Brouwer's Cafe

estlinska

Arkansas

4.45/5  rDev +4.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.75 | service: 3.5 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Visited in October 2012. The first impression of this place was that it was huge and open like a good pub feel. We visited during some High Times festival that was going on next door, so there was some pretty cool clientele hanging out as well. We comandeered a large table as I was traveling with my wife and my in-laws' family. The waitress and bartenders were very knowledgable about beer styles and able to walk my non-beer-geek family members towards beers that they would like, but seemed a little put out by their ignorance. I had read this in reviews about the place before, so I expected it. My MIL can be a little less, um, patient, so it grated on her, but I didn't let it interfere with my experience. We ordered food which was a little steep, but very high quality. The Reuben was delicious, and I had a dish of mussels steamed in white ale and it was gorgeous. I got to taste my first Pliny the Elder as well as two local beers per the bartenders' suggestions. Overall it was a great experience that would be even better if I could come by more often with more beer geeks.

03-16-2013 18:15:46 | More by estlinska

HardTarget

Texas

4.44/5  rDev +4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.25 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.75 | food: 4 | $$$

Atmosphere: Large open area with an oval balcony overlooking the interior. Big, shiny bar with taps as far as the eye can see, with refrigerators showing off the extensive and well kept bottle collection. High end industrial feel to the place, but comfortable at the same time.

Quality: Everything we tried was on target. I'd be concerned about some of the less popular taps with as many as they had going, but that's my bias, I didn't see anything wrong with my choices.

Service: Friendly, knowledgeable, happy to talk us through our choices and make suggestions. Led us to tasty tasty beer.

Selection: Yeah, they've got a lot of choices. Good choices, tempting choices, I saw equal mixes of Belgian and domestic with strong local representation. Even saw a Real Ale tap from Texas which made me proud.

Food: Brought us a dump truck of fries, then a sampler plate with pickles, olives, salmon, sausages, crackers and moar fries. Tried a sandwich which was also tasty. Good food, a little pricy but not outrageous.

Overall: A really great place. Worth the cap ride out from downtown. You can get a lot of ground covered trying local beers while your friends will find something they like and will eat and be happy. I'll go back next time I find myself in Seattle.

02-16-2013 03:12:10 | More by HardTarget

slander

New York

4.34/5  rDev +1.6%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

An easy, and I mean a stupid easy, drive from Hale’s. And hey, thems people are leaving; we can take their spot if you spin a U’ey in the street, wait, now, and really, you pull straight into the spot, not backing in, who are you? Free waste assessment forced by having to look at the garbage cans prominently placed out front. Anyway, past the containers, around the bend and in…

Wow, cavernous, and most unusual 2-floor room with a rounded ‘U’ shaped balcony with a wood slat underside running 3 sides around. Concrete floorings, and I-beams running across the room below crosshatch caged ceiling, with 2 large drop tulip chandeliers and a circular skylight in between.

Straight wood topped bar, with a panel base & dinged, flattened bar foot rail on the far wall, seating for 15 on worn black leather hightop chairs. The barback is a length of stainless steel drainage, end to end, with sets of 8 taps clustered along the way, 63 in all, or so they says. Wait, that math, it don’t add up. Okay, let’s try that again. 7 towers of 8 = 56, ah, plus the shorty row of 4 makes 60, + 3 handpumps on the end makes 63. Okay, it’s on the up and up. Cooler room behind the barback with bottled goods displayed through sliding glass doors over each tap bundle; Russian River, Port/Lost Abbey, Hanssens, Dupont, De Dolle, Trappists & sours that I can see, and a whole boatload more back there (we’ll get to that). Brewery tins & stickers between the cooler doors, and glassware of all sizes shelved below running the length in 2 rows.

Tables in 2 rows of 5, mostly recs across the floor, and 4 booths on the far wall baby lamp lit. A small bar counter piece along the far wall seats 3, and another seating 5 on the end wall done Belgian flag black, yellow & red. Cushy couches on a raised perch at the other end, probably doing double duty as a small stage area, and a cocktail bar with seating for 4 off to the side. Good booze countered and shelved above the barback on a seemingly large stone wall, a single flatscreen in the corner there, and a single framed print (bar namesake Adriaen Brouwer’s ‘The Bitter Draught’, circa 1630something) mounted up high. It’s a guy with a look of deep disgust at having just ingested something disgusting; I read somewhere that it was Pumpking.

Upstairs, 6 tables of various sizes & shapes on each side of the balcony, and fencing running all the way around keeping the 2nd floor folks from quickly becoming ground floor folks. Worn slat wood floorings, the rear wall is burgundy and the side walls are beige over stone face lowers. The outer wall holds panel windows, red curtained up, and both walls are done up with cool prints; vintage Belgian (Orval, Saison Dupont, Elloise Quintine, Duchesse De Bourgogne, Dupont Avril, Timmermans, Augustin, Stella Artois), and those late 19th century ‘Bieres de la Meuse’ & ‘Absinthe Robette’ art nouveaus. 3L bottles over the door to the stairwell, and a small single table private room with sliding doors, burgundy walls, drop mosaic glass lamp, corner cushy chairs, & framed pics/prints.

The tap list, currently at 58, about half of it available in pint and schooner shorty. Just shy of 3 dozen American craft selections, the majority of which are west coast; 14 from Washington (Big Al, Boundary Bay, Elysian, Epic, Hale’s, Lazy Boy, Maritime Pacific, North Sound, Old Schoolhouse, Port Townsend, Pyramid), 7 from Oregon (Boneyard, Gigantic, Hair of the Dog, HUB, Laurelwood, Oakshire), and 7 from California (Black Diamond, Firestone Walker, Nectar, Sierra Nevada, Stone). And then a handful more from elsewhere about the country. The remainder is a mix of nearly 2 dozen imports (14 of them Belgian, and 9 various beers of the world), and a pair of regional ciders (Finn River & Snowdrift). And the single live handpump entry (Hale’s Supergoose). I started with the Nectar Humboldt Brown Hemp Ale, and then the Port Townsend Reel Amber. Phil, the Lost Abbey Mo’ Betta Bretta, and then the Lazy Boy Summer Rye. Beers were clean and in good shape. They just updated the tap list to now show 60 taps (More WA, less OR).

Big bottle list, broken out by country. Some 480+ selections, I could lift it, or count it out for you, breaking it out by style and country, but it’s involved, and I’m not up for it. Seem to be a boatload of American craft & Belgians primarily, and then random bearings from England, Germany, Canada, Italy, Denmark, and the rest of everywhere else. Pliny runs $8.50, Orval runs $11, Lost Abbey Red Poppy runs $20, prices seem reasonable.

And outside, 9 tables mix & match penned, some umbrella’d up. It’s a good damn house. We caught great tunes, lots of Neil, and some good Stephen, even. Eddie Vedder, live Levon, good Stones, bad Clapton (acoustic and off Heroin), live Van (Into the Mystic) from an era when he was trying and didn’t suck. And Vern’s warm nuts (that did not sound good) for a light snack; nuts with smoked sea salt & spices, topped with bacon crumbles. Oh my. Good beer here!

10-29-2012 05:55:42 | More by slander

leedorham

Washington

4.5/5  rDev +5.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Ventured here for the first time on a recent trip over to the west side and definitely glad I did.

The beer list is phenomenal. I can't complain about it in the least. It looks to rotate frequently from what I can tell.

I had the mussels with artichokes. Fucking delicious. My woman had some salad that was apparently good too. We had some good beers too. I don't remember which ones we had there. Some good oatmeal stout and some other good beer. I wanted to get a sour out of the bottles but we were already pretty intoxicated so we cashed out.

Atmosphere is pretty cool, man. They play good music, it's clean and well lit so you can see the bottles and tap handles. They have this mezzanine thing around the place if you want to sit up all high like and pretend you're better than everybody else. I don't have to pretend.

Service was normal pub service. Fast enough, attentive enough.

Also, this place is in Fremont. Fremont is pretty awesome too. There's a troll under the bridge and lots of ethnic food. You'll like it unless you're afraid of trolls and ethnic food.

10-09-2012 17:37:03 | More by leedorham

djbreezy

Washington

4.28/5  rDev +0.2%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$$

Cool building on the outside. Wasn't sure what to expect inside but the interior was well done. Walked upstairs to check it out and the sat at the bar.

Selection was good. Large tap menus. Lots of Belgian and American options. Lots of good bottles to choose from as well. The bar is well designed.

The service was okay. The female bartender was kinda quiet which was weird. The male bartender was ultra friendly.

The food was awesome. Ultra tasty. Had a turkey sandwich croissant thing. Delicious and fresh tasting.

Only gripe was weird aggressive music and overpriced beer. A cool spot, nonetheless.

09-17-2012 00:14:18 | More by djbreezy

barleywinefiend

Washington

3.98/5  rDev -6.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$$

A: My initial visit was for Hard Liver #8. Initially it left a bad taste in my mouth but given the circumstances I decided to go back. Since then I have been back nearly half dozen times both on weekends, weekdays and for other events like Back in Black and Big Wood. The atmosphere is a dimly lit area downstairs, very much tavern like but everyone seems to be in their own bubble and very clickish. I have never been able to grab a seat at the bar due to a constant crowd. Overall, the atmosphere is pretty good.

Q: Very good but some of the WA beers they choose to make the draft list are a bit questionnable at times.

S: Service was rude and bad on my initial visit but since then I have not had any of those issues. Service is slow at times but that is my biggest complaint.

S:Fantastic bottle list but you will pay a hefty mark up on some of the bottlesw. Draft selection is awesome but my ony issue is that they tend to focus on a handfull of breweries to rotate from and some of them are not amongst the best. The Belgian draft is awesome. Most PAC NW'ers still have yet to embrace the Belgian beer and what it has done for the world, the beer community in general. Brouwers could easily be the best beer bar in America if they amped up the American draft list a bit and tweaked the service.

F:Food has always been pretty good, one time I did receive the wrong itme and was charged fo it after I snt it back.

01-21-2012 12:48:17 | More by barleywinefiend

gkunkle

Oregon

4.2/5  rDev -1.6%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$$

A great friend from Seattle took me out to browers when I was in town. I was really pleased with this as a location to sit, sip and talk. The decor has a medieval touch to it, from the thick heavy wooden doors to the ironwork. There are a bunch of tables for 4 arranged in rows as well as some round tables and other seating along the wall. There is also seating upstairs but I didn't get a good look. The tap list certainly wasn't lacking. My first beer was DuPont Avec. Which was pleasing of course. Then I had some limited release DIPA that I found quite disappointing. Although I did pick it, I feel that it reflect slightly on the proprietor when they serve mediocre beer. There was enough of a range of beers so that I, the beer snob of the group was interested, but there were also beers that appealed to those without intimate knowlege of beer, beers that were complex and well made, but approachable. Our server was generally helpful. Only real negative is the price, a little on the spendy side, but great for a beer or two during a visit to town.

01-18-2012 07:36:34 | More by gkunkle

waltersrj

Washington

4.18/5  rDev -2.1%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Brouwers is my go to Seattle bar. I love the atmosphere with its old German/new urban decorations,. The bar is laid out well with over 60 taps and the beer selection in bottles is as good as it gets. You can try hommage if you want :) The food is great, especially the lamb burger or the daily soups as well as the frites. The service is a shit show as sometimes it's really great and sometimes really lacking. I love bringing my wife, family, or friends here. The special events are worth the time and money. Brouwers is as good as it gets.

12-20-2011 20:45:11 | More by waltersrj

kingcrowing

Vermont

4.13/5  rDev -3.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | food: 5 | $$

I'll start with the bad, the guy who brought out our food was a duck, for no reason at all. The waitress however was very nice and friendly.

Atmosphere is great, quite with a big bar, all the bottles on display, they have tons of taps and it was a Washington tap takeover so all WA beers, which was awesome. All the beers were $4-6 so that was great.

I got the muscles and frijtes and theybwere phenomenal and reasonably priced. We got Pliny and abacus bottles, and i was tempted by the hommage but ended up passing due to the $70 entry fee...

10-15-2011 00:12:42 | More by kingcrowing

Ficonblue

Minnesota

2.48/5  rDev -41.9%
vibe: 3 | quality: 2 | service: 1 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4.5 | $$$

Large selection of beer but lacking variety. Food was very good. Service was was a shotgun blast of disappointment to the face. A lot of employees standing around, and a bartender who wants to chat up her personal friends more then great customers or keep glasses full. All I ask for is a "Hello, I will be right with you" Clearly too much for them. After speaking with some other locals it seems I am not the only one. I just moved to town and I can assure you there are many other establishments who would be happy to have you as a customer. I won't be back soon.

09-23-2011 19:31:13 | More by Ficonblue