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By Root 1218 0

on a four-day, three-night adventure tour with steaming breweries in the looking-glass every day, including but not limited to stops at Snoqualmie Brewery & Taproom, Chuckanut Brewery & Kitchen, and Port Townsend Brewing Company. In between brewery tours, the skilled onboard chef keeps your belly full, fueling afternoon kayak excursions among forested islets and sessions spent learning the ropes, hauling sheets and lines, and generally earning a bit of ale (dispensed freely when the anchor’s down). At last, it’s time to home brew some “Schooner Rat IPA” under the stars with noted Northwest brewers—if you’ve got the energy to stay awake. From $775 per person all-inclusive.

Mukilteo

DIAMOND KNOT

621-A Front St. • Mukilteo, WA 98275 • (425) 355-4488 diamondknot.com • Established: 1994

SCENE & STORY

The merchant ship Diamond Knot sank in 1947 a quarter mile from Port Angeles in 135 feet of water carrying precious cargo: an estimated 5.7 million cans of choice Alaskan canned salmon. Insurers said it was a lost cause, but crewmen and locals jury-rigged a vacuum system to hoover the edibles out of the ocean, and the successful mission came to symbolize local, er, can-do spirit. When home brew buddies and coworkers at Boeing Bob Mophet and the late Brian Sollenburger decided to launch a self-distributing brewing company without quitting their day jobs—they were discouraged, too. But they channeled the fabled can-rescue operation, took over a converted transit building garage that once housed a pub, and started brewing big beers with boatloads of Northwest hops in every batch. Just fifteen years later, the business has grown to include this location, a gloriously funky spot with sawdust on the floors and crowds of locals, a second brewpub, and a third establishment, a beer bar.

PHILOSOPHY

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

KEY BEER

The big, burly, and pungent Diamond Knot IPA put these Boeing cabin boys on a down-wind run. Look for dry-hopped versions with Simcoe, and the Shipwreck XXXIPA, an Imperial IPA with a leviathan’s bite.

Stevenson

WALKING MAN BREWING CO.

240 SW First St. • Stevenson, WA 98648 (509) 427-5520 • No website • Established: 2000

SCENE & STORY

Just across the river in Washington from the Oregon beer-blessed town of Hood River in the scenic Columbia Gorge this small-town brewpub has a bevy of tanks shoehorned into a back room, twelve taps, lots of wood paneling, and a collection of bottle openers on a vertical wood beam next to the cash register. The pub fare is heavy on pizzas, and the patio is great in the summer, with live music in a grassy little garden area. In homage to the legendary Sasquatch, there’s an ambulatory theme to most of the beers (Jaywalker; Old Stumblefoot; Pale Strider). And there’s just something to love about a place where the bathrooms are themed “Readers” and “Dreamers.”

PHILOSOPHY

Big beers with big feet. Higher-than-usual alcohol and hopping rates define most of the Walking Man beers, which vary in drinkability. The brewery also hosts the Sasquatch Legacy Project, a yearly charity brew by recipients of the Glen Hay Falconer Scholarship named in honor of the late influential Oregon brewer.

KEY BEER

Knuckle Dragger, an American Pale Ale of 6.5% ABV, is a malty, hoppy citrus bomb that would send Big Foot into naptime in no time.

BEST of the REST: WASHINGTON

PYRAMID ALEHOUSE

1201 1st Ave. South • Seattle, WA 98134 • (206) 682-3377 • pyramidbrew.com/alehouses/seattle

The original location of Pyramid’s minichain of vast beer bars (est. 1994), this Alehouse is located right across from the Seattle Mariners’ Safeco Field (and just a block from Qwest Field, where the Seattle Sounders MLS soccer team plays) and features eight taps plus a few bottled releases to tide you over before the big game (or after) in the beer garden patio or spacious interior. The best matchup: pizza and some Uproar Imperial Red (7.3% ABV).

THE STUMBLING MONK

1635 E. Olive Wy. • Seattle, WA 98122 • (206) 860-0916 • No website

This tiny little corner beer bar on Capitol Hill has twelve