BY MATT STEVENS for WEEKLY VOLCANO | 10/30/2026
The Powerhouse Restaurant and Brewery is a long-running institution in the valley in Puyallup and a gorgeous building. It’s also just a couple of blocks off the River Trail in Puyallup, so it’s a great stop after a bike ride.
As the long dark is setting in, I was looking for something to help get me through those bleak, wet, and chilly evenings. Their Scottish Ale was the easiest to pull on the menu.
It pours a dark copper with a brilliant, just-off-white head in a nonic pint glass — historically a British pale ale glass — and comes looking gorgeous. We’re off to a great start. The Powerhouse Scottish Ale comes in at 5.9% alcohol.
The Powerhouse is one of my favorite brewery locations because the space — the building and historic electrical equipment decorating the walls — is so great. It’s an old electric powerhouse for the Interurban train that used to run from Seattle to Olympia — so it’s a gorgeous three-story brick building with a quite small footprint. It has a great patio to enjoy the spring and summer — though it was not open the day I was there. But it also has an incredible assortment of antique and abused electrical equipment. It’s such a great setup.
The nose of the beer has some malt sweetness and very light caramel flavors. Basically no hop aroma coming through and just hints of round malt body. The toffee is there as well with the hints of caramel.
On the taste, the super creamy head is still there, and then the caramel malts really shine. More toffee flavors, some great caramel, and some residual sweetness. But the beer is very much not overall sweet. This is a relatively simple flavor profile, but they nailed it. It’s incredibly pleasant to drink.
On the mouthfeel, this is a great beer. It pairs well with almost any food and provides those great robust flavors. Several Scottish ales I’ve had in the past were too heavy — they made you not want to drink another one. This beer does not have that problem. Also, as I go through this beer, that head has some real staying power. That’s a sign of an extremely well-made beer.
Overall, this is a great beer, and as I said before, the Powerhouse is one of my favorite breweries in the South Sound due to the lovely decorating scheme. Get yourself over to Puyallup and pull up to the bar.
Powerhouse Restaurant and Brewery is at 454 E. Main Ave., Puyallup.
