Seattle
IPA in the streets, lager in the sheets
WHERE CAN YOU FIND OUR BEER?
The best place to find our beer is at the source!
Come by the brewery and enjoy a pint! But, if you can't make it, our beer can be found at better beer bars and bottleshops in Seattle.
We are frequently available at:
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Bottleworks (Wallingford)
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Ridgewood Bottle and Tap (Phinney)
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Beveridge Place Pub (West Seattle)
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Full Throttle Bottles (Georgetown)
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Last Drop Bottle Shop (Lake City)
OUR PHILOSOPHY
When we go out to a new brewery, we're looking for variety. Well-executed variety. We see some rare style that a brewery has attempted, and we get really excited! Our goal in owning a brewery is to own a place we'd want to hang out ourselves.
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So, we've attempted a huge variety of styles. We read some book about beer, we read about a style we've never tried to make, maybe even one we've never tasted, and we think "wow, let's make that!"
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AN INCOMPLETE LIST OF BEER WE'VE HAD ON, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER.
(This is not what we have on right now - go to the "ON TAP" page for that. This is beer we've had on in the past. We might brew some of them again some day!)
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To get a fuller list, you can try visiting our Untapped page: https://untappd.com/BurkeGilmanBrewingCompany/beer
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Maybelle Steam Beer (California Common) 5.4% ABV Another in our line of historic and rare beer styles! When the California Gold Rush happened, the population of the territory skyrocketed, and all those new people wanted beer. People who knew how to brew lager arrived with ingredients and yeast, but there was a lack of ability to keep the fermenting lager cool. So, they wound up using lager yeast at higher temperatures, which led to a unique flavor profile, and caused the yeast to evolve to handle the higher temps. This came to be known as "steam beer", and the style was mostly lost to history until a small San Francisco brewery named Anchor decided to revive it. Unfortunately, they then trademarked the phrase "steam beer", so the rest of the world has to call this "california common". Don't call it steam beer, okay? It's got a nice hoppy profile layered over toasty malt. Finishes dry and crisp.
Boysen the Boat Fruited Blonde Ale 5% ABV We took our Belgian blonde recipe and added boysenberry to it. The result is... well, it’s really purple. But it’s also delightfully quaffable. A tiny hint of sweetness, a tiny hint of tartness. (But also really purple - did I mention the purple?)
The Husky Clipper Pale Ale 4.9% ABV For this pale ale, we tried an experiment, using a different yeast - the same yeast as in our altbier, actually. Ekuanot and Apollo hops on the hot side, dry hopped with Ekuanot, Mosaic, Cascade and Centennial. It’s a crisp and hoppy American Pale. 4.9% ABV.
Grisette Grisette 3.5% ABV Latest in our series of beers exploring rare styles that you don't typically see. Grisette is a farmhouse style - it originates from the border region between France and Belgium, called Hainaut. While saison is thought of as a beer brewed to refresh farm workers, Grisette is said to be brewed for mine and factory workers. The name, which means "little gray", is sometimes said to be a reference to the gray dresses that women serving the beer in the pubs wore, and sometimes a reference to the gray dust miners returning from quarries were covered with. It's brewed with authentic French pilsner malt as a base, plus both malted and flaked wheat - not actually grey, but quite pale and hazy in appearance. Hops are Czech Saaz. It's only 3.5% ABV! Light, crisp and flavorful. Almost a hoppy, hazy saison. You could drink pint after pint of this. Or you could if I don't drink it all first.
Mead Barrel Pilsner Pilsner 4.6% ABV. Our brewer Phil had this idea for a barrel aged, brut Pilsner - that is, take a normal Pils, dry it out even further to make it even more crisp, then barrel age it in white wine barrels! The result was our Champagne Pils. For this version, though, we aged it in a mead barrel from Sky Meadery! So, you get subtle notes of honey that perfectly complement the dryness of the base beer. Somehow makes it EVEN MORE quaffable.
Spa Juice Saison 6.3% ABV Saison aged on lavender in a chardonnay barrel. Strong lavender aroma and on the palate, over a nice oaky farmhouse base. I handed a glass to my wife, who loves the smell of lavender, to ask what she thought. She said she felt like she was in a spa, getting a lavender wrap (that’s a thing, right? I understood her correctly?) Anyway, this lavender was all harvested locally - we like to put local products in our barrel saisons, and this is the latest result.
Nero Stout 10.2% ABV Way back before we opened, before we even started to brew, we bought a whiskey barrel from a group buy the brewer’s guild put together. It sat a long time - we kept wetting it down with water to keep it from drying out. Finally after a few months of crazy brewing we had time to make a stout to put in it. Then we set it aside and forgot about it. (Narrator: 10 months later, they remembered it!) This is 10.2%, and has a noticeable whiskey character on the palate without being harsh. It’s not really a summer beer, but we went off script a long time ago, so please enjoy it now!
Westland Bound and Brown Whiskey Barrel Aged Imperial Coffee Brown 9.7% ABV. Westland Distillery was kind enough to loan us a whiskey barrel to age this imperial brown in. It spent 4 months in the barrel, and now it’s going to spend some time with you. Initial boozy hit, then mellows. Lovely, dark and deep.
Brownstone Imperial Coffee Brown 8.0% ABV Crisp Floor Malted Maris Otter Pale malt really shines in this beer. Steeped with whole beans of Anchorhead Coffee’s Narwhal. Dark Garnet color (try shining your phone flashlight through this one!), Aromas of malt, nougat, mild roasted coffee, ancho chilli, flavors of malt, nougat, milk chocolate and coffee. Dry finish.
Boombastic Belgian Dark Strong 8.7% ABV Malty sweetness. A full-bodied abbey style ale. Finishes dry, clean & with a roasty finish. Dark ruby hued mahogany in color. Soft and cuddly, hug it up like a quilt. Notes of dark fruit, dates, prunes, complex caramels. Aromas of prune, raisin, burnt sugar. Complex, rich, smooth and dangerous. High in alcohol, but we’ve let this one mellow for months. Fantastic.
Troll Tårer Norwegian Pale Ale 6.0% ABV There is a rich tradition of farmhouse ale in Norway - farmers brewing ale for their own use. Yeast is dried each time and re-hydrated when it’s time to brew again. Yeast strains are handed down through generations on the farm. It turns out these yeast strains are quite a bit different from what we’re used to in brewing, and we got hold of some. This was so popular the first time we brewed it that we brought it back, and this time dry-hopped it. Malty, citrus and marmalade flavors, aromas of malt and mandarin.
Pumpkin Spice Stout 9.2% ABV No need to stand in line at Starbucks for your hit of pumpkin spice! Strap yourself into a pumpkin trebuchet with this lovely fall stout. All the pumpkin pie spices, with a background of roasted pumpkin, all on a big bold stout base.
Your Majesty Stout 7.4% ABV A nice, malty stout with just enough roast and toast to add a bit of dryness to the finish. A bit of a nutty, bready quality is also present, not unlike a traditional brown ale. Complex and interesting!
The Love Boat Pale Ale 5.1% ABV Hi, I’m Burke and I’ll be your cruise director today. Can I interest you in a lovely mild pale with aromas of honeydew melon, orange and herbal notes? Set a course for adventure, your mind on a pint of beer! Malts include Rahr pale, Weyermann Munich and Flaked Oats, hopped with a pound per barrel of Amarillo, dry hopped with a pound per barrel of Huell Melon. Something for everyone!
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Que Sera Sera IPA 6.4% ABV A rich and citrusy IPA with notes of melon on the nose. Brewed with Belma and Azacca hops for a complex fruity character.
111 Mile IPA 5.7% ABV Passionfruit, tropical and resinous bitterness. All ingredients locally sourced within a 111 mile radius. Skagit Valley Malting’s Copeland Pale, Vienna, C-30 malts, & Triticale wheat were used for balance & body. Centennial, Amarillo used on the hot side for orange and citrus flavor. Dry hopped with 4 pounds per barrel of Simcoe, Azacca, & Ekuanot for grapefruit, pine, & tropical flavors. Resinous & bitter grapefruit-pith finish. This is the 4th version of 111 we’ve brewed!
Saison Constant 6.3% ABV 2 row pale and pilsner malts as well as some oats in the grist, Saaz and Hallertau hops. Again we aged this Belgian farmhouse ale in white wine barrels from Chateau Ste. Michelle. We spiced it with orange spice tea. Perfect for a winter evening.
Saison Populaire 3.8% ABV. Complexity is not what you expect from a beer this low in ABV. But, sip it slowly and you'll find layers of spiciness and malt flavor. We tried a new yeast for this one, and we think we have a winner. Just a hint of farmhouse funk on the nose and palate. This is a beer you're going to want another of. Order it before we drink it all ourselves.
Saison de Noel 7.2% ABV We used local pilsner and pale ale malt from Skagit Valley Malting to make a 7 percent saison, and hopped it with Hallertau and Saaz. After it fermented out, we aged it in white wine barrels from Chateau Ste. Michelle, where we got a fair bit of secondary fermentation from residual sugars in the barrel. After a few months, it had picked up a lovely oak character, and we decided to age it further on cranberries and orange peel. As this passes over your palate, look for the subtle tartness from the berries and the citrus aroma. Taste the oak notes of a nice Chardonnay, on a solid saison base. Happy Holidays!
Belgian Blonde 4.9% ABV Gooie Morgen! This is a light ale with lots of what beer geeks call “phenolics”, which is fancy talk for “aromatic compounds”. Nice and fruity and refreshing. A very fresh beer, low in alcohol, subtle clove and banana flavors.
Der Alte Altbier 5.4% ABV A moderately bitter, malty amber ale. This is representative of what German brewers were doing before they came up with proper lagers. All german Pilsner, Munich and dark Munich malt. Hallertau Mittelfruh and Czech Saaz hops. Fermented with a top-fermenting (ale) yeast at lower temps, then lagered (kept for a while at cool temps).
LoBro London Brown 3.6% ABV we love the idea of forgotten beers - beers that were popular long ago, but various forces (economic, legal, simple changing of tastes) have driven them to extinction. Beer historians dig into old brewery records and try to figure out what a beer from a century ago would taste like. This is our attempt at a style called London Brown, but done with modern ingredients on modern equipment. Sweet and chocolatey, but not heavy. At only 3.6%, you can enjoy a pint and then enjoy another one. We hope to bring lots of historical beer styles to you, and this is our first one. We can see why it was popular back in the day. Let’s bring it back!
The Archduke Vienna Lager 5.5% ABV Lightly toasty and complex. This is a lager invented in Vienna in the mid 1800s, but is now hard to find outside the craft brewing world. Vienna and Munich malts. Magnum for bittering hops, but Hallertau Mittelfruh for flavor.
The Swan King German Pils 4.9% ABV I lived in southwest Germany growing up, and my dad used to send me to the little store next door to pick up a bottle of the local pils to have with dinner. I got to keep the deposit from the previous night’s bottle as an allowance. We’d get in a lot of trouble if we let your six year old pick up a growler for you, but at least we’re next door! This Pils is made with Bavarian pilsner yeast, and is named for Ludwig II, King of Bavaria. Best Malz Pilsner malt base, but noble hops (Hallertau and Czech Saaz) stand out. A tiny bit of nuttiness (much like Ludwig himself). Frisch vom Faß!
Goodnight Sun Chamomile Blonde 5.9% ABV We took our American Blonde base, kicked up the ABV a bit, and then added chamomile in the brite tank. Life is so busy sometimes, so full of stress. Sometimes, you can’t sleep with all the thoughts you’re thinking. Sometimes you want a nice beer, sometimes you want a nice cup of tea. Sometimes you want both. Goodnight noises, everywhere...
Pithy Name Citrus IPA 6.3% ABV We zested a lot of grapefruit and oranges to get just the aroma we were after here. Hopped with Amarillo. Dry hopped with Belma & Azacca. Golden in color w/ a slight haze. Aromas of orange zest & malt. Flavors of grapefruit & orange zest upfront, light pith, clean finish.
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Oktoberfest 5.4% ABV You may know this beer as Märzen - this reflects that, before refrigeration it was the last beer brewed (in März, or March) before the weather got too warm to brew. The beer was stored until late summer or early fall. There was an important Royal wedding in Bavaria in the early 19th century, which the people attended a celebration of - they had so much fun, they decided to celebrate every year and a festival grew up coinciding with the release of this beer, which we now call “Oktoberfest”. We can brew year-round now, but the coming of fall is still something to celebrate. Crisp and malty. This is another collaboration we did with Mollusk Brewing. Come experience some Gemütlichkeit. Prost!!
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Highwater Farm Fresh Hop IPA 5.5% ABV. Collaboration with the fine folks at Mollusk Brewing. These hops were originally found six years ago at an abandoned farm in the Skokomish Valley. Nick Browne - the owner/farmer at High Water - loves to explore the abandoned logging towns of the Olympic peninsula and found some hops growing at what was known as Camp 3. He dug up some rhizomes and began growing them at his farm. They are a cross of cluster and native hops. Hop farming was predominately done in the western half of the state until irrigation came to eastern Washington. They are a rare example of older hops grown with the terroir of western Washington, giving them a truly unique flavor.
Våningshus Farmhouse IPA 6.3% ABV Real farmhouse funk, a nice hop bite, and a lot of the malty character that you expect in an IPA has been fermented away. Those of you who have tried the Troll Tears know that we've been experimenting with Norwegian farmhouse yeast, known in the business as "kveik". If we did a fully traditional recipe with this, we'd have a juniper infusion in the beer. We're still working on that, finding the exact right species of tree, etc. But, in the meantime, that yeast worked really well in a pale ale recipe. So, we decided to try an IPA, and this time we kept the fermentation at a lower temperature. At the same time, there's a trend in the brewing industry right now for "brut" IPAs - you add some amylase enzyme in the process to help the enzymes in the barley along, and get more of the potential sugar in the malt in a form the yeast can eat - it makes for a very dry, crisp IPA (reminiscent of champagne, which is where the term "brut" comes from). We decided to do both things: a Norwegian farmhouse, brut IPA.
Loral Pale Ale 4.5% ABV With a low ABV, this is perfect for stopping in for a pint on your ride, then continuing on your way. Floral, citrusy, and earthy, with a light malt backbone and lingering bitter bite.
American Blonde 4.7% ABV Crisp and lightly dry-hopped. An excellent warm weather beer. A friend of ours liked the Belgian Blonde and wanted to see an American interpretation of it. So, this one has a cleaner-tasting yeast and American hops.
Philsner Czech Pils 4.6% ABV Czech water profile, Czech malt, Czech yeast, 1⁄4 Czech brewer: check. A clean crisp Czech Pilsner, done in a pre-prohibition style.
Cumulus Hazy DIPA 7.4% ABV Cumulus clouds are those clouds that form on a warm day, then dissipate as the day goes on. The classic puffy clouds your kid draws when she draws clouds. Does yours draw smiley faces on the clouds, too? These clouds are a sign it’s going to be a lovely day. This hazy is predominantly hopped with Citra - you’re going to get nice hits of tropical fruit flavor in this one. Most hazy IPAs get their haze from an addition of wheat to the grain bill. This one’s haziness is all hops oils, though.
Stratus Hazy DIPA 7.6% ABV Stratus clouds are the classic Seattle clouds - overcast as far as the eye can see. Summer’s over and gone, over and gone - you know it is. That slight chill in the morning. It’s dark by 830 again. You’re a Seattleite. You tell everyone you like the sunny weather, but the first day it’s overcast with a little bit of rain, you’re going to smile. Let all the transplants whine on facebook about how our nine months of winter is back. You’re going to enjoy watching the rain replenish the earth, looking at the patterns of clouds, sipping on this double hazy IPA. Hopped with, like, everything: Columbus, Centennial, Amarillo in the boil. Dry Hopped with Citra, Mosaic and Huell Melon. This one also has no wheat.
Local Hero Session IPA 5% ABV The younger cousin of our flagship 111 Mile IPA. As with the 111, all ingredients were sourced within 111 miles of the brewery - malt from the Skagit Valley, hops from the Yakima Valley. Delightfully hoppy with Cascade, Amarillo, Azacca, and Belma hops.
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Shipshape Pale Ale 5.7% ABV West Coast Pale Ale. We all grew up on Sierra Nevada Pale - this is our homage to it. We went with Centennial instead of Cascade for the finishing hops. Lower ABV makes this a refreshing thirst quencher on a hot day.
Ekuanimity Double IPA 9.5% ABV Equanimity is defined as mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation. Be careful not to be too calm with this beer, though. Designed to be very hop forward, and hides its alcohol well. Chinook, Ekaunot, & Citra hops give an aggressive grapefruit & pine flavor. Biscuit, Munich, C30 malts add balance with bread, biscuit & caramel goodness.
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Burn the Ships Hoppy Pale 4.7% ABV at some point in the planning of a brewery, you have to decide if you’re committed - you’ve signed a contract, you’ve signed a lease, there’s really no turning back now, is there? This beer was the first one brewed on our system, after literally years of planning. It has the malt body of a pale with the hop profile of an IPA. Lovely pale color, sips nicely, then... wow! The hop bitterness really comes in the aftertaste. Breweries like to call their beers “well balanced”. This is definitely not. Tons of columbus hops are what drives this one over the edge.
Saison Brevet 4.1% ABV A fairly low alcohol saison. We fermented this at a slightly lower temperature to keep the ester profile under the surface. You can taste the fruitiness, but it’s subtle. The first of many saison variants we want to make. Low enough alcohol that you can pull your bike over and stop in for one, then keep riding.
Burke Stout 5.2% ABV For fun, we brewed a batch of something dark, and we … discussed whether we should call it a stout or a porter. We discussed it a lot. Cause part of the fun of owning a brewery is that you have opinions about beer. We decided to split the batch and treat each half differently - longer or shorter fermentation, different temperatures, etc. So, what we have here are two beers that are different enough that you notice, but not that different. Which one is the stout, and which is the porter? Ask a beer geek to explain the difference between a porter and a stout and see if it clears things up.
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Gilman Porter 4.9% ABV One of the origin stories of Porter is that it was a style popular among railroad porters in England. The Burke-Gilman trail is named for the founders of a railroad that used to run right past this location. This beer is a bit sharper than your average porter, with more roasted character. But, it’s also got some sweetness that makes us want to call this one the porter. Anyway, get a taster of each and you tell us if we got it right.
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Cloud City IPA 6.2% ABV You look absolutely beautiful. You truly belong here with us among the clouds. Well, here it is: our first attempt at a hazy IPA, and we don’t even have any clouds to go with it - summers in Seattle are the best summers anywhere, aren’t they? Sitting under an Azure sky, sipping on this - puts the AWS in awesome, doesn’t it? It looks like a glass of orange juice, and it tastes… well, like a glass of orange juice that’s also an IPA. Awfully refreshing.
Sarah Citrus IPA 6.1% ABV You could be sipping lemonade on the patio on this lovely summer day. Or you could be sipping this citrusy IPA. It’s really up to you. We’re not here to judge you. Except we don’t have any lemonade in the fridge, and we do have this on tap, oh and also it’s a DELICIOUS IPA. Has a small addition of oats for some haziness and dry hopped with delicious Amarillo hops.