Aslan Brewing

From core beers to core values and down to every last detail, Aslan Brewing Co. is very much an expression of its four owners’ commitment to organic ingredients and their community. By Emily Hutto

IT’S NOT SURPRISING THAT Bellingham, Washington’s Aslan Brewing Co. is one of the fastest growing breweries in Washington State. The four owners of this organic brewpub hit the ground running after they opened their 15-barrel brewhouse and kitchen downtown in 2014. Less than three years later, Aslan has launched distribution of its cans across the state and expanded to a 30-barrel system with significantly more fermentation-tank space. The brewery is on track to brew 12,000 barrels in 2017.

Despite this massive growth, the atmosphere at Aslan Brewing is much more what you’d expect from a local pub or a draft-only nano brewery. Its tasting room is capacious but cozy, with long wooden tables for community seating and a modest bar with a chalkboard tap list. The walls of the two-story building are peppered with vivid canvasses from local artists, and there are perfectly pruned green plants placed throughout the space.

The beer list at Aslan is more akin to a smaller pub, too. In addition to Aslan’s five flagship beers, there are more than ten rotating beer styles on tap. Depending on the season, this list includes several hoppy and barrel-aged beers, Chai Milk Stout, Aslan’s Dunkelweizen, the Classic Light Lager, and the Disco Lemonade Berliner Weisse, for which the brewpub’s kitchen makes homemade woodruff syrup.

All those beers are all-organic, adds Aslan GM and Co-owner Patrick Haynes. “There’s not an ingredient that has touched our brewhouse that wasn’t USDA organic certified. We’re committed to always be organic.”

Aslan is also committed to making really great beer. Since its opening, Brewmaster and Co-owner Frank Trosset has created more than 130 recipes on the original pilot system. These varying batches, “in the pursuit of the perfect beer,” represent experimental ingredients and new beer styles but also simple tweaks on mainstays to dial in details. The five favorites that came out of this process were Batch 15 IPA, Dawn Patrol Pacific Ale, Ginger Rye Ale, B’ham Brown, and American Stout, which are now all of Aslan’s flagship beers.

Batch 15 is brewed with 2-row and wheat to create its light and opalescent appearance. It’s juicy and citrus forward—and unfiltered, as are Aslan’s other IPAS, to spotlight the rawness of its organic hops.

“Unfiltered hoppy beers are the only hoppy beers in my opinion,” says Trosset. “It’s funny; there is this craze for New England– style IPAS right now, but if you talk to any of the pioneers in that region, I doubt they go around tooting their horns claiming that they are making that style of IPA. It’s more of a philosophy of making that style of beer. I love unfiltered hoppy beer, but I don’t claim that mine are New England style. I like mine to be slightly more bitter.”

Also not included within most style guidelines is Aslan’s Dawn Patrol Pacific Ale, a refreshing, medium-bodied rye beer with subtle pineapple notes. The Pacific ale style has really yet to be defined, though a few other breweries, such as Stone & Wood in Australia and Good Life Brewing in Bend, Oregon, are also labeling their beers as such. Generally speaking, Pacific ales are cloudy and golden-colored with a big fruity aroma and a refreshing finish.

“I don’t really like to get hung up on ‘style,’ but Dawn Patrol doesn’t really fit well within any style that I am aware of,” says Trosset. It’s brewed with a bit of caramel malt, and other than a small amount of Cascade and El Dorado hops in the whirlpool, its hopping happens in the fermentor.

“Our Dawn Patrol is mildly bitter and fruity,” Trosset says. “And it has a depth and complexity to it that is hard to explain,” he adds, attempting anyway. “It was born out of my first attempt at