-foot warehouse.
“What we are doing is fairly simple beers,” Hilliard’s co-founder Adam Merkl says. “We have tall boys cans, we don’t do adjunct beers. We do straight-up, well-made simple ales with good ingredients.”
One of their draft-exclusive, “simple beers” is the Original Singe, a German-style rauchbier. By definition, a rauchbier is a lager laced with smoked malts—beechwood smoked malts in this case, that make for a light campfire aroma and flavor in the finish. A little bit of bacon, plenty of caramel and heaps of creamy maltiness, this beer is reminiscent of early fall, fresh from the tap.
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