I am going to be on vacation visiting family in Seattle. I searched a found some great advice near Seattle proper, and I plan to make a day trip of these recommendations. However, I will be spending most of my time in the towns of Snohomish and Mt Vernon and would appreciate recommendations on breweries and food/beer places close/between these two towns for dinner or a quick tasty beer.
I am partial to Skagit River Brewery: http://www.skagitbrew.com. It's in Mount Vernon. I like their food and their beer. Service has always been great the times I've been there. And it's kid-friendly, if that's a necessity for you. I've been to Cat House Pizza once between two of my kid's baseball games in Snohomish. The pizza was real good and I remember having a couple a more-than-decent crafts while I was there. Nothing special --- it's not really a craft beer joint. It's located in the historic old downtown. If you drive a little south of Snohomish to Mill Creek, you'll find Elliot Bay Pizza. Now this is a craft beer bar that also serves really good pizza, subs, calzones, etc. I've not been to a ton of craft bars north of Seattle, but this place has the best craft beer selection of anyplace I've been to north of Seattle.
I love North Sound. Haven't actually been there, but everything I've had from them has been outstanding. They're in Mt. Vernon.
Both Skagit and North Sound are worth hitting up in Mt. Vernon, as is The Porterhouse. North Sound doesn't have a kitchen, but does have food trucks sometimes, check their website. I'd strongly suggest taking a few extra minutes and driving out to Anacortes and hitting up Anacortes Brewing/Rockfish Grill. As you may have heard, we recently lost a bridge up here, so expect traffic to be royally screwed up in the Mt. Vernon area. In Arlington, hit up Skookum Brewing. Norm's Market in Lake Stevens has good selection and plenty of taps for growler fills.
