Last week we reported the news that Belltown Brewing was softly open at the corner of 2nd Avenue and Bell Street in downtown Seattle and that the grand opening was schedule for today, March 17th. See our previous post to learn more about Belltown Brewing in general. Yesterday we had a chance to stop in and visit for the first time. We sampled some beers, took some pictures, chatted with head brewer Adam Frantz, and this is what we learned. (Photos by Kim Sharpe Jones.)
To begin with, they are pouring five of their own beers, including the three that will likely become Belltown Brewing’s flagship beers: a pilsner, an IPA, and an amber. Along with those, they were pouring a blackberry hefeweizen and a coffee brown ale. I thought the IPA was exceptional (plenty of Mosaic included in the hop bill), as was the coffee brown ale, but all of the beers were solid.
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Adam tells us that, somewhat unexpectedly, the amber has been the most popular beer, probably because it pairs so well with the pub’s pizza. We enjoyed the pretzel with beer-cheese sauce. The pretzel is made with spent grain from the amber.
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They are not yet brewing in-house. Instead, they are contract brewing at American Brewing in Edmonds. Adam himself is doing the brewing. His previous gig was at American Brewing so he is very familiar with the system. His recipes, his sweat, their system.
The build-out is almost complete, the equipment is either on the way or on order, and they hope to start brewing on site in a couple months. The brewery itself is highly visible from the pub and also from the street. Large roll-up windows along 2nd Avenue provide passersby with a great view of the brewery. The pictures do not do justice to the bright, sparkling white tile (subway tile on the walls and mosaic marble tile on the floor).
One interesting note, the cold-side of the brewery will be located out front (pictured), but the actual brewhouse will be behind a wall. The beer will be transferred overhead via a series of pipes or hoses. It’s not too different than what most breweries do, but is a somewhat more permanent solution compared to having hoses running loose across the floor.
For more details about the brewery itself, check out our previous post.
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