3 Grid IPA from Schooner Exact

In the 90’s Red Hook’s ESB was the beer that every Seattle bar had on tap. In the 2000’s it was Mac & Jack’s Amber. Hopefully, in this decade that beer will be the 3 Grid IPA from Schooner Exact. I’m not a real creature of habit when it comes to craft beer: there are just too many good ones to try, but I could drink this beer every day. The 3 Grid IPA has a nice soft foamy head, like a hop infused bubble bath (if I owned the brewery, I would bathe in it), and loaded with Yakima hop varieties like Cascade, Chinook, Columbus, and Amarillo, 3 Grid is hoppy, but drinkable. The citrusy tamarind bitterness doesn’t stick to your palate, and is nicely balanced with a firm malty texture. “We wanted to make a session IPA”, co-founder Matt Mclung once told me. When some hear the term “session beer” they think of something mild and limp; this beer is neither one of those things, but it is perfect if you are out with your friends having a few.
High School Chemistry teacher Matt Mclung and his wife Heather, started Schooner Exact (with a third partner, now gone) with a ½ barrel pilot brewing system they bought on Craig’s list, and set up shop in an Active Space in West Seattle, not far from where the Denny Party’s ship-The Schooner Exact-first landed in landed in Seattle in 1851. The 3 Grid name is also a nod to Seattle history, referring to the three grids of traffic, resulting from a land dispute between three of Seattle’s founding fathers. Their current brewery is located in Georgetown, and features a tap room to enjoy a fresh pint, or fill up a growler. Stop in and say hi; this brewery is one of the reasons Seattle is a great place to live.