Burke-Gilman Brewing Company — Restaurant in Seattle

I was very excited about this brewery as I love/brew/studied beer and it's very close to my home and work and I was gunning for it to be a hit with a veteran head brewer with experienced home brewer owners at the helm with a great concept of lower abv beers that allow you to keep going after having a drink as well as giving themselves a niche to stand out.

In short, the beer is bad and that's what a brewery should be reviewed on in my mind much more so than location and seating which has been what most reviews have focused on this far. I'm writing this after two trips as I will not be making any further unless there are major changes.

First went during the opening weekend and tried every beer that they brewed with my wife (like I said, very excited). The brown, porter, and stout tasted essentially like the same beer at different alcohol levels with no variation in different flavor notes (coffee, malty, smoky, roasted and so on) leaving them almost indistinguishable. The IPA had no balance between malt and hops and was too heavy handed on the IBU without enough dry hopping or body to make it taste like anything besides bitter water. The Belgian and Saison were again very similar, possibly the same yeast being used in both and for the description of the saison as a cold fermented, non fruity saison, it still was very fruity and lacked any of the lemon/pepperiness that they were going for based off the description.

By far the worst offender was the burn the ship pale (only name I remember because I will never forget the horrid taste in my mouth). It was so bad I just left it in the glass and left. I'd love to meet the guy who took a sip of that and said, yeah okay let's use this for a first impression let alone pour it at all.

The biggest things that stood out to me in general quality of a brewery were two things: First whatever their bittering hop or boiling schedule/vigor left a strong medicinal type of bitterness with a bad after taste across beers being more apparent in the pales. And secondly, the beer felt lazy. Everything had the same haziness whether it was true to style or not and the way the belgian and saison matched flavors and the dark ales all tasted the same felt incredibly weak for a first impression offering.

I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt to them, so I chocked the bitterness problem up to being a new brewery and starting so late in the year that the available hops were mostly contracted out leaving them stuck working with an off variety. So I decided I'd wait about a month and try something once they have a new batch out, hoping they would either get in new ingredients or learn how to properly utilize what they have. Which brings me to visit number 2 today.

I saw they had a blonde and a pilsner on tap which were new. I figured going with the lighter beer would be the best way to taste the quality of the beer without it hiding behind dry hopping or big roasty malts. Both beers poured clear looking much prettier and I was filled with a moment of hope that all things were resolved and I was going to have my dream brewery in my dream location. Sadly, we couldn't finish even half of either beer as they were both atrocious.

The only word I can think of to describe the pilsner flavor is acrid. It left me pondering if it was the hops or if soap/cleanser was left in the kettle/conicals/bright beer tank and the beer was just poured over the top without a proper water rinsing, either way I couldn't believe they were actually pouring and selling it. The blonde was a similar story leaving a frown on both my wife's and my face. We left after a few sips of disbelief with over 3/4 of our pints full. I noticed multiple flights in the tray bin with full glasses so I can't be the only one sad with the beer.

So anyways in short, the beer in it's current state is bad. I was hoping things would change and improve but currently things seem to be charging forward unapologetically. There are dozens of excellent breweries in this city that this level of quality, to me, is...

Burke Gilman Brewing is a great new spot along the Burke Gilman Trail and I was excited when our book club decided to meet there. Atmosphere inside is great, friendly staff, tasty beer and the El Camino foodtruck next door allows you to hang around for a few more beers because of a full belly. The brewery has a decent amount of bike parking (with nice staple style racks) but when I was there on a Monday evening it still filled up pretty quick forcing some to put their bike along the perimeter fence. You can tell that its a hot spot for a mid ride beer! My one complaint is that the outdoor seating is facing 45th/Sand Point Way which is practically a highway for loud cars and buses. It's unfortunate that the outdoor area doesn't face the nice quiet bike trail with the building buffering the nearby noise. It would be great if they eventually grew big enough to acquire a nearby space to make this happen. Overall it was a positive experience and I can't wait to...

This place rocks! The beer is great (Seriously, it keeps winning awards, you should google it.) The atmosphere is friendly and laid-back. The staff is friendly and knowledgable. There are tons of food options in close walking distance that you can bring in to eat. Parking is easy. Inside there are lots of tables with plugs if you want to work, and outside there are cozy fire pits and heat lamps going in the winter.

There's a real sense of community there, too. They run a program where you can buy a beer for parents whose kids are down the block at at the Children's hospital. They often have interesting things going on -- I've played trivia, seen talks from local experts at UW (they call those "smarty pints"), ordered from food trucks on nice summer days. And because it's so dog friendly, there are nearly always very cute dogs around.

It's the best. Can't...