Founded in 2010, Stillwater is an original nomadic beer project that utilizes the traditional brewery as if it were a studio - a place where beer becomes a canvas for creation, collaboration, and experimentation. For it’s founder Brian Strumke, nomadic brewing isn’t simply a job title. It’s a way to tell stories, engage with the world at large, and move through it on his terms.
In 2011, Strumke woke one morning to find himself anointed as one of the top new brewers in the world by Ratebeer.com - a proclamation that would change the trajectory of his life forever. Over the last 10 years, he built and scaled Stillwater® into an international business, capturing broad attention with it’s multidisciplinary approach and award-winning products crafted worldwide.
Formerly known as Stillwater Artisanal. Brian is from Baltimore, MD but has relocated to Seattle. Stillwater was tied to the Brooklyn, NY scene and importer / brewery Twelve Percent. Beers have been brewed at various breweries, but with many coming out of Twelve Percent's North Haven, CT brewery. Now Brian has brought Stillwater to the state of Washington and set down roots. Stillwater beers are brewed at Talking Cedar as of late 2023/early 2024.
A dozen years after pioneering the “nomadic brewing” model, Stillwater® has planted roots in the Pacific Northwest. For the first time, all production of its inventive and style-bending beers is concentrated at one location under founder Brian Strumke’s oversight and control: Grand Mound, Washington’s Talking Cedar. Opened by the Chehalis Tribal Enterprises in 2020, Talking Cedar is a 35,000-square-foot complex that houses a state-of-the-art brewery with a 60-barrel brew house, rows of 120-barrel fermenters, and multiple oak foedres.
Can from The Gull, North Vancouver Black colour. Aroma of malt, chocolate, cookies, dark sugar, vanilla. Sweet, full bodied, and smooth; rich dark sugars, with malt, caramel, and vanilla notes. Very good.
Bottle. Deep brown colour with a beigeish brown foamy/creamy long-lasting head, which leaves some lace. Aroma is roasted malts, some smoked wet wooden tones with mild liquorice, alcohol and some toasted ryebready elements too. Flavour is roasted and smoked with some sweet caramel, toasted ryebread and mild wooden bitterness in the finish. Solid, with a good depth to it.
Canned. Deep amber colour with a big reddish foamy head. Aroma is fruity hops, lactose, some dried fruits and figs. Flavour is plum, some tart wood, mild salty tones along with some fruity hops to it. OK, but not very sour nor tart. Still refreshing.
Canned. Hazy yellowish golden colour with an off-white head. Aroma is pineapple, mango, zest, grass and some slight wood. Flavour is fruity, floral, grassy and some slight herbal and zesty elements. Easy going.
Canned. Hazy golden colour with a small white head. Dank aroma with zest and some citrus as well as mild melon tones. Flavour is dank, fruity, melon, some citrus and mild bready malts. Not all that much bitterness. Nah, not my thing.
Dark brown. Medium head. Lots of dark fruits, rich burnt fruit sugar, some alcohol, though it seems to clash a bit. Not bad. I think it lends itself well to a port treatment.