For neighboring breweries Lazy Boy, Crucible and Middleton, creating collaboration beers has become laughingly mundane.
“We just kind of text back and forth and are like, ‘Yeah, I got those malts. What hops you have laying around?’ ” said Lazy Boy Brewing owner and head brewer Shawn Loring, laughing. “It’s old hat now. We work really well together. It’s easy and fun.”
The three Everett Mall Way breweries are all within walking distance of each other in a true “beermuda triangle” centered around the intersection of Everett Mall Way and Seventh Avenue, south of Everett Mall. Because of that proximity, ever since Crucible opened in 2015, the three breweries have hosted a number of “brewery crawl” events together and brewed collaboration beers.
The trio’s newest creation is a watermelon kolsch for their second annual Dog Days of Summer event this Saturday. Middleton owner and head brewer Geoff Middleton has brewed with watermelon before, so he knew how much puree they’d need to really draw out the flavor in a kolsch. He pureed 10 pounds of watermelon and added it to the brite tank before the beer was transferred from the fermenter.
The result is a lot more watermelon flavor than I was expecting. Before tasting, I thought the watermelon would be hard to detect and weak. It wasn’t. The aroma of watermelon was evident from the first whiff and the flavor was strong throughout. Thankfully, the beer still passed the quaffable test and wasn’t too sweet. It will be an easy sipper during this weekend’s heat wave.
“I think it’s a great summer beer,” Middleton said. “It has a balanced watermelon flavor that doesn’t distract from the overall style of the kolsch.”
The beer will be pouring at all three breweries at the Dog Days of Summer Pub & Pup Crawl. Each brewery will host a dog-centeric event, including doggie treats made with the brewery’s spent grain at Crucible, a doggie photo booth at Lazy Boy and a pet grooming station at Middleton.
Also on this week’s taster tray:
Flowers on the Wall, At Large Brewing: A New England-style IPA brewed with Citra, Cashmere and Amarillo hops for big notes of fresh citrus and super soft mouthfeel. Available on tap at the brewery.
Night Sky Red Ale, Sound to Summit Brewing: A balanced amber-colored ale with a robust malt character and piney hop presence. Available on tap at the brewery.
Royal Jester, Foggy Noggin Brewing: An English IPA brewed with English-grown malts and a new English hop variety Jester, giving the beer notes of tropical fruit and citrusy complements. Available on tap at the brewery; cask version on Friday.Auxiliary No. 4, Decibel Brewing: A hazy IPA made with Idaho 7, Mosaic and Columbus hops to give it strong tangerine and tropical notes. Available on tap at the brewery.
Apian IPA IV, Watts Brewing: Made with Waimea and Ekuanot hops, this rotating IPA has notes of citrus, pineapple and pine. Available on tap at the brewery.
Learning Curve, Whitewall Brewing: This hazy IPA is brewed with Columbus, Centennial and El Dorado hops. Available on tap at the brewery.
DRINK THIS
Watermelon Kolsch
Crucible Brewing/Lazy Boy Brewing/Middleton Brewing, Everett
Style: Fruit-flavored kolsch
Available: On tap at all three breweries
From the brewery: A collaboration beer made with watermelon puree from 10 pounds of fresh watermelon and a kolsch base made with pilsner wheat and Munich malts.
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