Skagit River Brewery

benito

Oregon

2.23/5  rDev -37.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 1.5 | service: 2 | selection: 2.5 | $$

Skagit River looks great from the outside: a warehouse like building with a nice deck. It has a little bit of grit and grime, enough character to seem enticing. The interior too, done in wood and dimly lit, has the feel of a backwoods juke joint or bayou blues club. Unforunately, the appeal of Skagit River stops there.

Plainly put, the beer here is bad. My friend and I sampled all ten brews they had on tap and found them across the board to have a strange, soapy aftertaste. Oftentimes, these brews started off well-enough with a nice malty note, but where they should have been finishing crisply or bitterly toward the back of the tongue, almost all of these brews (their Locos Only Pale Ale was the one exception) got stronger and maltier, leaving malty, soapy, or cloyingly sugary aftertastes.

The sampler couldn't entice us to stay, so my buddy and I headed out. I would hazard a guess and say that I doubt I'll ever be back through the Skagit River doors again.

06-10-2006 14:50:03 | More by benito

woemad

Washington

4.18/5  rDev +16.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Had dinner here with my brother & sister-in-law and several of her relatives after a long day of moving their belongings from Wenatchee and unloading them in Burlington.

The space used to be an old warehouse of some kind in downtown Mount Vernon. I'm a big fan of "adaptive re-use (a little historic preservation lingo)", so I dug it. There was a second floor but I didn’t see what it was like. We sat at a big table along the wall. Facing the wall, I could see a couple of trains roar by just over my bro’s dad-in-law’s shoulder. The trains weren’t too loud and added to the place’s considerable charm. We were all able to happily chat away in a cozy, not-too-crowded-or-too-loud environment on a Saturday night at a quarter to eight, though we had to make reservations when we called an hour before, so it sounds like it can be busier earlier. The pub sits next to tracks that are in turn next to I-5, so locating the place isn’t hard once you get off of the infamous vehicular sprawl between the Seattle area and Vancouver BC, plus the sign on the side of the building is prominent as you race (or crawl, depending on the time of day) past on the freeway.

Since I didn’t sit at the bar, I can’t comment on it. The service was prompt without it feeling like the waitress was hovering over us – not an easy thing to do while attentively waiting on a semi-large group of people. While no opportunity arose for her to demonstrate the staff’s education re: beer, we were well served, and isn’t that the most important thing?

I had a pint of the Scullers and a porter, plus a taste of my brother’s brown ale (the only SRB I’d had previously – bottled). My schnoz was pretty out-of-commission due to moving allergies (dust and dog hair), but the beer seemed pretty tasty to me, the IPA being pleasingly hoppy without being overbearing about it, and the porter had a “woodsy” quality to it, as my brother put it. The rather low-strength pale ale was popular amongst other diners in my company, and no one was heard to complain about the beer.

The hours on the place are a little silly, as they close rather early, (10PM on a weekend, 9 on a weekday night, IIRC) so this is more of a dinner destination than a late-night source for pints. The food was pretty good, with a little bit of everything – some barbecue, some pizzas, etc. I had the Shepherd’s Pie, which was served piping hot and was nicely filling, with a tasty red potato salad served on the side.

This is a nice brewpub & restaurant, worthy of a visit. I plan on coming here again when I visit the bro. Hopefully I’ll be able to try the winter seasonal imperial stout on-tap when I do.

10-10-2005 20:27:05 | More by woemad

beercollector

Oregon

3.33/5  rDev -7%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3.5

Skagit is a good stop on the drive from Oregon to Vancouver, B.C. The place was hard to find the first time thru town. But once I found it, no problem.

And then when a train comes by, you wonder if you should hold onto your beer. Outside it can be a little loud and dusty. But this is a nice adaptive reuse of an old feed store type building.

The server was pleasant but did not seem to know the beers. The food was typical pub fare. There were several locals the day we drove through. It was a nice start of the ultimate beer trip. After a nice late lunch we drove on to Vancouver and met our travelling companions at a downtown hotel. The next morning we caught a ship to Juneau. The last Brew Cruise to leave from Vancouver. They now go out of Seattle.

On return we stopped again and I got a case to take home. It was good beer but not great.

03-27-2005 06:03:09 | More by beercollector