Seattle: Part 2 - Brouwer's

A Sunday evening in the states can be a quiet time, and with hit and miss weather, the downtown core was a little slow. On top of that we found a magazine in our hotel room talking about the 25 best watering holes in the emerald city. While not all of the listed establishments specialized in ales, lagers, etc., there was one site which struck me as a possible all-star.

Brouwer's is a smallish pub in the Fremont area just outside of the central area of Seattle. If you've never been there, there's a ton of reason to check it out. A funky little district with a troll, Stalin and other statues or sculptures, the shops match the setting. It's a sort of San Fran north.
While it took us a little while to find, Brouwer's is definetly worth the search. We thought we'd gone the wrong way as we passed a few houses, but we came around the back way, spotting a few kegs behind a fence near a square blue building. With a logo above the door and sandwich board on the walk, this isn't a tourist bar.

A massive door leads you into a wide open tavern. With a second floor observing the ground floor, there's more spots than first appear.

Hip, classy, dungeon, beer cellar > all these words can be used in the description here. While the logo is central or northern european in design, the atmosphere is again, definetly Seattle. Laid back but neat with some style to give it an edge. Sweet. However, the one TV in the joint was a little out of place with My Little Pony. Luckily the sound was tuned to a bluesy rock style with a little Dick Dale in there.

Warm lighting offset the dungeon like feel, though the crow was a little odd, but appreciated. Probably a story behind that one.

Now we strike at the heart of the matter. Brouwer's is suitably deficult to find, limiting it's patron's to beer afficianados and locals, or the lucky local afficianado. I wish I was one. Those who do find are rewarded with 60+ taps and a selection of bottles ranging up to 300. A more fitting name would be Browser's IMO. And to top that off, there's NO CRAP BEER. No Coors, No Bud Light. I don't think they even carry Beck's or Corona. The only major label I recognized was a Guiness, but it looked like a limited edition.

However, with a selection like this, I didn't bother finding out and started local and then moved on to bottles. It's truly a beer fans candy shop, though some can be costly. Pints were spotted as high as $15 US, but those were truly special beers. I think. I'm in a lower tax bracket, so I stayed in the single digit range.

If I could I would just talk about the massive rows of taps and coolers of beers, but it's really a sight to behold and linger on, with a pint in hand. The bottle menu comes in a leather bound book! Rarely do you see proper beer culture, but that's awesome!

The service was slow at first, again, but knowledgeable and friendly. She advised us a couple of times and checked in regularly.

The food was great, though again, a little pricey. I could have spent less, but without wings OR nachos in the kitchen I went with a three meat medley which was great, and to make sure no animal group was left out, mussels abounded on the opposite side of the table. Apparently, to quote my father, they were "Awesome."

It should be noted that while there were plenty of hints it's in the Pacific Northwest, this place is heavey into the Belgian stuff, with Belgian food as well as a wide selection of Belgian beers. If your a fan of the lighter, more spiced flavours of, say, a Hoegaarden, than this is probably your first choice in this entire region.

As with any beer lovers hide-out, the taps are constantly changing, and you have to figure the bottles change up every now and again, so if, by chance, you do knock off all of the 360 or so varieties available, there will be more.

Service - Slow start, but they know their shit -> 4
Quality - It's hard to do this so early in the game, but it's a 5!
Price - I know some bottles are hard to just get out here, but sitll 3.5
Food - Great in many regards, though a little unorthodox, not that that's bad = 4
Character - With beer being the central post, this place is solid 4