Beyond a Reasonable Stout by Ellie Alexander

Author:Ellie Alexander
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

CHAPTER

SIXTEEN

AS PLANNED, GARRETT, KAT, AND I regrouped after lunch. Kat had opened the bar and was filling small wooden bowls with peanuts. Garrett was testing the taps.

“I vote that we give that a try tomorrow morning,” he said. He had swapped his wallpaper-scraping attire for a pair of jeans and a gray Nitro hoodie with our atomic logo of the beer elements. “I don’t know about you two, but I’m happy to spend the rest of the afternoon pouring pints and chatting with customers.”

“Alex agreed to stop by after school. Maybe we can start brainstorming some ideas for the posters with him,” I said to Kat.

“Oh yeah, totally. I’ve been pinning stuff like crazy on my Pinterest boards. He’s going to think I’m nuts.”

“He’s fifteen. I think he’ll be thrilled to be part of this.”

Garrett went to check on the gravity of our holiday beers. Brewers use different techniques when it comes to checking the gravity. Some check two or three times near the end of the fermentation process but otherwise leave their beer alone to do its thing. Garrett was slightly more obsessive. He measured the decline of sugar every day (or even multiple times a day) to get a sense of how the beer was progressing.

I went to help Kat in the tasting room, which had a decent post-lunch crowd, including a table of retirees who had decided to take the train from Seattle for a quick midweek getaway. I spent a good thirty minutes chatting with them and giving them a rundown of our beer selection. One woman asked if it would be possible to see our brewing operations, and I happily obliged. Beer education was one of my favorite parts of the job. I loved getting to share my knowledge. It never failed that tour groups would leave slightly awestruck about the many steps and variables involved in brewing. I hoped that they also left with a new appreciation of beer’s many nuanced flavors and with some tips on how to expand their tasting repertoire.

After the tour, I poured the group a tasting tray and had them put their newfound beer education to the test. I smiled as they took turns holding each tasting glass to their nose before sipping. They were quick studies. I was impressed with how easily they identified the citrus tones in our Pucker Up IPA and the earthy chocolate notes in our stout.

I left them to their expert tasting and went outside to check on the patio tables. Nitro’s small patio didn’t rival Der Keller’s, but we had created an intimate, cozy outside seating area in the enclosed space with a collection of small wrought-iron bistro tables and potted plants. Once the snow began to fall, we’d have to bring everything inside, but for the moment, locals were soaking up the lingering late-afternoon sun.

A group of city light installers took up one of the tables and a small crowd wearing Valerie Hedy T-shirts had pushed together a collection of two-person tables.

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