Stoup bills its offerings as 'the art and science of beer.' It is both, being a partnership between a food-and-beer-loving scientist, his similarly gastronomically-and-scientifically-inclined wife, and a biology teacher/cicerone friend of theirs. There are lots of great breweries in Ballard, but Stoup's beer sets it apart. Their Robust Porter, for example, is like the dark-beer-loving Emperor Palpatine to my pilsner-snob Anakin Skywalker: It converts me to the dark side every time. TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE