Belt’s Beer Garden: Crushin’ It!

Mar 23, 2024

Reuben’s Brews was opened in 2012 by Adam and Grace Robbings, who named it after their son Reuben. They like to brew from the glass backwards - “designing each beer with intention, unbound by constraints” to help grow everyone’s love for beer.

The Seattle, Washington brewery didn’t have a taproom for three years, finally opening their Taproom location in 2015. They have since grown to three Seattle locations - The Taproom (their main space with 25 beers on tap), their Barrel House (a wild ale facility about a block away), and The Canning Line (their production house, that is open to private events).

Reuben’s is actually the most decorated brewery in Washington state, with more than 200 awards coming their way in the past decade. That’s quite the accomplishment!

Today I have one of their seasonal brews - PNW Crush.

PNW Crush is part of their Crush Series of beer and is a hazy IPA brewed with four types of malt (Oats, Pale, Pils, Wheat) and a trio of hops - Azacca, Mosaic, and Strata. It’s called PNW Crush because every single ingredient came from the Pacific Northwest - the hops being Washington grown and the malts coming from nearby Skagit Valley. It has a solid 7% ABV and at your local liquor store, it’ll cost you just $16 per four-pack.

PNW Crush poured a murky straw color that was nearly opaque, certainly living up to the hazy aspect of the style. There was a nice amount of head that built up; nearly two fingers of fluffy eggshell white foam. The bubbles left some solid lacing as they slowly dissipated down into a small, dense accumulation around the edge of the glass.

The nose of this brew was a nice blend of grist and fruit. There were some solid aromas of flaked wheat and oats from the malts used but the smell mostly consisted of juicier, fruitier notes. The biggest appearances were from tropical fruits like tangerines, peaches, papayas, and mangoes. But there were some lesser qualities of apricot, grapefruit, and star fruit as well.

Each sip begins with a softer, more pillowy body that seems to expand as it washes over the tongue. However, despite the thickness of the mouthfeel, it still drank rather light and was shockingly crushable.

In a not-so-shocking twist, it was the tropical fruit flavors that really hit first. There were big notes of stone fruit right off the bat, with the peaches and apricots really coming on strong. However, not to be outdone, there was a burst of tangerine and papaya shortly after that seamlessly mixed in with the stone fruits.

Those four flavors controlled the vast majority of the sip. Every now and then there would be a light pop of mango or a cereal-like touch of grain that makes an appearance. Some pineapple and pithy grapefruit were also no strangers to the taste here, showing up near the backend on a couple of occasions as well.

For the most part, this hazy ends rather cleanly. A few times there was a resinous grapefruit rind bitterness that appeared. On some other sips, it was very peachy and a little dry. But, all-in-all, it was a very nice finish, with the only negative being a touch of dryness.

The 7% ABV was hidden entirely and, as I said earlier, despite the thicker body, it was a very crushable brew. Honestly, PNW Crush went down super easy. It’s better than most hazies these days and well worth the cost of the four-pack. I’m not sure how long this will be around…so get it while you can!