Lucky Envelope Brewing

Around this time last year, my husband and I embarked on a quest to visit all the breweries that had sprung up in our newly hip Frelard neighborhood. We called it the Fremont Drinking Project, and made it to approximately three places before we got busy and forgot about it for months. Then one day in September, we took advantage of a rare free afternoon to visit one of our favorite breweries, Lucky Envelope. Obviously, I didn’t get around to writing it up right away. Now, only a few months later, it’s almost hard to imagine walking down the brewery to casually sit around sipping beer. But those days will come again, and when they do, you can be sure I’ll be sipping from a Lucky Envelope.

The Place

I’ve been drinking Lucky Envelope since the very beginning, but this was the first time I visited the brewery. It’s a warehouse type building in the Ballard Brewery District. Of course, we forgot to bring our Brewery Passports, so we still don’t have any stamps.

This is a working brewery, and the taproom is more functional than pretty – nothing like the designed aesthetic of Trailbend Taproom. We arrived the day after their Autumn Moon Festival celebration, so there were a few holiday decorations up, but these were outnumbered by sports-fan paraphernalia.

Seating in the taproom is at big shared picnic-style tables. There is also an outdoor seating area with more of the same tables under a sun tent. It was a little chilly the day we went, so the outside area was quieter. Plus it was further from the big tv showing sportsball, so that’s where we chose to sit.

The Vibe

Lucky Envelope is notable as the only Asian-owned craft brewery in the area. That fact is celebrated in the name and the two big holiday celebrations (Autumn Moon and Lunar New Year). But they don’t make a gimmick of it. Instead, the vibe is very low-key. It doesn’t feel like they’re trying to be a destination. It’s just a place where folks in the neighborhood can pick up good beer instead of going to the store. Which is exactly the sort of place I value, what with living in the neighborhood.

The Brews

Lucky Envelope’s brewing philosophy is centered around “Culturally Inspired Beer” which is not specific to Asia. Instead, it references their willingness to play with traditional brewing culture, tweaking techniques and experimenting with ingredients. It’s also a savvy business decision, because the traditional lager/Northwest IPA microbrew market is saturated. So Lucky Envelope maintains a rotating tap of – well, I hate to call them novelty – beers with unusual flavors.

We got a tasting flight.

From light to dark, we had:

Lucky Envelope Lager: This is one of their flagship brews. It has a big flavor for a lager and is strongly carbonated.

Grapefruit IPA: You guys, they are not kidding. There is SO MUCH GRAPEFRUIT in this IPA. Lots of beers have fruit notes, but this is like a hopped grapefruitade. It’s memorable, and if you like grapefruit it tastes good. But it’s definitely not for everybody.

Raspberry Sour: I never used to like them, but I seem to have developed a taste for sours lately. This one was heavier on the raspberry than on the sour. Whether that’s good or bad a matter of personal preference. The actual pinkish color and fruity flavor were definitely a mood, and I enjoyed it as a good summer drink to seek out on a hot day.

Peanut Butter Cream Stout: I like peanut butter and I like stout. But I had my doubts about this one. You could smell the peanut butter before you drank it. I tasted oatmeal, too. The whole time I was drinking it, I felt like it was missing ice cream. This beer really wants to be an ice cream float. But somehow, all that came together without being too much. It was a decent beer all by itself. But I will be buying a growler this summer to make floats with.

Double Happiness Imperial: Lightly carbonated and rich, drinking this was almost more like sipping port than a porter.  

The Food

Since it’s just a tasting room in the brewery, Lucky Envelope doesn’t have a kitchen. Like many of the breweries in the neighborhood, they do have a rotating food truck calendar. The rotation includes Panda Dim Sum, Bai Tong Thai, and Cycle Dogs. But alas, none of them were there on the day we visited. We had also missed the Autumn Moon Festival, and all the moon cakes were sold out.

The Conclusion

Lucky Envelope could be gimmicky with their focus on flavored beers, but the quality of the beers elevates them to unique instead. Strong, unusual flavor combinations aren’t for everyone, and I tend to reach for them as more “special occasion” beers. But their more standard brews hold their own amongst traditionalists. Next to Reuben’s, I think Lucky Envelope is the local beer that shows up most often in my house. And now that I’ve finally visited the brewery, I look forward to walking down on a lazy post-pandemic summer afternoon for another round.

The Covid

While we’re all still in pandemic lockdown, however, hanging out at the brewery is not an option. Lucky Envelope is still open for business, though. You can order 64-ounce growlers online for pickup Wednesday through Sunday 3pm-6pm. I recommend that you do.