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

Seattle: Part 1 - FX McRory's

Despite being based in Victoria, I spent a recent weekend in Seattle for various reasons, and pillaged a pair of pints while there. Of course, this is the perfect place to start this pub blog, so let the first review commence.

Saturday found my dad, of all people, and I searching out a site to view the Canucks game in a city almost void of a hockey culture. Banners supporting the Sounders and Mariners were everywhere, and the odd out of season Seahawks logo popped up.

After some mid-day reconnaissance to a couple of sports pubs, which were less than pleasing, we wandered down 1st, then over to Pioneer Square, eventually arriving at FX McRory's.
McRory's is fairly classic Seattle. A classy saloon, filled with sports memorabilia and bottles of liquor on display, it lends it's self to the laid back nature of Seattle, while still being more than your neighbourhood pub. Also, they have a large whiskey selection, especially bourbon, which may be the largest collection in the world. If your looking to sip scotch and skip suds, this is probably the place.


Marble tables, prints of the pub itself by famous sports artist LeRoy Neiman, and very high ceilings convey a more elegant feel, but the sports and patrons keep that in check, averaging out to a really nice sports pub.

Service was slow at first, but did pick up, and then fell off again. She was nice enough, but nothing special, no offense.

Once we did have her attention though, she was friendly and accommodating. When we asked if we could put the 'Nucks game on the TV in our corner (there were about a half dozen flat screent high def tvs and a couple projection screens out) she directed us to the manager, who happened to be sitting a table over to us. After he freaked me out with a straight faced rant about "some crazy Canadians" he had earlier in the day he obliged.

This meant there were basket ball play-offs, a Sounders game, a M's game and our hockey playoffs going on at the time. To our surprise, it was the soccer collecting the most attention. No wonder basketball failed here, it's a footy town. After the Sounders game an eclectic mix of classic and alt rock serenaded us, with tunes from Nirvana, The Ramones, and some celt punk.

The nachos and wings were great. Hand cut potato chips formed the base of the nachos which was a lateral move in my opinion. Crispy and covered in hot sauce, they were, with guaca, salsa and sour cream. They seemed to lack some of the toppings I'm used to though, like tomato, and onions, but chalk that up to culture shock. The wings were awesome though, big juicy suckers, 8 to a plate. 12 regular wings usually = a pound, but I bet these 8 matched that.

The beers were pretty high quality too, with a mostly local selection, with a couple of the expected imports and domestics. At 5 to 5.50 US a pint, it's what you would expect, a little on the high end, but within normal range. We saw the likes of Red Hook and Deschutes arrive at our table.

Now for the rating:
Service - Slow but alright, we'll give it a 3
Price - Fancy place = higher prices, 3.5
Pints - A solid local selection makes me smile with 4
Character - Fancy sports pub, though a little quiet - 4
Food - Juicy wings! mmm...4