Visiting Seattle (Summer 2015 Update)

It did seem a little silly to travel 2000+ miles to eat Mexican food, but I'm always a sucker for good interior Mexican, which we have some of, but it's never enough. Plus, I wanted to try to get out into at least one other neighborhood besides Fremont and the greater downtown area. I really thought we had time to do Reuben's, but there's always next time. I believe we had the Lamb Birria and the Black Mole w/pork, which is what we had kind of eyed anyway and then the waitress also recommended the same and maybe one other thing. The service was not super friendly and it was busy, but we somehow snuck in on a Saturday without a wait, though we probably ate early (5-6 maybe) since it was only a few days in and we were somewhat on Central time still.
For visitors, the D bus (express) can take you from downtown right to Holy Mountain and then to Ballard, within a few blocks of Reuben's and lots of other things. It seemed like a cool neighborhood, but we barely scratched the surface. If you can only handle learning one bus route and you're staying downtown, that seems like a pretty good one.

 

What would Toronado be like on a Friday night around 11:30 to midnight? I have an 18 hour layover this coming Friday, and have a hotel that happens to be a couple minutes from Toronado.

 

Not very busy.

 

Skimmed this but didn't find the answer. I will be in Seattle for a Wednesday and Thursday in 2 weeks with tons of dead time. I usually home away/airbnb it up so I can stay anywhere. My question is which part of town is the most walking beer scene friendly? Thanks for the help! Cheers.

 

The Fremont/Ballard areas. Bunch of breweries in Ballard, and several worthy destinations in Fremont. I've made the stroll between the two several times. For more details, see replies 13, 14, & 15 of this thread.

 

Awesome, Thank you much!

 

Seattle recap:

Sunday- First order of business was food. Hit Taylor Shellfish Farms in Capitol Hill. Had 6 oysters and some smoked oyster dip. Awesome food but I should have eaten more. Cabbed from there to Fremont and had a flight of beers there. Place was pretty quiet on a Sunday evening. I was underwhelmed by the selection and found what I tried to be somewhat bad (Skagit Farmhouse) to good. Nothing superb. I did miss all the casks and didn't find much that I could get excited by, but I did enjoy the Interurban, even more than The Brother. From Fremont I cabbed it over to Toronado. 2013 Kentucky Dark Star was on and I had to have it. It's a delicious beer but one of many barrel-aged beers that is overpowered by the alcohol from whichever barrel it came. But I reiterate: still loved it. Also had Boneyard Hop Venom and found it a muddled mess with flavors that didn't pop. Didn't even finish my pour. Went for seconds on KDS. Then got to taste a 25 year old, 4% Labatt beer that someone had tried to sell to Toronado. Wasn't bad at all, actually. Bartender there was cool and the place was surprisingly empty.

From Toronado I walked to Latona. Wasn't impressed by the beer selection. They had a Harvest Ale on which confused me. I drank a No-Li coffee stout (or something alone those lines) and found it pretty solid. Made some good company there and they told me to head over to some bar on 45th (where I eventually ended up drinking whisky straight till late). But before that and after Latona, I walked down to Burgundian. Taplist wasn't incredible but the bottle list was. I wanted to order the FW PNC beer but knew there was no way I could take on a bomber at that price and wasn't willing to splurge $30. Had a good convo with the bartender and he highlighted some good spirits in the area (they also had 23 year Pappy Van Winkle for only $65 a shot).

I got home Sunday evening pretty smashed.

Woke up the next day, visited my conference while still mildy buzzed and hit a few different coffee spots. Didn't eat much breakfast. Decided to hit Capitol Hill for food again and foolishly chose La Cocina Oaxaquena. I lived in Oaxaca and love the cuisine but this place wasn't up to snuff. I only hit it because Oaxacan cuisine is nowhere in New Mexico. Remember, it's Seattle, you're there for the seafood and Asian food.

After lunch, Pine Box next door wasn't open, so I wandered Capitol Hill a bit and eventually got to the Elysian Brewing. Regardless of one's feelings about their sale to ABInBev, shout out to them for being open earlier. Breweries should be open at noon if not earlier. Being that I was still a bit off from the previous day and the Oaxacan food hadn't saved me, I was just looking to taste something. I tried the Night Owl and it was forgettable and then I tried a bright raspberry colored wild ale called United that was just bad. I settled on a six ounce pour of Dayglow IPA. I'm a sucker for Mosaic so I had to try and/but this was decent. More of the dirty sock Mosaic than the mango and pineapple Mosaic but still decent. Left there and cabbed it over to Holy Mountain for beers and an IP trade. Holy Moly, Holy Mountain!

Holy Mountain is legit. Ridiculously legit. Kiln & Cone is awesome. It's a lighter version of Yellow Rose from Texas (which is easily my favorite IPA other than my homer-favorite, Elevated). I want more of that Kiln & Cone. Someone send me a growler please.

I also tried HM's The Seer, Apricot Table Sour and Celestial Lineage. The Seer was good but didn't blow me away. ATS was okay but way heavy on the diacetyl. Celestial Lineage was a delicious beast with great notes of dark chocolate and dark cherries and such... just awesome. I posted reviews for Celestial Lineage and Kiln & Cone (after my second, quieter, visit which came Wednesday).

Some thoughts on Holy Mountain: awesome space with high ceilings and lots of natural light. Love the trains passing by. Plenty of space and seating. Friendly staff. Love the price points. Some of the best in Seattle. Not a beer over $6, I don't think and the half pours for $2-3 awesome. Love the nice glassware too.

Anyway, left HM, headed to a work function pretty damn buzzed and tried to eat my way sober. With about 36 hours of boozing (actually about 60 given what I'd done before leaving NM) I wasn't feeling great about my life or my liver but I headed from downtown to Ballard with my dad. We stopped at Reuben's first. Only had two beers but they were great. Kenya Cream is an awesome beer. Coffee and cream ales are a match made in heaven. Also had Hop Tropic which was pretty tasty but not as clean as I want an IPA to be.

From Reuben's we walked down to Noble Fir to find it closed and then continued north and would up at Ballard Beer Company. Seems an okay spot... half bottle shop half (very spacious) bar. Tap selection was unremarkable and didn't identify the style of beer for beers listed. Ended up sharing Stoup XPA with my pops, which wasn't very impressive (both the sharing of the beer and the beer itself).

From there we walked to Maritime Brewing. The beers here just aren't that good. Buuuuut, we ordered the beer-battered bacon (a wonderfully terrible and delicious idea) and two orders of the clams and mussels dish. The food was awesome. So damn good. The beer didn't matter. I could have eaten two bowls of that clams and mussels dish. Generous portion, tasty side order of bread to accompany it, and the broth was just phenomenal.

We all called it a night after that.

I think I'll share other journeys in a following post and that assuming anyone is interested at all. Haha.

 

Nice to hear your take on things. Too bad you didn't enjoy more of what you tried but sometimes that's how it goes.

I too really love the food at The Jolly Roger. It's definitely some of my favorite pub food ever. Yes they do have some unimpressive options when it comes to beer but they also do have a few nice ones as well. I generally always check to see what they have on cask. Their porter on cask (and sadly I've only seen it available on cask a few times) is divine, and I really dig double dry hopped Islander Pale on cask. I can definitely see how newer school palates may not appreciate Islander though.

You actually bring up a very good point about some of our beer establishments and their hours. For the massive amount of places we have here, there are a lot that don't open until much later in the day. That's almost never a problem for me, but it is interesting to note.

 

man, heck of a recap. sometimes beer doesn't work out to be the highlight of a trip, even though you want it that way. i've had hop venom before when it's a muddled mess too. it happens. sounds like you still had a lot of fun!

 

Haven't finished the trip, actually. I'll do that now. And to respond to your and @TheBungyo , I still had a damn good time!

 

then i suggest you go catch some notorious at pine box!

 

So I shared my Sunday and Monday adventures, with the highlights being Taylor Shellfish Farms for oysters and oyster dip (did I mention that, if not, I was remiss), the 2013 KDS at Toronado, the clams and mussels at Maritime Pacific, the Kenya Cream at Reuben's and Holy Mountain in general. Such an awesome place (and I'll trade for their stuff anyday).

On Tuesday, I walked from my conference to Kukai Ramen on Capitol Hill. Wow. Incredible ramen. I had the extra thick broth and just love the flavor. The meat, whole egg and other ingredients were all delectable as well. From there I wandered over to Whole Foods to see if they had anything cool on tap or in the shop. There were some decent bottles for sale but I've been exercising major restraint on bottle purchases since I spent half the summer trying to drink through my fridge and it became clear I really don't need beer. The taplist had Speedway Stout (awesome! and we don't get Alesmith in New Mexico), but I opted to try Aurora Crimson Saison from Ecliptic. It was pretty tasty and a nice introduction to Ecliptic, which I'd read about in some other thread.

From Whole Foods I walked over to Brave Horse Tavern and found Sump on tap. A great beer and a favorite style for me so I bit the bullet despite the price ($12 for 10 ounces, which could be worse I guess).

One beer was enough at Brave Horse, so I continued on to The Wurst Place to check the beer list. I wasn't hungry--- still stuffed from the Ramen--- so I kept it moving and caught a bus that took me up to Fremont (couldn't do the Stumbling Monk because they open at 6). There my intention was to hit Brouwer's but they were closed for a party or something (bummer). I walked across the street to check out Theo Chocolatier, sampled some chocolates and got a gift for my wife. I continued on to Sixgill, which conveniently (and fortunately) was just about to open when I arrived. I tried Boundary Bay's gose with high hopes but didn't get much of anything much less a gose from the beer. I opted for a pour, from the bottle, of Love Child No. 3. It was expensive but exceptional and different from the No. 4 if my memory serves me. Very Oud Bruin-ish, which I always love for having the caramelized/brown sugar flavor that serves as a foil to the sour qualities.

I moved on after 1 beer and headed over to Outlander for a flight of beers. I spoke with one of the owners, who is either Albanian or Slovenian or from somewhere in Eastern Europe. Nice guy. The beers here were right up my alley as far as being big and a bit nutty. The highlight was probably the Raspberry Imperial Stout, which had a big and even a bit artificial raspberry flavor that played well with the chocolatey notes of the beer. The Imperial Oatmeal Stout was great too. Overall I left with a good impression of Outlander but I also wasn't quite convinced they'd dialed in their operations and some of the other beers felt a bit homebrewer-ish (missing carbonation, not quite to style, etc).

After Outlander I had to retreat back to downtown for a work function that kept me busy until around 11PM, although I did meet my father for a beer at Yardhouse and man, what a mess that place is. So many taps of a bunch of beers I could care less about, a chaotic environment with all the charm of a Chili's, Buffalo Wild Wings or something along those lines. I didn't even bother to have a beer here, and just helped my pops drink whatever he ordered.

Not being tired, I walked back up to Capitol Hill (where I spent far too much time, I think) and checked out The Pine Box. Funny to be in an old mortuary, but it's quite spacious inside. I had RPM IPA from Boneyard and it showed me what the brewery is capable of. I enjoyed this one and found it similar to many of New Mexico's popular IPAs. As a nightcap I had Nameless #46 Brett Drie from Engine House #9. An impressive Brett IPA. Overall I left The Pine Box pleased at the local options (I wanted to try as many WA/OR brews as possible).

On Wednesday, my final full day in Seattle, I figured I'd go for some low-hanging fruit and hit Collins Pub right next to my hotel. It was more of a walk than I thought and personally, I'd have skipped the place. Unimpressive taplist, beer served in a chilled glass, and the ambiance is definitely that of the sports bar found in any city in America. I imagine people plug this place as an option before a Seahawks game, otherwise I found it pretty useless. The silver lining is that I stumbled upon Il Corvo and had one of the best lunches I've had in ages. Delicious pasta. I can still taste it. That place should be a must-stop in Seattle and especially for anyone going to Collins Pub.

From Collins Pub I walked North, checked out the Pike Place Market and then jumped on a bus headed for Holy Mountain... I need my second fix. This time around I was able to slowly sip a number of beers and put my opinion to paper. I'll reiterate that Kiln & Cone is awesome. Celestial Lineage too. Top-notch beers. I also was really enjoying the grapefruit saison that was on. That beer was fantastic.

From there my father met up with me, I introduced him to Kiln & Cone (he liked it) and then we jumped a bus headed for Ballard. First stop in Ballard was the Walrus and the Carpenter (I like the Alice in Wonderland reference) for some oysters. Oysters and fried oysters made our day. Damn good. Had a Field 41 from Bale Breaker to wash it all down. Definitely a nice stop. We continued north, grabbed a slice of pizza at two different places (skip pizza in Seattle) and then headed east to Stoup and Lucky Envelope. I liked both brewery spaces and all the beers we tried were solid. The Peanut Butter Stout at Lucky Envelope and the Two Pepper Pale Ale were interesting for sure. We then walked to Brouwer's and I was drooling seeing 4 years of Firestone Walker Anniversary Ale on tap but my pops was not interested in the place at all (too crowded for his blood).

Wednesday was all about eating and we hit Pike Place Market, had some good croissants from a French bakery (name escapes me) and were disappointed by Piroshky Piroshky. I don't get the appeal of the latter. From Pike Place Market we walked to Pho Bac for some pho and a banh mi with Vietnamese Iced Coffee. I'd skip the banh mi, but the pho was awesome (great broth) as was the coffee. We grabbed one last beer before hitting the airport and it was Crikey IPA. That's a good one. Again similar to New Mexico IPAs in that it's got a sturdy malt base and then an aggressive citrusy hop flavor.

If I had to sum it all up, I'd definitely say Toronado, Burgundian, Reuben's, Holy Mountain and The Pine Box are must-hits for beer. Il Corvo, Taylor Shellfish Farms, Walrus & Carpenter and Pho Bac were all winners for food.

I think Fremont would be much more worthwhile for me in the winter (or whenever the big beers come out), but that's just me.

 

I meant I hadn't finished describing the trip. Bummer I'm missing Notorious. I'd definitely like to try that one.

 

It's a bummer that Fremont's Session Pale wasn't on tap when you visited.

 

Is that the Summer Ale? I brought a couple of those home and I really enjoyed them. Those were courtesy of @mdaschaf who hooked me up with some definite goodies.

 

This is a huge surprise for me. I've never been less than awed at their taplist. Always some new local/regional stuff that I've never had before. It can be a bit "Bro-ish" game days (last time I was there it was a kickball game day. Man, soccer fans are insufferable, superior jerkwads.), but when not a game day it's a nice place to hang.

 

Nope, Session Pale is different. Simcoe and Citra.

 

That may have been on and I just ignored it. That's my bad.

 

Two different beers, both great flavor at session-strength.

 

Yeah, I may be in the minority, but didn't get anything from the place.