The brewery celebrates its first decade on January 9th and 10th
A decade ago, when Seattle’s Cloudburst Brewing poured its first beers, the world was a different place. Imagine a world in which people read magazines, and those magazines paid me to write stories about new breweries like Cloudburst? Weird. I pitched the story to my editor, promising that this was a big deal. Luckily, I was right. Cloudburst Brewing debuted and went platinum instantly. It erupted, like Nirvana’s Nevermind, creating shockwaves that rolled from the Seattle beer scene across the nation’s beer industry.
When Steve Luke went solo over a decade ago and left Elysian Brewing behind, words like ‘timid’ and ‘shy’ were not part of the plan; he would not name his brewery Drizzle Brewing or Intermittent Showers Brewing. He called it Cloudburst Brewing. You don’t miss a cloudburst, you don’t sleep through it, or forget it. You get wet.
Goldberg Variations in the Key of Beer
Steve avowed never to brew the same beer twice, which seemed ludicrous in an age when most breweries still built their reputations on reliable, invariable flagship beers. Within reason, and without strict adherence, he’s held to his word. In large part, Cloudburst Brewing earned esteem by making world-class, often breathtaking IPAs that most people not named Steve Luke would call hazy. (Don’t let your eyes deceive you: haze is not necessarily about appearance.) Each iteration was either slightly or wildly different from the next. The recipes for this massive catalog of unique IPAs are like Bach’s Goldberg Variations in the key of beer.
Happy Little Clouds Pilsner is a notable exception. Not an IPA, not necessarily a one-off beer, it was one of the first beers Cloudburst introduced back in January 2016. Happy Little Clouds was ahead of its time. Not an old-fashioned, European-style pilsner, but a contemporary rendition of the style. A modern, thoroughly American, hoppy pilsner, the kind that is common today.
Some of us drank Happy Little Clouds Pilsner a decade ago and said to ourselves, “Everything is about to change.” It was like Eddie Van Halen’s Eruption guitar solo on 1978’s Van Halen I album. Shocking, innovative, a little bit scary, and entirely new, Eruption was one minute and forty-two seconds of sound that inspired a whole new generation of axe handlers to bend, noodle, and two-handed finger tap their way into our ears.
Two-Handed Finger Tapping IPA
Yes, I did just compare Steve Luke to Eddie Van Halen. I’ll stand by it. Shortly after erupting onto the rock music scene, guitar manufacturers came to Eddie and said, “We need you to help us design guitars for this new style of playing.” Shortly after bursting onto the craft beer scene, hop breeders came to Steve and said, “We need you to help us breed hops for this new style of brewing.”
The point is that Cloudburst Brewing captured the attention of more than just the people who drink the beer, just as Eddie Van Halen captured the attention of more than just the people who listened to the music. Today, among many other things, Steve Luke is part of an exclusive cohort of brewers called the Hop Quality Group, which works with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop new hop varieties. Beyond that, his hoppy prowess is the stuff of legend. A legend sprinkled with a little bit of magic space dust, though we don’t need to dwell on that.
Although I rave about the IPAs, as most people do, no one should doubt Cloudburst Brewing’s skill at brewing other styles. Beyond the aforementioned Happy Little Clouds Pilsner, Darken Floxx is another longtime favorite of mine — a spellbinding chocolate-hazelnut imperial stout. And that brings me to my very long-winded point: Cloudburst Brewing is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary. The celebration will involve lots of beer, lots of music, and the tapping of the second-to-last keg of Darken Floxx ever.
Seattle, in case you do not realize it, you have something very special in Cloudburst Brewing. When well-informed beer nerds from around the world visit Seattle, Cloudburst is high on the list of must-visit breweries. I’d bet there is not one well-respected, highly revered brewer in the U.S. who would not travel to Seattle to brew a collab beer with Cloudburst. Steve and his crew create beers that are whimsical, fun, fantastical, and always technical masterpieces. Don’t let the playful, wacky Instagram presence fool you. Maybe it’s best if you do let it fool you a little bit, but know that Cloudburst ain’t messin’ when it comes to beer.
There’s a bit of mystery and pixie dust built into everything Cloudburst Brewing does. The anniversary celebration is no different. My advice: follow the brewery on Instagram to stay informed. Beyond that, don’t make other plans on January 9th and 10th.
Visit our events page and calendar to learn about all sorts of other upcoming beer events. To submit an event for inclusion on our events calendar, use our event submission form. Got more details to share, reach out to us.
