Just moved to the NW...

Where exactly do you live? If you're in the Seattle area our Visiting Seattle thread may be a good place to start. Wish we had Mexican food (and BBQ) like Tejas though!

 

Welcome to the rainforest. Best thing about the breweries you mentioned? We've got so many more. I'm a big fan of PTB, but I think you'll find most of us here on BA are indifferent towards the other 2 (although, I do love me some Vanilla Oatis from Ninkasi). When you get the chance to head up to Bellingham, let me know, I'll be happy to show ya around.

 

check out propolis! i love that seattle is getting more of their bottles.

 

Well, PT, also has Propolis. Very good, very unique beers. Sirens has great food, and the Pour House is a fun little bar with a great beer selection. Jump on the ferry, and hit up Flyers in Oak Harbor. If you want to venture just a bit more, go hit Anacortes Brewing/Rockfish Grill in Anacortes. Also in A-town is the Brown Lantern.

For a weekend, come across and spend some hitting up LaConner Brewing (not as good as they used to be, but LaConner is a nice little town), North Sound and Skagit River in Mt. Vernon. Also in MV are a couple good beer bars. The next day come up to Bellingham. Roll on home on Sunday.

If you don't have plans on Fathers Day weekend, I suggest hitting up the Washington Brewers Fest, down in Redmond. Over a hundred different breweries will be pouring.

 

As an addendum to the above itinerary I'd add to the Anacortes leg: though they've been closed when I've been able to swing by, I've heard good things about Swill, and the islands have some new(er) breweries: Island Hoppin' on Orcas can be kind of hit or miss, but have a neat little spot, and Lopez recently got their first brewery approved. Not sure when/where the Lopezian style Pale Ale will be showing up though, but the islands in general are beautiful

 

You'll definitely want to check out Sound Brewing in Paulsbo, and Valholl also in Paulsbo.

When you can make it over here to Seattle that opens up a ton of options. Most everyone agrees the must hits in town are Fremont, Reuben's and Holy Mountain. After that there are a ton more options, many of which are very good as well. What styles do you like the most?

 

Hadn't heard about a brewery on Lopez. I figured I would just give the FNG a general overview of what he could do in a day, or weekend. Of course, he could take the ferry the other way, and hit the Edmonds/Mukilteo/Everett/Arlington breweries too.

Personally, I find Island Hoppin' to be more miss than hit (my personal suspicion is that they may have water issues, being on an island and all), but they're super nice folks who I've had pints with a couple times. I keep meaning to get out there.

 

Yeah it's still in its infancy, but the facility is coming together and the labels have been approved! I really only know about it because that's home...
I haven't had any of Island Hoppin's stuff recently and the stuff I have had was generally middle of the pack, but I gotta put on for my local area right Plus I liked the live music aspect that they (at least used to) focus on.
Also a completely legit point about focusing on day trips, but I figure eventually OP will have a weekend they can contribute to our tourist 'problem'
In a nutshell: it was a way for me to encourage an island trip and find a beer-centric guise under which to do so

 

IH's stuff pops up here in the Ham quite a bit, and if it's something I haven't had, I get a pint. If I've had it and didn't care for it, I still try at least a taster.

Oh, and @FoamInnovation , this will happen regularly in the NW forum, this random straying from the intended target, into new fields of play. Or, whichever metaphors ya wanna mix. They should just rename this forum "Tangents R Us".

 

Jesus... keep your voice down! We don't want all the unwashed heathens from across the country relocating here and screwing things up! Keep with the party line please:

1) it rains ALL the time
2) we have no whale beers
3) everyone wears hipster beards and flannel shirts
4) people here don't tan, they rust

Thanks for your understanding.

 

Mention away! There are over 3000 breweries in the U.S. now, not everybody is going to have heard of every place. Can't understand why someone would chastise another, just because they don't know a certain brewery. OTOH, I often get called a homer when I mention that Chuckanut is one of the best lager breweries in the country. People sometimes have the attitude that if they haven't heard of it, it can't be good. Ignore 'em.

BTW, my friend Chris is a butcher, and he says that Sirens makes the best burger in the region. And, I've had his hand-ground, home grilled burgers, which are excellent. For him to say that, is quite the endorsement. Last time I was there, I had some kick-ass shrimp tacos.

 

Well most of our breweries here are small local breweries so I'd so the vast majority of us have lots of love for them. Even a powerhouse brewery like Fremont remains a local neighborhood place at it's core IMO. We're probably more open than a lot of places to those sorts of places not only because they flourish here, but they were practically invented here (at least in modern times anyway).

If you like Belgians, I repeat, definitely check out Sound as they brew a lot of Belgian styles. And if you want a unique NW experience take some time out some weekend to visit Foggy Noggin Brewing in Bothell. It doesn't get much smaller or more local.

Holy Mountain offers a very unique experience of small batches of one off beers that are often barrel aged or have brett in them. Very interesting and unique stuff.

As you can tell there's almost a limitless amount of breweries to visit around here. That number increases drastically when you factor Oregon into the equation. Visit Bend as soon as you can.

 

To paraphrase @TheBungyo , you've got plenty of exploring ahead of you. If you find a brewery that pushes your buttons, go ahead and give 'em a shout out. Find a place that didn't really meet expectations? Give some constructive feedback. The owner of Fremont, @Texwild , joins in the threads here regularly, and plenty of breweries check in as warrants.

Like pizza, English style ales, and sours? A small brewery in Deming, http://www.northforkbrewery.com/ has you covered. Like, NW style ales and ciders? these are the guys for ya: http://www.twobeersbrewery.com/ . Wanna drink great beers on a deck, next to a river, in an old west themed town? Coming right up: http://www.oldschoolhousebrewery.com/index2.html . Wanna drink beer near Mt. St. Helens? Gotcha covered: http://www.ashtownbrewing.com/ . Wanna drink beer in the field where the hops in your beer grew? Yup, you can do that. http://www.balebreaker.com/#

It's a big, beery state. Enjoy.

 

It sounds like you are off to a very good start; welcome! I am @draheim, resident smartass and thread derailer. It really is as good as it seems here. And when you factor in Oregon, I really don't think any other region in the country can compete (but of course I am a bit biased). As already mentioned, the "Visiting Seattle" thread is a good place to start for hitting the big city, but as you already know Washington beer goes far beyond Seattle (just as Oregon beer goes far beyond Portland).

As for mentioning breweries, as @beertunes says, mention away. We want our local breweries to flourish and prosper! One thing some of us don't especially appreciate though is folks trading all of our good stuff away. We've got a really good thing going here with low hype (lots of sub-radar gems) and tons of great, fresh beer available locally, so you may just discover that trading is for the most part a fool's errand anyway. (This isn't intended to mean you should never trade; that's up to you but I have to admit a recent mention of people showing up at Fremont with hand trucks got me a little riled.) But now that you live among us, by all means buy all you want for personal consumption/sharing, and spread the word if you find something particularly good. There's so much good beer it's easy to miss something, and I think we all appreciate hearing about something special to look out for.

Cheers!

 

First of all welcome the neighborhood!! The BAers have given you some great advice. I will fill in some gaps for you.

You have air dropped into secret cider micro-climate-awesomeness. Want to take that for a test drive? Going into/out of Port Townsend you will drive past Chimacum. Don't blink, you will miss it. At the stop sign, across from the Chevron is the Chimacum Corner Farmstand. Take a look at what they have on the shelves. Everything is local. And remember: a cider buzz is very special and reserved for special occasions.

Heading towards your nearest Wal Mart (which I think is closer than the one in Sequim), you hit Poulsbo. There you have Central Market and Marina Market. Marina Market is the best bottle shop you will find this side of the water, say hi to Jonathan, he will take care of you. While in Poulsbo hit Valholl and Sound Brewery. Post up at Tizley's for their tap selection and Schnitzel.

I just described my Tuesday. Except for hitting Sound Brewery. Big, humongous, delicious, Belgians I try in the safety of my home only.

And if you make it across the water, God help you, you won't make it back unchanged.

 

As a citizen of Jefferson County, I thought you might want to try and fit in.

Seek and you will find some good nanos. There are everywhere. Just buried in a shed or a garage away from curious eyes. There is one a good par 5 from my house. I go there, money gets jammed into a front pocket of a mash smeared pair of jeans, I pour my own growler, I get to play with the dog.