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.
Bottle from Leighton at Hazlemere tasting. Aroma is vinous, yet sweet and malty. Murky cloudy darkest brown. Big foamy off-white head. Vinous and tart. Underlying sweetness and dark fruits. Light-medium bodied. Slick. Flat carbonation. Long astringent finish. Enjoyable.
Bottle shared by Leighton at SHIG Crashes the Bottle Share at Hazlemere: Poured a black with a tan color head. Aroma is berries, grapes, fruity. Taste is tart, fruity, berry, funky, roasted malts.
Bottle, split at the Hazlemere Movember and chops tasting, thanks to LKS 12/11/21. Light black with a khaki covering that clears to a spider swirl. Nose is tarte dark fruits, dried fruit balsamics, light spice, dark malts, grains, funk. Taste comprises tangy dark fruits, light acidity, fruit balsams, stoned fruits, tangy, damp wood. Medium bodied, fine carbonation, semi drying close with an acidic throat scrape. Solid sour.
Bottle shared in Hazlemere - picked up from RadBeer. Pours deep brown with a creamy, beige head. Light-medium sweet flavour, nice dynamic wood character, ripe berries, jam, raisins. Medium to full bodied with fine carbonation. Lightly warming finish, more raisins, berries, nips of vanilla, tangy oak. Solid.
Bottle shared at high Wycombe tasting. Thanks to Leighton. A dark brown black coloured pour with a light beige head. Aroma is nbig funky sour,, musty sweet grape, balsamic, brown sugars. Flavour is composed of semi sweet nice jammy grapes, tokai, brown sugars. Funky wine. Palate is medium sweet, light tang, light spicy mellow carbonation.
16oz can pours out hazy straw topped with a white head. Nose is nice citrus hops some odd band-aid notes. Taste is more of the nice hops some citrus floral notes.