Stemma Brewing

Love their beers but this place can get loud sometimes, especially when kids are running around. (I will never understand the concept of having a kids' party at a brewery.) We bring our own sandwiches but there are often two or three food trucks available. It's dog-friendly both outdoors and indoors. Good variety of styles on tap, plus wine, cider, seltzer and soda. They have a cat patrolling the production area, and the brewery's name refers to genealogy. The staff are fairly quick to wipe down tables as soon as they're vacant. Parking is a little tricky with the limited number of spaces. They recently took over the old Twin Sisters property so we're looking forward to seeing what they're doing with that location. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area. Try the Conditus Lager, with lemon and cayenne! They make a tasty amber, too.

I visited Stemma while hanging out in Bellingham last weekend. The build out is clean and just a little industrial, but welcoming. There're a few plants around, along with some groovy artwork and windows into the brewhouse itself (which I always like). It was trivia night when I visited and there were plenty of people there, including families.

On my visit, they had 12 beers on tap plus their seltzer and some guest wine/cider. Most of the taplist was IPAs, but they had a couple lagers, an amber, a porter, a strong ale, and a stout. The Conditus lemon and cayenne lager is ... as advertised! A bit on the toasty side but still rather good. Porter is pretty standard, but tasty enough. The Mosaic single hop IPA and hazy IPA were alright - not terrible but nothing to write home about.

Service at the bar is prompt and friendly enough. I liked the vibe at Stemma and could see myself returning.

Visited early on a Tuesday with @BBThunderbolt, had one beer before wandering on to Otherlands.

It's a cool place, pretty roomy, modern but not obnoxious. Looks like it would be nice in the summertime. Staff was friendly and willing to talk about beer. They had a reasonable selection of styles on the menu, several IPA, a few lagers, a stout. I had a pilsner, it was nice.

They had cans to go, fill crowlers, plenty of merch. I enjoyed my stop.

Not what I would consider a destination, but certainly a worthy stop.

A very basic interior with a polished concrete floor. The service was fine and the beer is not. Couldn't really recommend any of the 4 beers tried. By the way, dogs inside but no sign of any cats.

 

This just a quick, early overview. The brewery just opened last Saturday, so they are still finding the lightswitches.

Right now, the taproom is a nice sized space, with plain, white walls, that at this point have no art, but that's coming.

The 4 brews on tap are all first batches, were of average-ish quality and taste, and will certainly get better with time and experience.

The service was fine, experienced folks from the brewery/bar/restaurant industry in town.

Again, the selection was limited, but there are more beers on the way.

Nice addition to the brewery list in town, and I'll update this review after a few months.