BY MATT STEVENS for WEEKLY VOLCANO | 10/16/2026
I found one of the last glorious sunny days of the fall and made a long trip out to Buckley to get on the Foothills Trail to go for a bike ride. Nineteen miles later, with my thirst for yellow and red leaves and cool breezes fully satiated, my thirst for a fall beer was at full bore. I ducked into Elk Head Brewing on the western edge of Buckley to grab a pint.
I was greeted at noonish by six people excited for a Wednesday of baseball, staring up at the TV, and even more excited when a newcomer walked into the bar.
I asked for a seasonal, and boy, did I get one.
They poured me a “fall seasonal” and after having a couple of sips, I had to get some more info.
The beer was a dark copper amber. Very little head on it, but still a beautiful beer. All beers at Elk Head are poured in generous shaker glasses, which means they could get better glassware, but they aren’t shorting you with those 12 oz or 14 oz shaker glasses.
The nose of the beer was so odd. It had the dark copper malt base of some Vienna or dark crystal malt along with a healthy bit of floral and just very very slight hints of citrus hops. Even in the nose, I knew it was a big beer.
The first couple of sips were just as odd as the nose. The beer was big and tasty, and shockingly malty, but also with a great hop bite and dry crispness. I had to go ask the bartender exactly what I was drinking. He said “well, kind of a fall beer. We do it every year, but it’s something new every year.” The brewers brew a great fall Oktoberfest beer, then throw a bunch of fresh hops into the boil kettle, then also more fresh hops into the conditioning tank while the beer ages. They then pull off kegs from the conditioning tank regularly and put them on tap. So as the beer ages, it changes – it’s a live beer changing with the hops and growing into something more interesting.
Mouthfeel, it’s a great big old malt bomb of a beer with some incredibly crisp hop flavors. This is a great beer, and well worth a second if it didn’t come in at 7.5% and I had to get back to Tacoma.
But the best part of my trip out to Elk Head was that it’s a pub that’s going to make you a regular in the first 10 minutes you are at the bar. The crew standing around watching the playoff baseball game instantly made me feel welcome and excited for me to come in. They were excited for the game and the great beers on tap.
Overall, I had a great beer. An incredibly drinkable big fall beer made in an interesting way. But I was also made a regular at a pub I’d only been into once before some 10 years ago. If you find yourself in Buckley, say on the way back from Mt. Rainier, I highly suggest you grab a pint or two at Elk Head and make yourself a regular.
Elk Head Brewing is at 28120 State Route 410 E., Buckley, WA and just a mile away from the Foothills Trail that runs from Enumclaw to Puyallup.
