Georgetown Brewing Company

Georgetown Brewing in Seattle is exactly the kind of salvation you crawl toward when the edges of the world start closing in, when every dollar spent feels like a betrayal and every minute wasted is a fresh insult. Your journey to that industrial haven was paved in madness and desperation—the kind that breeds hallucinations of the sane amidst the chaos of a barely functional world.

The way the city unfolded for you: looming clouds, overpriced shelter, and the barren wasteland near Seatac where hope goes to die. A man could lose his mind trying to stay sober through all of that—so it makes perfect sense you'd end up in Georgetown, looking for an anchor in the form of Manny's Pale Ale.

Public transit was your only ticket out of the hellscape. God bless the old man at the bus stop, with his cryptic warnings and nonsensical proclamations. You needed to touch madness before you touched beer, and that old coot was a living testament to the insane. Bus fare was irrelevant; the ride itself was the toll, with its screaming maniacs and freeway-fleeing lunatics. Every bump, every raving, every moment was another battle toward the ultimate goal: beer. Cold, flowing, delicious beer.

Georgetown Brewing doesn’t waste time on formalities. It’s a repurposed loading dock, the kind of place where you half expect to see forklifts rolling kegs around while Tool’s “Schism” blares in the background. The tap list—colorful, diverse, and unapologetic—presents the sweet escape from the world outside. You down an Oktoberfest, a Grissette, and, naturally, Manny’s Pale Ale. It’s a drinkable moment of quiet clarity in the maelstrom of your Seattle pilgrimage.

This place saved you. Georgetown Brewing wasn’t just a stop on a map; it was the sanctuary you didn’t know you needed. The bartender’s smile, understanding and unspoken, was a nod from one survivor to another. You had fought the good fight, and the beer was your prize. Sobriety was the enemy, but Georgetown Brewing was the ally you never saw coming.

I stopped in at Georgetown Brewing last weekend for the first time since they moved into the new brewhouse/taproom facility (though I’d gotten growlers several times at the old location years ago). It’s a neat space, with a medium-sized taproom and a smallish outdoor seating area. The décor is lots of exposed wood and steel; clean and industrial, but also homey. You can see the brew facility through a big glass wall from the taproom — I always love seeing where the sausage is made, so to speak. They just do counter service, and they seem like they’re still mostly set up for to-go beer: growlers, six-packs, and kegs. They do the whole growler-exchange thing, which is pretty convenient.

On my visit they had fifteen taps plus a couple of guest ginger beers. They have their old standbys: Roger’s, Manny’s, Lucille, 9lb Porter, Johnny Utah, and Bodhizafa, plus seasonal/one-offs including an IPA, a hazy, a chocolate stout, coffee cream ale, dry Irish stout (on nitro), dark lager, 18lb Porter (a BBA version of their classic 9lb), and variations of 18lb on rum barrels and curaçao barrels. I’ve always liked G’town’s beer, and I’m certain to make the trek down to the neighborhood again to try more of their one-off stuff.

 

Open industrial space with a mix of spaces. Exterior is modern, with a large-ish open air seating space with benches and concrete steps. More open air seating sits below an awning, which leads into the only enclosed public-drinking space in the brewery. Large doors air out this space, but otherwise provide shelter from wind and rain. A service station for dirty glassware and water sits between the covered open air space and the interior room. Seating is a mix of high top shared tables, and standing/high-top seating bars that line the walls, including in the indoor space. Not a lot of intimate seating, giving this a more shared vibe. Glass walls and doors block access to the actual brewhouse, but allow patrons to qawk and stare at the stainless steel heros that facilitate creation of Georgetown's lovely beers. Service bar is a long, all-wood bar, complimenting concrete floors, and high-rise industrial ceilings. At the far end are two service stations for on-site beer with the opposite end closest to the front door allowing to-go purchases with coolers directly behind. Coolers are full of 4x16oz cans and pre-filled growlers. Service is quick, with a rotating array of bartenders, pouring beverages, and ringing up customers. Bar taplist is surprisingly diverse, even during my summer visit. There are a handful of IPAs, including Georgetown's flagships, along with some heavier options, a sour or two, and a couple lagers.

2020-03-13
Visited with my wife. I have gained a lot of respect for Georgetown since I started tasting their fresh hop beers a few years ago, followed up by beer like Bodhizafa, which tends to make me feel very positively about them to begin with. I was really excited when I found out they were going to expand their tasting room to a tap room and I would actually be able to go and buy a pint of beer instead of just sample things. This was my first visit since that was completed.

As expected, their standard line beers are great. Their one-offs are also great. We tried a couple barrel aged stouts and a couple sours (I think they're OK at sours but haven't quite figured it out yet). Vibe was awesome (despite covid-19 fears), bunch of beer lovers enjoying beers, all sorts of people. Service is friendly (bar service). Selection was good, leaning toward IPAs but not exclusively hoppy beers. I'll be back when I can.

A modest little brewery and taproom in the heart of Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood, fairly basic type interior. Fairly large interior seating area, smallish exterior seating during the summer. Not much in the way of entertainment except discussing the beers.

A larger assortment of A-/A caliber brews covering a good variety of styles, free samples, cans, growler fills and kegs to go are available. Prices on growlers and kegs are VERY reasonable, service is very friendly and knowledgeable on their offerings.

One of the most iconic breweries in Seattle, definitely worth stopping by, trying some fresh samples and picking up some beer to go

Had wanted to stop by the brewery/taphouse for some time now, and finally got the chance, the day after Xmas (2019).

As you walk into the tap room, the place has very much a warehouse vibe to it, as you would expect in a production brewery that just happens to have a modest size beer garden area as well. I want to say there was something 12 or 13 small tables with chair some chairs as you walk over to the tasting area bar. The bar is fairly small size; on one side patrons can order beer and hang with a pint or three, while on the other patrons can go to pick up kegs, get a growler fill, or pick up a pre-filled growler. The set up is very laid back and relaxed, and is pretty much a no frills arrangement. There's also a small store to the right of the bar area where you can purchase schwag (hat, hoodies, t-shirts and the like).

While the vibe and atmosphere are nothing to write home about I suppose, the beer here is a whole nuther story. As I'd never been here before, I went with the sample tray. I think you can order as many or as few sampler glasses as you want, which contain 4 ounces of beer. On this day I ordered the wit, the Dalton and Bodhi IPA's (as it would be nothing short of sacrilege to not order a glass of Bodhi at the source), a BA chocolate stout, the 18 lb. porter and a coffee vanilla stout. Everything was very, very good, which I thought really showed the range of the brewer here (seriously, even the wit was very, very good I thought). The porter was particularly outstanding and I'd be hard put to think of a better BA porter I've ever had. Was told that the sours here are also excellent, but I just didn't have the time or capacity to try them (as I had a long drive back to Portland in front of me). Altogether, I think there were roughly 25 beers on draft today. I believe you can also get cans of the core beers here as well (Lucille, Bodhi, Manny and the like), as well as growler fills of course.

In terms of service, it was excellent. The guys here know their stuff, and beer orders come quick. Pricing was decent as well I thought. Pints were in the $5.50 range for most core line-up beers I believe, and my 6 glass sampler tray was $19 (which I thought was pretty fair, considering it included to BA selections).

It's a bit of a pain in the ass to find the brewery if you don't know the area, but it's well worth the effort to get over here. Quality is very, very high across the board (at least based on the beers I sampled). This place is highly recommended.