Odin acquired Hilliard's

Along with Hilliards, I wonder if this might be the start of a shake-out of the lesser craft breweries. I'm thinking Urban Family and NW Peaks as well as Bad Jimmy's. I hope not, but who can say?

 

I have to assume you haven't had much Urban Family. I happen to think they're one of the most underrated breweries in the area - I consistently slot them in my top 5 in Seattle. And as @distantmantra said, they distribute all over. Their beer was available at City Beer Store last time I was in San Francisco and was also on the menu at Jester King. I encourage you to stop by their, albeit inconvenient, taproom and try them out if you haven't recently.

 

Completely agree with this. I used to go to the Ballard taproom often and it was always empty, and I could never figure out why. Their Saisons were on point and they were using Brett when hardly anyone in the area was.

 

Thanks for the info on Urban Family. I have been to their present location three times and was not impressed with the quality of what I sampled. But, I'll head back next week and give it a go.

 

Urban Family isn't really out of the way, right off the Ballard Bridge with plenty of parking. Went there last week for the first time, I will return because I really enjoyed the beers on tap and it's a low key, casual spot for a beer, inside or out.

 

I think UF is a bit ignored because they started with a lot hype right in the heart of the Ballard night life, made a lot of mediocre beers to start off with, but then got better over time, and then moved to their spot in Magnolia that no one knows about. They do make some beers comparable with HM, but unlike HM who came out of the gate dialed in and droppin' hot fire everyone, they took some time to get their sours and wild ales going. But yeah, their Fancy Sauce beers are excellent.

Regarding Odin acquiring Hilliard's......one mediocre to bad brewery buys another I guess? Best of luck.

Agree that it's weird that Hilliard's is one of the first of the "new wave" of ballard breweries to go under given how much acclaim they had when they opened and how their cans were EVERYWHERE right off the bat despite the Saison tasting like gasoline.

 

Odin's is fine. Haven't been to the taproom since they left Fremont (which was def a good call for them), but they do a few non-typical NW ale styles pretty well. Just nothing I go out of my way for.

 

That's definitely a valid point. Urban Family really didn't hit their stride until they moved into their new space. I'm just fortunate to live in Magnolia within walking distance so I'm there fairly often.

I've only made it down there once, it's a nice space and their beer is reasonably good. It's certainly a huge step up for that area. They also must be doing well enough down there considering they were able to purchase Hilliard's.

 

I for one miss the Asgard Taproom. I prefer not to be shoulder to shoulder with people when I go out for a beer on a Friday or Saturday night. It was easy to take a peek at the UBG, see that it was crowded, and wander over to Odin for a few beers. Nothing particularly spectacular, but far from bad, or even mediocre necessarily. I can think of a LOT of places I prefer it to.

 

Airways!

 

At Hilliard's last week, I asked one of the workers the #1 reason they thought Hilliard's got bought. In their opinion, it was because the company got too big too quickly.

The taproom will close when the beer runs out...

 

Hmmm....... aren't both locations technically in Kent? Odin is right across from Southcenter Mall.

 

I agree. I went in their original location once a couple of months after they opened. At that time they had only one or two of their own beers available and they weren't styles I was interested in so I opted for one of their guest taps instead. I think their biggest problem now is that their beer isn't easy to find around town. Bottle shops have a few of their expensive (but worth it, I'm told) bottles, but outside of the occasional special event, I don't recall seeing anything from them on tap at all. Honestly, most of the time I forget that brewery even exists.

 

I stopped at UF tonight, but found them closed, at 8PM. I don't think they're open on Mondays, come to think of it. BUT, it's summertime, and the living should be easy, and they would have business if they were open every day. On the way home, I noted that Rooftop Brewing was open with food truck and LOTS of people imbibing.