The Pros and Cons of CSAs
Seattlest Pix 09Nov08
Weekly Around the -Ists
Seattlest Pix 09Nov09
Can't Miss It: Monday
With all of the people that live/work on the Eastside, it is really surprising to not find more beer spots to explore. Granted, we probably haven't found everything worth visiting, but it just seems there is plenty of room for more good beer on the Eastside.
Below is a summary of what you can enjoy on the other side of the lake.
Breweries:
Rock Bottom Bellevue is about the only place if you want to hit a brewery for a beer neer Bellevue. This Rock Bottom location manages to make some special beers, but you have to catch them at the right time. Their Hop Bomb IPA won a silver medal at this year's Great American Beer Fest, which is a pretty big deal. But, it is still a Rock Bottom and the majority of their beers on tap are pretty standard fare. Well made, but standard.
Mac & Jack's is located in Redmond, but they don't have a tasting room and we're not sure that they will even fill growlers;they do fill growlers .
Keep your eye out for what could be the savior to those of us that want to grab a beer after work on the Eastside: Black Raven Brewing. Beaux Bowman, formerly of RAM in the U-Village and the now defunct Far West Brewing in Redmond, is working on opening a production brewery with a taproom on the Eastside. His operation is fully funded, and they are patiently working to sign a lease on a location they've found in Redmond. More details on this venture to come.
Bars:
The Taphouse Grill in downtown Bellevue is easily "the place to go" for good beer on the Eastside. Like its newer Seattle sibling, it boasts about 160 beers on tap. While many of the beers are nothing special, you can always find several offerings well worth drinking. For someone from out of town, it is a great place to try a wide variety of NW microbrews. We're not a huge fan of the upscale, corporate feel, but it's not like there are many other choices. Beers are too expensive. They've been out of probably 3 of the 10 beers we've ordered when there. Definitely not a place to seek out, but if you're looking to grab a beer in Bellevue, this is as good of a place as you are going to find.
We're sure there are plenty of places to grab solid NW brews on the Eastside(Celtic Bayou in Redmond, for one), but there just aren't any other true beer bars that we know of.
Bottle Shops:
We visited the new Malt & Vine bottle shop in downtown Redmond this week, and it's great. They have a large selection of local NW beer, US craft beer and a great import selection. At first glance, we'd say their offering is about as good as Bottleworks. They even had 22 oz. bottles of Northern Lights Winter Ale from Spokane, which you can't get anywhere else near Seattle. Their prices are definitely reasonable. They do beer tastings every Friday.
We've also heard that Fine Wines, Ltd in Redmond carries a decent beer selection, but we have not visited.
Pete's Wine and the Whole Foods in Bellevue both have good beer selections and are definitely worth checking out if you need to pick something up. The beer guy at Whole Foods has been very helpful in the past, and Pete's was kind enough to put some Deschute's Abyss on hold for us last year.
So, that's all we've got. Let us know if we missed anything...we'd love to check it out. If anyone wants to loan us some $$, we could add to the list by opening up a kick-ass beer bar.
***Note that we kind of ignored Issaquah and Woodinville, which include Redhook and Rogue Issaquah, as part of the Eastside. We were really just concerned with places easy to drive to after we leave the office in Bellevue.
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Yea, Bellevue sucks for getting good beers. All the bars have the same 10 lagers on tap and maybe Manny's, if you are lucky.
Recently, some friend took me to this one place called the 'Red House' in Renton. It was a bit of a drive for me (Sand Point) but still, 500 bottled beers. I had a few Belgiums while I was there and even a took home a few Lost Abbey beers.
Here is their online beer list, with navigation to styles on left
http://www.redhousebeerandwine.com/beers_american.asp
Cheers!
Thanks for the tip - I have not been to the Red House and will have to check it out.
I"m not sure that Renton is Eastside(Is it?), but The Dog and Pony Alehouse is a great place to grab a beer.
Nice article! What is sad is Rock Bottom is first on your list (for breweries) and it has sub-par beer and it's a chain. If I want a beer in Bellevue, I would go to Taphouse.
Bellevue is getting better with its wine selection. Some great new wine bars are popping up so we can HOPEFULLY expect the same for beer joints.
The South Sound area, dare I say Federal Way, has been another beer wasteland until recently when I happened upon a new beer store in Federal Way called "99 Bottles". I instantly became a fan based on the incredible selection, but the fellow behind the counter impressed me further with his vast knowledge of my beloved barley pop. It's located in the new Federal Way Crossings shopping center just off highway 18 and I-5. Yes, Virginia, there is now a reason to come to Federal Way.
I gotta say something here. In defense of Rock Bottom and other "chain" brewers (I was one). Brian at Rock Bottom Bellevue makes world class beer, wins a medal at GABF almost every year and also wins World Beer Cup medals (2 in 2006). These are considered the world series and superbowl of beer. While some of the beers can be considered boring, they are well made. I also brewed at a "chain" brewery and made my own beers (two GABF medals and one World Beer Cup medal in 2006). Your local "chain" brewers are no different in most cases than your local "independent" brewers, in fact, they most likely brewed at one of these too, I did. I had more creative freedom at my "corporate" gig. Nobody told me how to make my beers, other than make these core beers and here is what we are looking for in the glass. Anything past that, make what you want, you are the brewer. You find this at any brewery, corporate or not. Remember that the brewers are brewers, regardless of the name on the door. In fact, some of our local Seattle "independent" breweries have multiple locations (makes them a chain, by definition) and are incorporated. Guess what, they make the same core beers at each store...does that mean they somehow don't make good beer now? I think not.