Stillwater
Client Brewer
in
Grand Mound,
Washington,
United States 🇺🇸
Associated Venue: Of Love & Regret - Pub and Provisions
Established in 2010
Contact
Description
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.
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.
7.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Served on draft at Mekong during Richmond, VA Beer Week. Pours a slightly hazy reddish color with a medium creamy head. Decent head retention and lacing. Aroma of toffee, leafy hops and berry-like fruit notes. The taste is caramel, toffee, leafy, citrus hops, berries and some spicy notes. Medium bodied.
Tried
from Draft
on 11 Nov 2010
at 19:50
8.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Served on draft at Mekong during Richmond, VA beer week. Pours a dark reddish brown color. Aroma of dark malts, cherries, toffee, brown sugar, leafy hops, a bit of smoke and soy. The taste is brown sugar, toffee, cherries, bready notes, citrus and minty hop notes. Medium bodied. Nice beer.
Tried
from Draft
on 11 Nov 2010
at 19:47
7.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
Served on cask at Mekong in Richmond, VA. Pours a hazy very dark brown color with a moderate frothy, bubbly brown head. Decent head retention and lacing. Aroma of very earthy hops and roasted malts. The taste is leafy, citrus and earthy hops, roasted malts, a vegetal, nutty note and a bit of green apple and chocolate. Medium-full bodied.
Tried
from Cask
on 11 Nov 2010
at 19:43
7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
Bottle. Amber beer with an off-white head. Yeast and summer fruit aroma with malt. Yeast and light spice flavor with light summer fruit. Medium bodied. Sumemr fruit and yeast linger with light spice and light malt.
Tried
from Bottle
on 10 Nov 2010
at 14:32
6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
750ml bottle pours a hazy, orange brown with a thin, white head. Smells like fall; dead leaves, lightly sweet, lightly herbal. Flavor is sweet, malty, light hops, brown sugar. Heavy carbonation, lasting sweetness.
Tried
from Bottle
on 07 Nov 2010
at 11:18
6.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottle at a tasting. Thanks Ambar for bringing me this one from the States! Hazy golden with a white head. Aroma of yeast, citrus, some fruit esters, some hoppiness and some malt. Sweetish fruity flavor with some yeast and a drier, bitter finish with a bit of citrus and light alcohol notes. A bit over-carbonated.
Tried
from Bottle
on 04 Nov 2010
at 04:44
6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 4
Overall 6
At a tasting, thanks DSG, medium stable creamy had, hazy light orange colour, aroma of lemon, mandarine, apricot, flavour of aromatic tea, some lemon and a touch of rose petals, all enveloped by an overpowering and a little brutal bitterness. Could be nice but overall unbalanced.
Tried
on 04 Nov 2010
at 01:27
6.4/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 6
Texture 4
Overall 6.5
Cask at Max’s in Baltimore. Looks like unfiltered pineapple juice, bright yellow, zero head. Nose is sweet, pineapple, sage. Flavor is sweet, herbal, tropical fruits, lightly medicinal. Medium bodied, herbal finish.
Tried
from Cask
on 01 Nov 2010
at 06:27
7.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
Tap at BCTC 2010. Pours hazy orange with a slight, white head. Citrus fruits, wood and spices haunt the aroma. Flavor is fairly sweet, with more fruits and some yeast, light funk and mild hops. Light bodied with fine carbonation. Finishes dry and yeasty with some notes of lemon. Very good. (Summer 2014, score: 4.0)
Draft at CBC 2013 - Copenhagen. Pours cloudy gold with a light, foamy white head. Dried doughy pale bread in the nose, wheat, light yeast, straw. Light to medium sweet flavor with light bitterness, more dry dough, light alcohol, yeast, hay. Light to medium bodied with average carbonation. Clean finish, moderately sweet, with some yeasty dough, light bitter hay. A fairly classically styled saison. I like it. (May 2013, score: 3.8)
Draft at CBC 2013 - Copenhagen. Pours cloudy gold with a light, foamy white head. Dried doughy pale bread in the nose, wheat, light yeast, straw. Light to medium sweet flavor with light bitterness, more dry dough, light alcohol, yeast, hay. Light to medium bodied with average carbonation. Clean finish, moderately sweet, with some yeasty dough, light bitter hay. A fairly classically styled saison. I like it. (May 2013, score: 3.8)
Tried
from Draft
on 01 Nov 2010
at 06:22
7.2/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7
A cognac amber saison with a thin big bubbled off white head. In aroma, a nice and complex woodu spice, gin alcohol, junniper berries. In mouth, a nice saison with oily malt, light coriander, nice and spiced. On tap at ChurchKey DC, Sept. 16 2010.
Tried
from Draft
on 31 Oct 2010
at 19:06