According to Eater Seattle, Mollusk is set to open this upcoming Saturday, October 31 in South Lake Union. Travis Kukull and Cody Morris are well-known from their success at Gastropod, which was previously located in SoDo. It sounds like the restaurant’s liquor license may not be secured by Saturday, but don’t let that stop you from stopping by to check out the space and grab some food.

I had a chance to talk with co-owner/brewer Cody Morris a while back for pieces that I put together for Seattle Weekly and the Northwest Brewing News. Some good info on the new venture follows, including information on the brewing setup and plans.

From my Seattle column in the current Oct/Nov issue of Northwest Brewing News:

Cody Morris has come a long way since opening his nanobrewery, Epic Ales, in SoDo back in 2009. He has been brewing adventurous beers the entire journey, but things really started to take off when he paired up with chef Travis Kukull to open their brewpub, Gastropod, in 2013. After closing Gastropod last month, the pair is focused on opening up a much larger brewpub in a prime location. Mollusk will boast almost 5,000 square feet of space on Dexter in booming South Lake Union. The new venue will allow for 100 seats in the brewpub, and there will be much more space for brewing equipment.

The name Epic Ales will go away with the move; the new brewing operation will be known as Mollusk Brewing. This will be a welcome change for Morris, as there has been confusion in the marketplace ever since Epic Brewing (from Utah) entered the Seattle market for distribution a few years back. Mollusk Brewing will feature a 7-barrel system, but Morris will also bring over the 3-barrel system he used at Epic Ales, which will serve as a dedicated system for his sour program. While he’ll be working in some more traditional styles to the year-round lineup, including a pilsner and schwarzbier, Morris promises he won’t stop making the unique beers that Epic Ales was known for. He says, “When we announced that we were closing Epic Ales, I got a lot of emails and notes from people asking if we are still going to make unusual beers, because they’d be really sad if we made the same stuff as everyone else. So, we’re still going to be dedicated to doing unusual beers. For me, I’ve had this bug my whole life of doing something just a little bit different from what others around me are doing.”

Fans of Gastropod will find the new brewpub concept similar, but different. Morris says, “The food is still going to be very playful. Travis is not a person who just likes to make straightforward food; he loves to play with unusual ingredients.” The food menu will have a focus on Southeast Asian curries, and fans of Gastropod will be happy to hear that they plan to serve okonomiyaki, a savory Japanese pancake filled with various ingredients that was very popular at the SoDo restaurant. Morris and Kukull hope to have Mollusk open by the end of October.

From my seasonal beer column in the September 16 printing of Seattle Weekly:

Before closing last week, Gastropod was often referred to as one of Seattle’s most creative restaurants. Four years ago Chef Travis Kukull partnered with Epic Ales owner Cody Morris to open Gastropod in SoDo, where they paired Morris’s beers made with unique ingredients with Kukull’s inventive food preparations. Now, they are focusing on their next venture: Mollusk. Located on Dexter in South Lake Union, Mollusk will boast almost 5,000 square feet of space, including a brewpub that will seat up to 100 people. Fans of Gastropod and Epic Ales will find the new brewpub concept similar, but different. Morris says, “The food is still going to be very playful. Travis is not a person who just likes to make straightforward food; he loves to play with unusual ingredients.” The food menu will have a focus on Southeast Asian curries, and fans of Gastropod will be happy to hear that they plan to serve okonomiyaki, a savory Japanese pancake filled with various ingredients that was very popular at the SoDo restaurant. Morris says that the okonomiyaki helps gain a diner’s trust in trying other adventurous offerings on the menu. “The name itself sounds really exotic, but once they actually try it they realize it’s just a really tasty savory pancake. It’s a nice way to ease people into trusting the leaps that Travis sometimes asks a diner to make.”

The larger location will allow Morris to brew a wider variety of beers. In addition to sours and beers with adventurous ingredients, he plans to keep a pilsner and a schwarzbier (a German-style black lager) on draft year-round. For people dining at Mollusk that aren’t as familiar with pairing beer with food, Morris will provide plenty of options that aren’t overly-hoppy. He says, “I love hops…but if your palate is not acclimated to that level of bitterness, hoppy beers can be really, really gross. I think a lot of people tend to forget that. We mostly try to do beers that are more yeast and malt forward. Morris notes that adding unique ingredients to beer can certainly get a diner’s attention. “I think for a lot of people who describe themselves as foodies it’s about the exploration of combination. Is the sum greater than the parts? That sort of general approach is what we look for with some of our more unique beers and pairings.”

The name Epic Ales will go away with the move to South Lake Union, where the new brewing operation will be known as Mollusk Brewing. This will be a welcome change for Morris, as there has been confusion in the marketplace ever since Epic Brewing (from Utah) entered the Seattle market for distribution a few years back.

Morris and Kukull are hoping to open Mollusk by the end of October, and they are looking forward to being an active part of the South Lake Union neighborhood. Morris explains that he is excited to have some opportunities that they didn’t necessarily have in SoDo. “I used to get kind of jealous seeing what other local breweries were able to do working with their community…it’s going to be great to really be able to reach out. If we can help create a sense of community that would be awesome.”