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As Seen In |
The Mayor of Marzen BY John Aitchison (Published in the December 1996 Brews and News)
Last month I had the good fortune to be visiting my sister-in-law in Mukilteo, Washington. Mukilteo is quiet suburban community located about 30 miles north of Seattle. It's a typical town in the Northwest: Friendly people. Lots of rain. Good beer in every restaurant. Expresso stands on every corner. Two microbreweries within easy walking distance. One of those microbreweries is Eagle Brewery. It is owned by the mayor of Mukilteo, Brian Sullivan. His honor is a busy man: His day job is running his Pizza restaurant called Riley's Pizza. Mukilteo's politicians are all part time so Brian doesn't have to spend all his time running the city. I'll bet the city council meetings are interesting. Mayor Sullivan's real pleasure is beer. He likes to drink, talk, and especially brew beer. I got a tour of the "brewery". It is located in the sub basement of his Pizza place. The whole thing is smaller than Dean Lynn's bird cage; you could fit all the equipment in a small bedroom. He has a homemade mash-lauter tun and uses the hot water heater for a hot liquor tank. There are two five barrel fermenters. Brian has to keg the beer in the secondary and transfer the primary to the secondary before he has room to brew another batch. Eagle Brewery kegs all their beer. Brian got all the kegs cheap; they have Hoff-Stevens taps. He has lots of friends who own restaurants in the North Puget Sound area; they buy his beer. He uses Wyeast 1056 for all his beer; "If its good enough for Sierra Nevada, its good enough for me." He only had two beers on tap when I visited. One was a "Falltoberfest Ale" and the other was a "Pale Porter". The Porter was quite good; just the right amount of chocolate without any of the burnt flavor that Porters sometimes have with too much roasted malt. I would encourage any "soon to be microbrewers" to visit Eagle Brewery if they find themselves near Seattle. It shows how cheaply it can be done. Eagle Brewery is about a block east of the Whidby Island Ferry landing on the north side of Mukilteo Speedway. |
