Black Raven Brewery

I was told that I had to check out Black Raven Brewery before I left Seattle and I don't need an excuse to go try some beers, so I went. The brewery is located in Redmond in a business park, similar to a ton of breweries that I have visited. On the outside, the brewery was not much different than most, but on the inside, wow. The best tasting room I think I have ever been to. I'll get back to that though, first the brewery itself.

Black Raven is a production brewery, but at this point most of their sales are done on the premise. As far as I could tell almost all of their equipment was brand new, starting with the 15 bbl brewing system. I had a good talk with one of the owners/head brewer, I was able to touch on new subjects that concern me as I move forward and left with great ideas and tips. It still amazes me how different every brewery owner's story is and what they found to be most difficult in starting up. I think I am in a great position having heard so many points of view, but at the same time it is scary because there are so many different things that have slowed other breweries progress down. Here are some shots of the brewery:

New 15 BBL Brewing System

Part of the tasting room and the racking area

The most impressive part of the brewery is the tasting room. They spared no expense in building the tasting room, artistic wooden tables and Raven themed artwork on the walls. Probably seats 30 and they don't serve food, although you can bring in outside food. The tasting room extends beyond the front room/bar, has some seating along the walk-in cooler (which you don't notice is the cooler) and then there is some seating in the back essentially on the brewery floor. They did a great job of making it a nice place to come and drink a beer and not just a brewery. Black Raven, along with some other breweries, have really changed my thinking about a tasting room and there will be a solid tasting room at PBC.

Tasting Room

Of course I had to take a seat at the bar and enjoy the sampler, a nice mix of traditional styles with a specialty beer to top it off. Their IPA was by far my favorite followed by the Brown Ale. The other beers were well made beers, but didn't blow me away. The specialty beer was a Belgian Brown, which was actually my least favorite, but always enjoy new and different beers. I hope to make it out their again when I am back in Seattle and like seeing all of these new places getting started.