In the Northwest, you don’t have to go far for good beer. If there isn’t a craft brewery within a half-hour’s drive, you’ll probably be able to find a bar serving a variety of local, handmade or hard-to-find brews.

Bellingham is lucky enough to have a handful of such bars, along with two craft breweries right in the downtown core.

Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro and Chuckanut Brewery & Kitchen have at least one thing in common – the food they serve gets as much
attention as the beer.

Both place a heavy emphasis on local ingredients, food made from scratch and pairing a good beer with a good meal. But outside the kitchen, the differences emerge.

Chuckanut Brewery & Kitchen
Chuckanut Brewery recently received the Great American Beer Festival’s (GABF) small brewery of the year award, and during the 2011 festival in October, four of their brews took home medals – two golds, a silver and a bronze.

Chuckanut Brewery’s focus during the warm months was on making light, drinkable lagers (and some ales) extremely well. But as the weather grows colder, a few darker beers start showing up – already a smoke porter has been added to the list.

One standout is their Kolsch – one of the 2011 GABF gold medal winners. The light-bodied, dry ale is a style from Cologne, Germany, and Chuckanut’s has a pleasant, malty complexity.

I enjoyed the session blonde ale – with its extremely refreshing character and low alcohol by volume, it’s perfect for quaffing on a sunny afternoon.

On the docket for release this winter are Chuckanut’s Alt Bier, full-bodied and hoppy, and the Dunkel lager, another award-winner for the brewery.

Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro
The back of Boundary Bay’s signature T-shirts and hoods features the brewery’s slogan “Save the Ales.” The brewery is well on its way to accomplishing that goal itself – right now there are no lagers on tap, and none on the way.

Boundary Bay’s beers range from a lone blonde-style American ale to the imperial oatmeal stout, a boozy, black-as-night “meal in a glass,” as the menu calls it.
Only the blonde clocks in at less than 5 percent alcohol by volume (ABV), while the stout hits 8.5 percent.

In between are the ESB (an English-style pale ale whose initials stand for Extra Special Bitter), an amber, an IPA (India Pale Ale) and my personal favorite, the Scotch ale. The Scotch has a malt flavor similar to its distilled cousin, with a smoothness that belies its ABV.

Each has a distinct brewing process and resulting characteristics; no two beers here could be confused. Hops here provide backbone, but are not the focus, except in the IPA and seasonal imperial IPA.

The IPA is touted as one of the brewery’s most popular, unsurprising in a hophead region like this. Its fresh hop flavor, however, sets it apart. Hops are generally added dried, and fresh hops are a seasonal luxury. Boundary Bay’s IPA has the flavor of fresh hops without the transience. X

Carissa Wright is looking forward to heading further afield for her next beer adventure. Homebrewing is still on the horizon, but so is ski season. One of the two will have to wait, and snow waits for no (wo)man.