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		The Brew Review - Kimo's Restaurant Reprinted from November 2005 Issue -by ANDY PLYMALE Kimo’s sports bar and brewpub got my attention last month when I saw in their ad in The Entertainer that they were offering $2.50 pints all month (!) in celebration of Oktoberfest. So I decided that these guys’ beer needed a full review, and headed over to the north end of Columbia Center Boulevard with local beer expert and long-time friend Kyle Roberson to test the waters at Kimo’s. Kyle is a long-time home brewer, a former brewery owner (of the much lamented Cirque Brewery, of Prosser), and until recently was president of the Mid-Columbia Zymergy Association (MCZA, aka, the “homebrew club”). Kyle and I found a decent crowd for an after-work Tuesday night, just busy enough to feel that we were at a happening place, but not so busy as to put a cramp in our service. Our waitress, Sarah, was diligent and attentive, even before we told her what we were up to, and we were surprised that it was her first night at Kimo’s, given her knowledge of the beers—which it turns out is due to most of the beers being offered across the street, where she had been working, at R.F. McDougals, since the restaurants have the same proprietors. (Some background information: Kimo’s has retained the Rattlesnake Mountain Brewery name for the brewing end of the restaurant, for regulatory simplicity, and in fact, nothing much has changed on the brewing end of things, since former assistant brewer Doug Ryder is now head brewer, and former assistant to the assistant brewer, Jason Mukuiki, has now moved up a notch.) So after Sarah brought us our taster platters, we set to work, starting with the Helluva Hefe hefeweisen (by definition, an unfiltered wheat beer), which we found to be light and refreshing (especially me, since I had bicycled from north Richland). We followed that with the Honey Hefe, which is the Helluva mixed with the Honey red at the tap—kind of a malty hefeweisen. The Honey Red itself was mild, filtered, very light, and very lightly hopped, and clocked in at 5.2% alcohol, according to the menu. We then moved on to the Snake Light, an extremely light ale, in the tradition of a Kolsch (a light German ale). The Snake was light in all respects—8 degrees original gravity (compared with 11.8 for the Hefe, for example), 8 international bittering units (compared with 48 for the brewery’s ESB), only 3.1% alcohol, and clear as day, measuring 2.5 on the “SRM” color scale (compared with 49 for the Oatmeal stout, on the opposite end of the things) – in fact, in the small-volume tasting glass at least, visually it could have passed for a major label “lite” beer. Kyle described the Snake as a “fruity version of major label light beer,” and elaborated, “This beer is a good example of a brewer’s art, because light beers are so hard to make—a good light beer is very difficult.” Kyle suggested that this beer was the perfect introduction to brewpub beers for the novice, and in fact, Sarah confirmed that many major-label “lite” beer drinkers at R.F McDougals had been switching to the Snake. Moving on, we tried the newest addition to the beer menu, the Knot Hole Ale, a filtered amber, flavored with toasted wood chips (hence the otherwise inscrutable name!), which Kyle found “biscuit flavored” (that is, highly malty) and not overly hoppy. The Harvest Ale, an “Oktoberfest style ale” was an unfiltered ale with a significant but not overpowering hop (bitter) flavor. And then, as unrepentant hop-heads, we tried what we’d been waiting for, the Glacier Bitter, an ale in the English ESB (Extra Special Bitter) style. We found the hoppiness excellently balanced with malt in this unfiltered beer. We then tasted what we would probably have to award “best in show” at Kimo’s/Rattlesnake: the Smokey Porter, which we found aptly named. After finishing the evening with a full pint of the porter, the next day I couldn’t get the pleasant taste and smell of this beer out of my head, and Kyle elaborated: “This beer is a good example of a robust style ale—lots of burnt taste, good ethanol, and not too much hoppiness.” Moving darker, the Oatmeal Stout, Kyle found “not especially sweet” and “fairly well balanced.” Assistant brewer Jason informed us that the stout will soon be offered on a nitrogen tap, which will help to further differentiate it from the porter. Jason also treated us to samples of a couple of upcoming offerings—a fresh hop ale and a barley wine. The fresh hop ale is not to be missed, since it can only be made once a year, when the hops are taken straight from the field to the brewery. A perfect end to the evening’s tasting was a sneak preview of the barley wine (a heavy, sweet, high-alcohol beer), aging since 2003 and which will be offered around Christmas, in extremely limited quantity—a mere five gallons. This beer was astounding—sweet, floral, smooth —and if you can’t wait until Christmas, then try it at the MCZA’s “Winter Beer Fest,” November 19th at the Kennewick Red Lion. Enjoy!