Gig Harbor Brewing Co.

real cool to check this place out, i have so much more exploring of washington to do, i will take every single chance i get. this was a quick stop for me, couldnt have been here an hour, but got to rip three beers and all were solid, although there is a certain old school vibe here where the beers didnt quite seem to be keeping up with the currant standard in this area. mellow spot, weird area, side of the road, parked on a weird hill, chill inside, i was the only one there the whole time, tap handles on the outside of what must be their cooler, a few seat bar, place is tiny, brewery not really hidden from view off back to the left when you walk in, posted up with the bartender and she was super friendly and cool, had great beer recommendations, and helped my time here be memorable i think, conversational. started with a plain lager that had some richness, creamy and nice, off dry, fermenty in a cool way, then a reddish ipa called dead mans island, and finally a porter that could have used a little more roast and a little more carbonation, but the beer here was good, a little distinctive, and intentional it seemed, older school vibes, like a generation ago type taproom, but there is something instantly nostalgic about that too. there are sicker places to go when in this part of this world, no denying, but im glad i stopped, relaxing and impossibly unpretentious, excellent service. hope to find myself in here again one day...

Arrived after work, around 6:30pm and bingo was the main attraction for the the mostly 50 plus crowd. A few kids and an overly enthusiastic bingo announcer was all you could hear, as whatever music was playing was inaudible and the WNBA game was (thankfully) muted. I ordered the Racing Rooster Red, and got a bingo card when I learned you could win free beer. Ambers are not my favorite beer style, but this one was very quaffable with a solid caramel malt base. I didn’t win any beer, and bingo ended before I finished my Red, but I knew this was a one and done visit long before that.

I visited Gig Harbor Brewing a couple weeks ago before seeing a friend play a show nearby. I really enjoyed the vibe -- it's a small, cozy taproom, and on the day I visited (a Tuesday) was chock full of boisterous regulars having a grand old time. There are a handful of TVs, but the volume was off, so people could sit and talk to each other -- a pretty good model.

They had 8 beers on tap when I visited, including 3 IPAs, 2 stouts and a few other basic styles. I liked the Brass Shot IPA well enough; it reminded me of an English style IPA. But where the beer really shone was in the black cherry stout -- it was super duper cherry and I loved it. Definitely worth stopping by if you're in the South Tacoma Way region.