Middleton owner and head brewer Geoffrey Middleton has never been one to brew a traditional beer.
Head in to Middleton Brews, located in the rear of a large strip mall on Everett Mall Way, and you’ll be greeted by a board of never-boring beers. Nearly every fruit and vegetable are represented, from jalapeños to blueberries.
That’s serving him well in this new craft beer world, where fruit-centric beers are king.
For Middleton, he lets his nose lead him.
“Aroma is a huge factor for me when brewing a beer,” Middleton said. “I like trying new and interesting things.”
Middleton Brews is celebrating its third anniversary this weekend with a large party. Middleton has spent the past few months engineering six 5-ounce one-off beers on his 1-barrel system for the celebration.
“We’ve never really did anything for our anniversary, but I felt this year we needed to do something,” Middleton said.
Change could be on the horizon. Middleton said he may need to start thinking about expanding. Though he says the Everett Mall Way locale has been good, it’s maxed out in terms of space for brewing and has become very limiting.
But until then it’s all about the celebration. Besides the four beers below, Middleton is also brewing a white stout with blackberries and blueberries and a barrel-aged version of the brewery’s blueberry amber. Middleton said the white stout, which is an oatmeal pale ale with the fruit added into the fermenter, is very experimental.
“I have no idea if it’s going to work,” Middleton said.
Here’s a look at the beers Middleton brewed up for the party:
Barrel-aged Imperial Brown with Coffee and Coconuts: Middleton added whole beans of vanilla nut coffee to kegs of a barrel-aged version of his Imperial Coconut Brown. Very sweet with a deep coffee aroma and a coconut flavor up front. More of a dessert beer, and at 10.5 percent ABV, a real nightcap.
Strawberry Mint Wheat: Middleton threw some fresh mint in the fermenter of his Strawberry Wheat to come up with this special beer. It tastes like a mojito, with the 36 pounds of fresh strawberries mingling with the mint. Nice subtle flavor makes for a refreshing beer.
Pineapple Pale Ale: To get that fresh pineapple flavor and aroma, Middleton dumped 64 ounces of pineapple juice into what he calls a hopped-down version of his IPA. The beer has an up-front sweetness with a bitter finish thanks to the abundance of hops, including a dry-hopped finish with Citra hops.
Barrel-aged Watermelon Blonde: Middleton has experimented with pouring his base blonde ale through a Randall of watermelons, so he took it to the next level, cutting up a large watermelon and putting it in the fermenter with his blonde. He then aged it in oak barrels, giving the blonde a nice rounded sweetness that is very subtle. This was my favorite beer of the four.
Middleton turns 3
Middleton Brewing’s third anniversary celebration is from 2 to 10 p.m. Saturday at the brewery, 607 SE Everett Mall Way, Suite 27, Everett. There will be six special one-off beers pouring, live music by The Evergreen Shakers and plenty of barbecue. Mug Club members can enter at noon. For more information, visit www.middletonbrewing.net.
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