The Beer:

Year Round – Wahoo Wheat (Witbier), Ballast Point Pale Ale (American Pale Ale), Calico Amber Ale (American Amber Ale), Big Eye (IPA), Black Marlin Porter (Porter)

Seasonal – Sculpin (IPA), Tongue Buckler (Imperial Red Ale), Ginger Big Eye (Ginger IPA), Victory at Sea (Imperial Porter), Sea Monster (Imperial Stout)

 The Facts:

Hours: M-Sat 11-9, Sun 11-6 Age: 21+ Brewery Tours: 12 PM, 2 PM, 5 PM daily # of Taps: 10 Tasters: 3oz., $1-2 Growler Fills: 1/2 Gallon- $9-14, 1 Gallon- $18-24 Retail Kegs: Yes (5G) Guest Taps: No

Food: Food Trucks

Parking: Abundant street and small lot

Brewmaster: Yuseff Cherney

Year Founded: 1996

Twitter: @BPBrewing

Required Drinking: Bitter beers are definitely the highlight of any trip to BP.  Sampling Sculpin, Big Eye (and Ginger BE), and Tongue Buckler side by side really allows you to taste BP’s mastery of hops. Also if you get the chance, Victory at Sea is a real treat for any porter lovers. Though only on tap a few months (if that) out of the year, it really is an amazing beer to search out.

Atmosphere: From the outside, BP’s production brewery looks like any other office/warehouse in a neighborhood full of them, but once inside you find a well outfitted tap room, complete with hanging awards, brewery art, and a few prize mounted fish for which some of the beers derive their names.  Truly one of the nicer beer only tap rooms I’ve been in, outfitted with 5 tall tables and a drink rail around the outside of the long front room. The main brewery looms behind the taps with a small view into the brewery lab as well. Also in the front area is a well stocked to-go bottle fridge and a giant cabinet of swag, complete with the most ridiculous looking 64 oz. flask I’ve ever seen.

Impression: BP is seemingly teeming with locals and traveling beer fans every day, all day and can be a fun stop on a brewery tour or a great one stop trip for a few quick growler fills. The 1-gallon growlers are always a favorite of mine, and are rarely seen at other breweries. If you aren’t into dealing with the crowd try and plan your trip to arrive just before one of the scheduled tours, with most of the tap room wandering around on the tour, we found ourselves with a very quiet empty space for twenty minutes or so.

Beer at the Source is a user-friendly guide to tap rooms.