Dreadnought's year balancing art, science, beer

To Dreadnought Brewing co-owner Steve Huskey, crafting beer is the perfect blend of art and science. And the best part, he said, is it offers a tangible reward: when you're finished, you get to drink beer.

Huskey and the rest of the Dreadnought Brewing crew have been creating craft beer in Monroe for a year now, and are inviting the community to celebrate. Dreadnought's one-year anniversary event takes place noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 25, and features live music, pizza and a variety of custom Dreadnought brews at its family-friendly location off Fryelands Boulevard near Lake Tye Park.

The event will feature outdoor seating, a beer garden and live performances by Shameless Hussy, a 10-piece rock band, and Hard Knocks "n' Country, a country rock band that has performed at Dreadnought in the past.

Food will be available from mobile pizza vendor Cat House Pizza, so Dreadnought staff can focus on what they do best ' serving beer.

Dreadnought offers fine craft beer brewed on site, open mic nights every Friday and live music on Saturdays. The kitchen is open for lunch, serving freshly-made salads, paninis, sandwiches and pizza. Dreadnought is an all-ages establishment and families are always welcome, Huskey said.-á -á

Dreadnought is veteran-owned and operated, with its owners each representing a different branch of the United States Armed Forces. Huskey and his wife, Anne, represent the Army, Steve with 15 years of service and Anne with 10. Steve's father, James, represents the Marine Corps, and co-owner Kristi Browne served in the Air Force for 10 years.

The Navy is represented by kitchen manager and co-owner Sandra Jordan, whose husband, Sean, was a chief petty officer. Sean, a professional photographer with the Seattle Police Department, helps with marketing and photography.

Other co-owners include Clinton Langevin, Kyle McFarland and firefighter Heath Clark.

Huskey, Dreadnought's head brewer, has been brewing beer off and on since 1991. It's a craft that requires patience, a great deal of fine-tuning and a certain amount of risk, as different methods of finessing a blend will produce different results. Only half the flavor of beer comes from the actual brewing of the beer, Huskey said, while the other half comes from temperature, yeast, the type of fermenter and various other factors.

It takes between two and six weeks to brew beer, longer if the blend requires a certain amount of aging.

Over the past year, Dreadnought has expanded its brewing capacity and begun distributing its beers to roughly a dozen craft alehouses in the Puget Sound area. Huskey has enjoyed establishing relationships with other local business owners, including Sahara Pizza Monroe owner Bridgette Tuttle, who always has a Dreadnought brew on tap. Sahara serves Dreadnought beer, and Dreadnought serves handmade pizzas created on Sahara's freshly-made dough.

Huskey has also developed a close relationship with fellow brewer Ray Pitts of Duvall's Old Rock Brewery, who was forced to close its doors after extreme flood damage. The two are now brewing together at Dreadnought, and have made a variety of collaborative brews.

Any beer on tap at Dreadnought distinguished as a "collaboration beerGÇ¥ is the result of the relationship with Pitts, Huskey said.

One of their collaborations, a Scotch ale called Misery Whip, took the Washington Beer Awards gold medal for Scotch ales. The honor was announced on Saturday, June 18, during the Washington Brewers Festival at Marymoor Park in Redmond.-á

Huskey enjoys the opportunity to get creative. In another collaborative brewing venture with local homebrewer Ken Tompkins, the two brewed a French saison, which is a pale "farmhouseGÇ¥ brew known for being both fruity and spicy. They incorporated Yakima cherries and white pepper, aging the beer in a chardonnay barrel.

"That brings a totally different flavor profile to that beer, because you get some chardonnay still stuck in the barrel,GÇ¥ Huskey said.

Using retired chardonnay barrels in the aging process is a common technique, as is using barrels from spirits like bourbon. Huskey acquires bourbon barrels direct from a distillery to enhance certain brews, sometimes allowing them to age for up to six months at a stretch. Wine barrels are more unpredictable, he said, because the low alcohol content of the wine means the barrels may have unanticipated microorganisms.

"I can't put a beer in a wine barrel and expect it to be what we call "clean.' There's going to be some wild yeast or something in there, that I did not plan on, that's going to do something to the flavor,GÇ¥ Huskey said. "That's part of the joy ' you're experimenting with that barrel.GÇ¥

A wine barrel might produce a particular flavor during its first use, but could produce a totally different flavor when used a second time, he said.

Huskey prides himself on using the freshest ingredients and taking the time to get a recipe right. He spent more than two years perfecting Dreadnought's Nightmare California Pale Ale recipe, which is one of Dreadnought's signature brews. He started conceptualizing how he wanted to build the blend, deciding that he wanted to craft an English-style, hoppy brew that wasn't bitter.

"Hops have two different oils; one is a bittering oil and one is a spicy flavoring oil,GÇ¥ Huskey said. "So learning how to use hops is like using a jalapeno in cooking.GÇ¥

Jalapenos can be used for heat, flavor, or both, depending on how they are treated.

"There's all these different things you can do to it to get the flavor you're looking for; it's not just a one trick pony,GÇ¥ Huskey said. "Hops is the same way.GÇ¥-á

Dreadnought's CPA has earned rave reviews from beer aficionados.

In the future, Huskey plans to continue to improve and streamline Dreadnought's brewing processes, and hopes to add fermenters that will help further boost productivity. He is partnering with other craft breweries and taprooms to create a beer map, which will identify where craft brews are sold in Monroe.-á -á -á

Dreadnought is open 3-10 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. For more information on Dreadnought Brewing, visit www.dreadnoughtbrewing.com.