Dining and drinking review: 7 Seas Brewery

This is the fourth installment of Kurt Kwon's search for craft beer that suits his palate in our neighborhood. Lucky for Kurt, downtown Tacoma is becoming a Hub (haha - pun intended!) for interesting, locally-produced brews. By my count, there are now eight craft breweries within walking distance of the Esplanade.

To read Kurt's previous installments on his search for the perfect neighborhood beer, click HERE, HERE and HERE. It seems like eventually, someone in our building is going to have to organize a "brewery crawl" as a social event, seeing as we're fortunate enough to live in walking distance of all these tasty brews.

7 Seas Brewery is located at 2101 Jefferson Ave

Review and photos by Kurt Kwon
My pursuit of the near-perfect brewery in Tacoma finally comes to an end!  The much needed addition of 7 Seas out of Gig Harbor to Tacoma is an exciting time for beer lovers in downtown. The converted space is huge and has a nice atmosphere. I finally feel at home. On to the beer review!

I had a taster of six that included  three IPA's, an amber ale, pale ale and brown ale. The British Pale Ale is one of my favorites at 7 Seas. It has a smooth caramel taste, easy finish and nice golden color. This beer is very easy to drink. The Cutts NW Amber Ale was a little on the sweet side, easy to drink, and had a smooth finish. It also had a nice medium caramel color but overall was a little too sweet for my palate. The Broken Mast Brown Ale is a traditional brown ale with a slight pop of nutty finish at the end. The color is dark brown but clear at the same time. A hint of malty character makes this beer a standout.

The Life Jacket IPA is a surprisingly light golden color for an IPA.  It has an easy start but the hops kick in later. It is still smooth and not too bitter. The Rude Parrrot Single IPA can be found in many of the local bars in the area. It is a popular beer that has a medium golden tone. It has a smooth finish from start to end, but has a slight bitterness to remind you that it is an IPA.

The Ballz Deep IPA is their flagship beer. It has the highest IBU at 84. It is a bit too much for my palate but many IPA aficionados will like this beer. For my taste it was a little too sweet and bitter.

I did try one more beer to cleanse my palate. The American Style Hefeweizen was really good. No coriander taste like the traditional German style hefeweizens. It is easy to drink and refreshing on a hot summer day.

Reviewing beer is so subjective compared to reviewing food. Generally most people agree when food is bad. Beer is very different for different people. I would consider myself more of a traditionalist and do not care for what I consider experimental beers that have various infusions, but I am very excited to see a revival of the beer scene in Tacoma and look forward to the many more breweries to make Tacoma home.

7 Seas is a great addition to Tacoma. I highly recommend going and checking them out. They've done a great job with the space and is worth seeing just for that!