Fremont Brewing Company

Vanlingleipa

California

4.16/5  rDev +4.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Qualifier: I am rating on the industrial park warehouse scale, which of course does not rate a fancy restaurant with shiny copper vats the same way as a neighborhood brewery tasting room.

Fremont Brewing is the second example. This is a cool neighborhood hang where you can stop by while walking the dogs on a pleasant weekend afternoon.

As mentioned, this is a warehouse, albeit with a brightly painted exterior. Inside is plenty of bench seating (amazing how often the warehouse tasting rooms don't offer enough place to park your can), the requisite taps and a reach-in refrigerator for the bottles.

The simplicity is what works for these places. The benches and close seating encourages conversation and beer community. Of course, you also have to serve tasty beer.

And Fremont does have tasty offerings, from bottles of barrel aged brew to taps like their intensely citrus-hoppy Interurban IPA. Beer prices are reasonable, especially the sampler deal that allows you to procure six tasters for six bucks.

To sum, Fremont Brewing is a basic, clean, accessible brewery that offers tasty beers at decent prices. Your dogs, outside grubbage and kids are welcome. My kind of place.

08-03-2011 17:24:05 | More by Vanlingleipa

Smurf2055

Washington

4.31/5  rDev +8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.25 | selection: 3.75 | $

Review for the old taproom.

Fremont brewery is awesome. Not intended for the masses, but they’ve got their taps open a few days a week. Oh yeah, it’s in the brewery. Like you can see the beer being brewed in giant vats. It’s obviously all Fremont stuff, but that’s not bad, and it’s the best prices you will see for them. It’s a pretty cool place.

Updated review for the new one.

Still love this brewery. The taproom is now attached to the brewery, not just in it. The selection is typical, a solid amount of taps showcasing their current beers. Usually have an interesting specialty keg, a Nitro, or a Firkin. No food unless you count pretzels. The room itself is very fancy looking, hardwood and barrels surround you. It's a great place to grab a brew.

05-30-2013 16:32:18 | More by Smurf2055

EspressoGuy

British Columbia (Canada)

3.23/5  rDev -19%
vibe: 3.75 | quality: 3 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4 | $$

A: open, airy, bright. No seats at the bar. One long wooden "picnic" table inside with smaller tables on the side and even steps to sit on. Outside are a variety of simple wooden tables. I liked it.
Q: I found it to be a little spotty. Out of a five beer sampler I thought two were very good and three were just fine.
S: Order at the counter only. Service is prompt, polite, knowledgeable but I wouldn't call it welcoming or friendly.
Selection: 10-12 available. Some very interesting styles like beer aged in Merlot barrels (two versions) and an ale with pineapple. A guy even told me about a basil infused beer.
F: didn't see any offered.
V: Nice place to visit but I wouldn't go out of my way to get here.

05-19-2013 23:35:21 | More by EspressoGuy

BeerisUber

California

4.7/5  rDev +17.8%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 2 | $

This place rocks! New beer garden. Totally renovated. Lots of amazing brews on tap and all the free pretzels you can eat. Staff is really friendly and sure knows a lot about beer. If they have any of their fresh hop beer, try it. I wish I lived in Seattle so I could go here more often. I live in central California and the brewery's near home are absolutely no comparison in quality. If available... Try the bourbon barrel aged abominable, dark star imperial stout, or any if their fresh hop ales! Thor was great!

10-18-2012 21:04:48 | More by BeerisUber

djbreezy

Washington

4.1/5  rDev +2.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Cool place overall. Good space that is relaxed. Pretty much a warehouse style tasting room. Rugged and plain. Not much to look at but clean.

Beer was great. Lots of growler, can and bottle options to go. Plenty of choice. I think there were 6 taps.

The people were a bit on the uppity side of things. Not ultra friendly but kinda stuck to themselves. Not my favorite vibe but I was there for the beer more importantly.

Glad I got to try the beer and bring home a 6 pack. Worthy beer and they have what looks like a really nice and efficient brewery.

09-17-2012 00:09:47 | More by djbreezy

dirtylou

Washington

4.22/5  rDev +5.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Fremont is a sweet little neighborhood brewery that is kind enough to open their walls to the public on weekend nights.

The garden is cement - this is a production facility. There are are long communal tables supported by keg shells and some smaller tables as well.

Food is welcome, as our kids, dogs and just general fremont wackiness.

The tap selection is nice - all of the standards, the DIPA, imperial oatmeal stout, a rotating creative cask.

Growlers and bottles are available to-go as well, at very reasonable prices.

Probably not a place to make a Friday night out of but a cool quick stop for a pint or two and some provisions to take out into the world.

07-27-2011 01:10:43 | More by dirtylou

barleywinefiend

Washington

4/5  rDev +0.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$$

A: The place is wharehouse/garage style opens up to the street. A good amounf of seating around. Atmosphere is good. There were only a handfull of people there on a early Friday afternoon but I can see how this place would be a great neighborhood spot and a busy ine at that.

Q: I believe all of Fremont beers are good.

S: The service here is good. You never have to wait or track down a beer. Someone is always behind the register ready to pour.

S: I believe there were 6 Fremont beerss. If you are lucky Big Brother will be on. They also have a cask which is always interesting.

F: Pretzels.

V: I thought the $6 goblets of IIPA were a little hefty but not bad. However, the growlers are very reasonable. They have pre-filled growlers ready to go. They also have B-Bomb bottled and ready to go.

04-30-2011 14:54:15 | More by barleywinefiend

NWer

Washington

4.16/5  rDev +4.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

An unpretentious working brewery with beer garden area. Long European style tables and benches.
The beer garden appears to be an afterthought where you are intruding into their workspace - which adds to the charm. They freely offer (for free) samples of their beers. That's nice. You don't have to buy a flight in order to taste their beers. They have growlers to go - no bottles except for very rare special releases.
Friendly staff - brewers - love to mingle and talk beer.
A very nice place to bring your sandwich you bought someplace else, buy a pint, and enjoy.
This place should quickly become a local favorite.

03-07-2011 01:46:45 | More by NWer

DaveJanssen

British Columbia (Canada)

4.06/5  rDev +1.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

The tasting room is a section of the warehouse they brew in and all the brew equipment is clearly visible. They had six taps (one nitro) and one additional tap off to the side that wasn't in use while i was there. For early on a thursday there was a good crowd, but plenty of room. They have a series of small half circle padded seats as well as a long table with a bench made out of boards on keg shells.

The staff are very friendly. The beers were good and the selection was fair for the size of the brewery. Most of the beers were fairly high alcohol and dark. They have a series of coolers full of growlers and have a nice beer gun system for filling growlers. Overall they are a relatively low key brewery that is trying some interesting stuff and definitely worth a visit.

I suppose my only qualms are that they don't serve food (but are too small to make that practical for now) and the growlers are clear glass.

12-24-2010 23:33:11 | More by DaveJanssen

snaotheus

Washington

4.06/5  rDev +1.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5 | $

Yes, it's a warehouse, but it's friendly and beer-centric. Kids and dogs are allowed. The only food served there is a large bowl of self-serve pretzels. You're allowed to bring your own food. You're allowed to buy or fill a growler and drink it on site, which is pretty surprising and nice.

There's limited table seating, although they have one fairly good sized German-beer-hall-style table with benches (long, intended to be shared by strangers). It can get fairly crowded, and I've only seen one guy serving there -- no table service, just line up at the bar. But, it goes pretty quickly and they'll hold onto your growler until you're ready to go.

Growlers are $8 to fill, more to buy but I can't remember how much. Most of their beers are $4 or $5 for a glass, and some of them are excellent (some of them are not). They made a beer for Brouwer's, I think they called it V5, which was terrific. They also made a nitro cranberry ale which was distinctly lackluster.

They have six taps and a cask, the taps seem to rotate through their selection fairly quickly.

They don't have much in the way of decorations, but you're basically sitting right in the brewing facility, which gives you plenty to look at.

04-03-2010 21:25:39 | More by snaotheus