The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [18]
BIG TIME BREWERY & ALEHOUSE
4133 University Wy. NE • Seattle, WA 98105 (206) 545-4509 • bigtimebrewery.com • Established: 1988
SCENE & STORY
Smack in the middle of “the Ave” in the U District in Seattle (University of Washington), Big Time is more relaxed-but-thirsty grad student than college-frosh-getting-sloshed. With its faded wood walls and shuffleboard, it’s a sure bet in the area for good beers and a good bite (try the pizzas). Brewer Bill Jenkins left in 2011, handing the reins to Drew Cluley, former head of Pike’s operations—no remedial student of the brewer’s arts.
PHILOSOPHY
These guys are big-time hopheads. There are up to four house IPAs on tap at any given time, with dozens of recipes in the brewer’s logs.
KEY BEER
Old Sol is beer of the wheat wine style, which is something like an English-style barley wine but made with a majority of wheat, giving the beer some softness on the palate. Released on the summer solstice each year, it’s spicy and fulsome at 10% ABV, but disappears all too quickly, like summer in the Pacific Northwest.
BROUWER’S CAFÉ
400 North 35th St. • Seattle, WA 98103 • (206) 267-2437 brouwerscafe.blogspot.com • Established: 2005
SCENE & STORY
Owners Matt Bonney and Matt Van De Berghe have created a beer fortress of sorts, with a dark and somewhat castle-like interior featuring a parlor-level balcony curling around the main bar floor and some heavy chandeliers. The sixty-four taps and 300-plus bottled selections are stored with care and served in beer-specific glassware, but it’s the policy of using a new piece of serving tube for every new beer on tap that shows how far Brouwer’s goes to present craft beer at its best. The food is hearty, stick-to-your-ribs fare like croquettes, mussels, and a spicy lamb burger with fries (and go for a side of roasted garlic to take your taste buds even deeper).
PHILOSOPHY
You know you’re in a Belgian beer shrine when you’re greeted by a heraldic metal lion symbolizing Belgium and the Netherlands on the door, while inside there’s a replica of the Mannekin Pis, a Brussels sculpture of a boy playfully taking a wiz that has come to symbolize the carefree joie de vivre of Belgian café culture.
KEY BEER
Orchard White, a 5.7% ABV witbier (unfiltered wheat-based beer doped with coriander and other spices) from Orange County, California’s cult-hit The Bruery, is light on the tongue, with hints of dry apple flavor. It’s one of the most interesting and versatile beers to come along for some time, and would make a good start before heading into bigger beers and barley wines, which are a specialty here.
CRUNCH TIME
Local potato chip guru Tim Kennedy introduced Tim’s Cascade Style Potato Chips—the ultimate beer snack—in 1986, giving them a signature crunchiness that may be audible from space. With their classic oldtimey red-and-white bag, they’re easy to spot, too, but even easier to eat in embarrassing quantities. Don’t pass them up, especially the sea salt and vinegar or jalapeño flavors, and wasabi for the brave. timschips.com
COLLINS PUB
526 2nd Ave. • Seattle, WA 98104 • (206) 623-1016 thecollinspub.com • Established: 2003
SCENE & STORY
Downtown Seattle’s Pioneer Square area can sometimes feel like a drab warehouse district, even a bit sketchy at night. Thankfully, the Collins Pub, fourth-generation local Seth Howard’s craft beer shrine in the historic five-story brick Collins Building, is a welcome oasis, especially on weekends when the workweek happy hour crowds have dispersed and it’s warm enough to take a seat on the enclosed sidewalk patio. There are twenty taps and more than sixty-five bottles, and amid the exposed brick dating to the 1890s, hardwood details, a heavy hanging mirror flanked by hand-blown glass-and-metal sconces, cozy booths, and way-above-average pub fare, it’s easy to see an evening or afternoon disappear in a hurry.
Carnivores must try the lamb