Seattle Brewery Recommendations

[grizzly2378]

I'll be in Seattle over Thanksgiving weekend and am looking for some suggestions on breweries to visit. I know there's a bunch, but probably will only have time to go to a handful. We're staying near the Space Needle, so places in the downtown area would be preferable. The only two I'm planning on checking out for sure are Pike (I know we'll go to Pike's Place Market for sure, so why not?) and Elysian (yeah, yeah, sellout and all, but I'd still like to check out the original location and try some of their small batch stuff). What I'd really like suggestions on are some of the smaller, lesser known places.

 

[sfish]

do not really know BUT

Have been trying to get my son to send me a couple of

Pr*f@n!ty Hill Porters

http://www.schoonerexact.com/porter.html

 

[Talgrath]

If you're just going to be in Seattle proper, here's a few of my favorites:

Big Al's brewing:

https://bigalbrewing.wordpress.com/

Their dark beers, stouts and porters and the like, are pretty damn good if you're a dark beer guy.

Odin Brewing:

https://odinbrewing.wordpress.com/

Their belgian beers are generally very good, and I'm a fan of their amber, which is made with Juniper berries.

Reuben's Brews:

http://www.reubensbrews.com/

Reuben's basically specializes in rye beers, so if you're a fan of a good rye beer, they're the place to go. They're also almost literally next door to Stoup Brewing, so you can get an easy twofer by heading down that way.

If you're willing to head out a little ways, there's a few others I'd recommend.

Black Raven Brewery:

http://www.blackravenbrewing.com/

Located in Redmond, the best brewery in the state hands down, in my opinion, and you're going to be here at just the right time. Trickster IPA and Second Sight Scotch ale are the highlights of their normal array of beers, but their best stuff is in the "Rare Birds". 3-4 excellent and often experimental beers, right now it's dominated by old favorites like Gunpowder Plot porter and Grandfather Raven (which releases Friday, WOO!). If they still have Corvus Frambicus on tap and you like sours, that's a pretty good rasberry sour. They're also almost right next door to Hi-Fi brewing, which does some pretty good stuff too.

American Brewery:

http://americanbrewing.com/

Located in Edmonds right by the ferry. Solid line up of regular beers and their seasonal and experimental stuff is usually pretty good. Just down the road from Salish Sea Brewery, a new place with pretty good dark beers.

 

[iijakii]

Unfortunately the best one is no longer open; Rainier.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Naked City & Redhook are both really cool.

 

[grizzly2378]

Unfortunately the best one is no longer open; Rainier.

I had a bad experience with Rainier about 15 years ago. Case of Rainier in my cousin's garage+an early flight home= pure hell. I still throw up in my mouth a little every time I see that R.

 

[Peruvian802]

Go old school and visit Maritime Pacific and Pyramid.

 

[ledbed6b]

I am surprised no one has mentioned Fremont Brewing, probably the best local brewery in a really good neighborhood. I live about 20 minutes north of Seattle, send me a message if you want any more suggestions or want to try some homebrew.

 

[erikpete18]

It depends on how far out you're wanting to go. Unfortunately there aren't too many downtown, but Pike is definitely one to hit. If you don't mind going north to the Fremont and Ballard neighborhoods, and don't mind walking a little bit in the rain, you can make a nice tour from Fremont Brewery to Brouwer's Cafe (not a brewery, but a ton of great beers and tasty food), then to Hales Ales, then to Populuxe (small nano, if its open when you visit), then to Stoup and Ruebens. If you're going down south towards the airport, Odin and Big Al's are both good, and you can hit Two Beers and Georgetown on the way there.

 

[pretzelb]

I enjoyed Snoqualmie Brewery but it is a bit out of town. The falls are nice and they have a nice lodge.

 

[Rebel_B]

Elysian also has two taprooms in downtown Seattle, one at 2nd & Pike and another near Century Link stadium.

 

[grizzly2378]

Elysian also has two taprooms in downtown Seattle, one at 2nd & Pike and another near Century Link stadium.

Yup, saw that, but was thinking it'd be cool to see the original location in Capitol Hill.

 

[lstrowge]

The Elysian on Capitol Hill is a worthwhile visit and the food is pretty good. They had a wild boar sloppy Joe a couple of weeks ago that was pretty dam- good. Plus one for Reubens in Ballard. Although they do have a regular Rye beer on tap (they're really good) they also roll out quite a few classic ales and lately lagers from across the pond with a slight American twist. And as far as I'm concerned the Crikey IPA is the best around. Also they just released a Tart Cherry Weisse beer that I hear is outstanding!

 

[MrZuckerkorn]

Before you do anything else, visit Holy Mountain brewing in interbay, between downtown and Fremont. Once you go there, you may not make it anywhere else. However, if you visit more breweries, absolutely check out Fremont Brewing and Schooner Exact. Schooner has good food too. Rueben's is great for rye beers. Make the drive to Black Raven, it's fantastic. You can order pizza from flying saucer or zeeks, and they have food trucks. If you have extra time, take the ferry to Bainbridge Island and then drive to Poulsbo to visit Sound Brewing. Excellent Belgian-inspired beers. Or, save the trip and grab a few of their bottles from a shop in Seattle.

 

[grizzly2378]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I've got fairly limited time....we'll be in Washington Wednesday through Monday, but only in Seattle on Saturday/Sunday for the Seahawks game. I'm definitely gonna hit Pike and Elysian because they're both really close to our hotel and Holy Mountain is fairly close too. Checked out Black Raven's site and I would REALLY like to get out there, but not sure if I'll have the time (surprisingly enough, my wife and kids have other plans besides brewery hopping). I'd love to hit Fremont too, but we'll see.

 

[Talgrath]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I've got fairly limited time....we'll be in Washington Wednesday through Monday, but only in Seattle on Saturday/Sunday for the Seahawks game. I'm definitely gonna hit Pike and Elysian because they're both really close to our hotel and Holy Mountain is fairly close too. Checked out Black Raven's site and I would REALLY like to get out there, but not sure if I'll have the time (surprisingly enough, my wife and kids have other plans besides brewery hopping). I'd love to hit Fremont too, but we'll see.

Hope you have fun out here, I love living here.

 

[MrZuckerkorn]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I've got fairly limited time....we'll be in Washington Wednesday through Monday, but only in Seattle on Saturday/Sunday for the Seahawks game. I'm definitely gonna hit Pike and Elysian because they're both really close to our hotel and Holy Mountain is fairly close too. Checked out Black Raven's site and I would REALLY like to get out there, but not sure if I'll have the time (surprisingly enough, my wife and kids have other plans besides brewery hopping). I'd love to hit Fremont too, but we'll see.

Have a great trip, and GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TheMadKing]

Fish brewing in Olympia is one of my favorites

 

[enkamania]

Stop at Holy Mountain on your way to Ballard.

http://www.myballard.com/breweries/

 

[bdb7098]

Hales Ales in Ballard/Fremont district. I think it's on Market St. Grew up there and cut my teeth on Rainier for gut rot college beer, but then found Red Hook and haven't looked back since. I live in the Midwest now and get back every couple of years and Hales Ales is my first stop. The Wee Heavy is delightful.

 

[RainyDay]

Elysian is 51% owned by ABInbev if you care about such things. Redhook is also in bed with AB via distribution (again, if you care about such things).

Black Raven is one of my favorites, though you do have to go to the other side of Lake Washington (well worth it). Brouwer's is also great; dozens of taps and hundreds of bottles.