Washington State Microbreweries: Prosser, WA

After wrapping up the Wine Bloggers Conference, Michelle and I transitioned from wine to Washington’s other known commodity: beer. We had a quick stop in Prosser, then a few brewery visits in Seattle proper before we headed home. We also stopped an snapped a quick photo of some hops growing as we drove across the state. Washington accounts for 75% of the hops grown in the United States, which might account for the number of breweries that we found.

We started off our beer tasting in Prosser, WA, which was roughly halfway between Walla Walla and Seattle.

Horse Heaven Hills Brewery – As the official Kentucky visitors to the Brewery, this one made for a nice transition from wine to beer. This little brewery only sells by the growler and shares the parking lot with the Prosser AutoZone.

We walked on in and sat down at the bar where we tried the following:

• Honey Girl – A nice light ale brewed with a honey. The honey provides a nice sweetness that works very nicely as my first transition away from wine. This may have been Michelle’s favorite along with the Hefeweizen and the Cherry Stout.
• Heaven’s Hefeweizen – Very nicely balanced banana up front and clove flavors on the finish combine for a really nice hefe.
• Mustang Red – Their most popular beer which is not pictured below. Very solid offering that was a very nice amber ale. Good malt characteristics and light and crisp hops.
• Stallion Stout – Server on a nitrogen tap which is supposed to add creaminess and a richer flavor. Nice roasted coffee flavors but stays lighter and has a surprising crispness and spice on the finish.
• Cherry Stout – Another beer brewed with a non-traditional additive, this time Washington cherries. The flavor lead with the nice acid and sweetness of the cherry which was followed by the chocolate. It was almost an inverted chocolate covered cherry. My favorite of the tasting due to the bitterness of the cherries and the semi sweetness of the stout.

We picked up an empty growler for ourselves as Michelle was taken by the image of the horse as well as the story of wild horses roaming the local hills. It was Michelle’s favorite brewery of the trip as she liked most of the beers we tried for different reasons. $5.00 for 4 samples.

Whitstran Brewing – This was our second stop in Prosser and luckily they served food. My burger was excellent and Michelle had no tr0uble finishing her sandwich as well.

Another nice selection of samples (9 for $9.50) was split between the two of us.

• Horse Heaven Hefe (Bavarian-style hefeweizen) – Sweet with heavy banana flavors.
• Highlander (Scottish-style ale) – Light with caramel that finishes with a toffee flavor. Kevin’s favorite of the list.
• 11th Hour (Pale ale) – Creamy and light initially that ends with a bitterness. We described this as “Surprise! It’s hoppy.”
• Over-the-edge (Dry-hopped pale ale) – More hops throughout the entire flavor. Not especially hoppy for a dry hopped ale.
• Palouse (Porter) – Chocolate and roasted espresso beans. A very nice porter that Michelle did not try and I really enjoyed.
• D2O Heavy Water (Stout) – Chocolate and malt. Two great tastes that are always nice in a stout.
• Friar Lawrence (Belgium-style ale) – Sweeter than expected. A very interesting and distinctive beer that was weel worth trying.
• Friar’s Blessing (Raspberry lambic) – Acid up front was not as integrated as I was hoping. Michelle mixed this with the Friar’s Decadence to create a version that allowed the chocolate to help balance.
• Friar’s Decadence (Chocolate chocolate imperial stout) – Bitter chocolate with hop flavor hinting through. Nice on it’s own, but really helped to soften the lambic.

Lunch was a very nice at Whitstran and it was worth a stop in Prosser to start making the switch from wineries to breweries. We had a great afternoon and if we had been able to keep the beer refrigerated, I think we would have had a few full growlers as we continued into Seattle. For anyone on the wine trail, I strongly recommend stopping and trying something a little different. From Seattle, I think it would be well worth the  drive to the desert to see a little sun.

5 Responses to “Washington State Microbreweries: Prosser, WA”

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2. WineBlogFeed says:

   July 28, 2010 at 8:19 am

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3. DailyWineNews says:

   July 28, 2010 at 8:19 am

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   This comment was originally posted on Twitter
4. MyWineryGuides says:

   July 29, 2010 at 7:04 pm

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5. April Yap says:

   July 30, 2010 at 7:10 am

   Hi Kevin,

   Great reviews. Definitely entails good explanation about wine and its taste

   BTW, I wanted to ask you a question about your blog but I couldn’t find a contact form. Let me know if I can email you!

   April