Happy's Market

Stopped and picked up some local beers while driving through the area to our campsite. It's basically an over-sized mini-mart, but they have a small bar where they do growler fills, and a good size selection of warm and cold craft beer. The woman working showed me around and pointed out all the local WA beers that were popular.

 

In Ellensburg there are really only two places to go that have good selections of microbrews and Happy's is one of them. On the outside it looks like a really shady minimart. However on the inside they have a very large selection of micros and imports from breweries such as Stone, Allagash, Unibroue, Ommegang, in addition to various Northwest breweries such as Elysian and Rouge. Prices seem reasonable and the staff seems friendly enough. So all in all it should be one of two go to places if you are in Central Washington.

First out-of-stater to review Happy's -- woo-hoo!

Stopped in while visiting Ellensburg for my cousin's wedding -- I was jetlagged & out at 7AM looking for beer for a raft trip later that morning, & decided on a whim to check this place out. Serendipity! Two-and-a-half lo-o-o-ong coolers of beer, mostly craft with the requisite macro stuff. Plenty of local goodies & quality imports, too. Big bomber & 750mL selection.

Prices were reasonable -- dropped $8 for Old Viscosity, $9 for a sixer of Dale's. I mentioned in a review of another WA bottle shop that prices seem pretty comparable to PA, despite PA folks bemoaning the archaic beer laws. I was expecting lower, but didn't feel cheated.

Service was fine, I made out pretty well on my own. Don't know how often they have folks buying craft beer at 7AM, but it was no problem.

I guess Happy's may have skewed my expectations a little bit -- given that this was a random stop-in, I just assumed that all Washington convenience stores have this kind of selection. Not the case, I guess, but again, I'm comparing to PA where availability is more scarce. Overall, glad I found the place, & I wouldn't be sad to have Happy's as my go-to.

This is the place to get beer if you're in Central WA. It's an unassuming little store that sells beer, wine, tobacco, groceries, and even ninja stars (or knives or something). Anyway, it's pretty unique and a good fit for a college town. Almost three of the four walls are dedicated to beer, granted one of those walls is mostly macro brews. However they consistently carry beers from Stone, Rogue, Dogfish Head, Elysian, Great Divide, Deschutes, Samuel Smith, etc. You can expect a good rotating selection of 22oz bombers and Euro import/Belgian singles. No mixing of six packs unfortunatly. Staff is friendly. Prices are reasonable.

I been here many times for the fizzy yellow piss beer, as a college student. However, I found out that this is the only place around with Stone, so I decided to stop by. I picked up some Iron Horse Brown Ale (local), a bomber of Ruination IPA, and then asked where the Stone was, and luckily the owner was there. They only have the 22 oz bombers in the coolers, and I asked if I could get a case. He grabs me a case from the back, then proceeds to give me a free bomber of the Stone Smoked Porter. My total ended up being like $67, and he gave me $5 change even, great place, he really appreciates people who don't buy the typical 30 bombs of busch or keystone. Highly recommend stopping by if in Central Washington Area, you won't regret it.

Happy's is a longtime purveyor of beer in Ellensburg but has a new owner who is committed to putting together the most comprehensive beer selection East of the Cascades. He does carry macros and malternatives but devotes an inordinate amount of cooler space to any and all specialty beers that the local distributors can bring in. Some of the highlights include: Stone, DFH, Goose Island, Young's, Sam Smith, Paulaner, Der Hirschbrau, DeKonick, Spaten, Elysian, Pike, New Belgium, Fullers, Newcastle, Kronenbourg, Fischer, Lindeman's, Boundary Bay, and many, many more. I would guess the total number of beers available to be over 400 (including macros).