BY MATT STEVENS for WEEKLY VOLCANO | 7/10/2026
Wet Coast Brewing, Gig Harbor, WA: Cream Ale
This week we found a cream ale to enjoy for our Fourth of July party. Cream ales are a historic beer style that almost died out and only recently made a comeback. Anchor Steam Brewing in California kept the style alive, and lots of craft brewers have been making them to change up their lineups and to hopefully pull in some light lager drinkers looking for slightly more flavor. Cream ales have lots of flavor profiles associated with light lagers: clear, crisp, with slight malt flavors and generally no hops. Some hints of corn or general sweetness from corn sometimes are used in slight combination with the malt bill.
The cream ale from Wet Coast Brewing pours a golden yellow with a beautiful white head. I roughed it up a bit trying to get the can off the six-pack but still didn’t get much of a foam explosion. There are some great legs on that head as the foam eases back into the beer.
On the nose, the slight corn/DMS flavors are there. This could be confused for a light lager, but it’s not as crisp and is missing the corn bite that I associate with light lagers. The corn smells coming through are pleasing and round.
The first taste is a very solid beer. I can understand how they were crafted to compete with light lagers. I enjoyed a couple Vitamin R’s between fireworks on the big boom day, and this beer comes across as a much better version of that beer. Very light fruity esters, but in an enjoyable way, mixing with the corn adjuncts.
Mouthfeel: The beer is smooth and tasty. I think it’s maybe slightly sweeter than the style calls for, but I’m very much enjoying it. It’s a great beer for a warm afternoon sitting in the hammock and studying the clouds. It’s never a dinosaur.
Overall, this is a solid beer and widely available. I found my six-pack at Safeway in Proctor, but I’ve seen it on tap at Peaks and Pints and at The Red Hot on Sixth Avenue.
The brewery is at 6820 Kimball Drive in Gig Harbor.
