Ballard’s Nine-Brewery, Half-Mile Pub Crawl

Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood has for decades been a brewery-rich tract. This history goes back to the dawn of craft beer, when Paul Shipman selected a transmission shop in the neighborhood to start the Redhook brewery. In 1995, Mike Hale chose Ballard for his Seattle pub, deepening the neighborhood’s cred in Washington brewing history. I knew all of this. But thanks to Covid, it’s been a minute since I’ve been back to Ballard and I failed to apprehend just how many breweries sit on a half-mile route. In two cases, you can sip a beer from the patio of one brewery while gazing across the street at another.

I am in Seattle to gather info about a future Sightglass article on Reuben’s tenth anniversary, and I’ve tucked in side trips to Metier and Machine House, all of which precludes this old man from attempting this crawl himself. However, I did amble through the course and, like intrepid explorers of old, mapped out the terrain and route so you can try it yourself the next time you’re in Ballard.

I don’t know for a fact that the course described here is the most densely-packed half-mile of breweries in the world, but it’s definitely in the conversation. So as a public service, here are your marching orders.

The Ballard Beer Half-Mile

Start at (1) Reuben’s Brews and walk almost due west 63 feet to (2) Great Notion. Depending on traffic, this may take up to 30 seconds. It’s catty-corner from Reuben’s and you can wave at people drinking beers at the outdoor tables there—or wave back at Reuben’s once you’ve settled in at Great Notion. Once you’ve finished your second pint, walk 428 feet (58 seconds) around the corner to (3) Obec Brewing. This puts you on 52nd St, where three breweries sit within a block of each other.

From Obec, you’re less than three hundred feet from (4) Stoup Brewing (47 seconds). From Stoup, situate yourself so you can see Urban Family across the street. Once you’ve finished your pint, saunter 29 feet to (5) Urban Family, watching for cars as you go. I did stop into Stoup for a pint, and watched people wander out into the street as if the breweries were connected by a parking lot. It’s a road—look both ways!

Now the real hike begin. From Urban Family, you must traverse four city blocks (roughly 1,000 feet) to arrive at (7) Lucky Envelope. This trek will take three minutes, depending on your diminishing coordination. From there you have another exhausting 528-foot ramble (1 min, 39 seconds) to (8) Fair Isle. If you’re up for an adventure, you can continue on through the wilderness another 300-odd feet to (9) Bale Breaker (42 seconds). I assume you will have build a mighty thirst by this time, which is good, because you can have a pint of Yonder cider, which shares the space with Bale Breaker, while you’re there.

But a warning. If you’ve parked your car back at Reuben’s, now you’ve got a dilemma. You could walk, but by this time in your crawl you’ve roamed 1,492 feet from your car. You could try to get back on foot (7 mins), or perhaps more sensibly take an Uber. The entire crawl is manageable at just .54 miles, but on the other hand you’ve had no fewer than eight beers in half a mile and you’re in no condition to drive home. Or possibly stand up.

Oh crap! If you’re like me—poor with directions in the best case—you might have missed one. In this case we’ve almost missed (6) Wheelie Pop. But you’re in luck. It actually breaks up that long slog between Urban Family and Lucky Envelope, and only adds about 150 feet to the whole affair, so make sure you don’t miss it.

I will depart with a provocation. If there is a patch of earth that has more breweries per foot than this section of Ballard, I challenge you to find it. In the mean time, plan a trip to Seattle.

Stoup on the left, Urban Family to the right.

And out in the hinterland are Fair Isle and

Jeff AlworthJune 1, 20223 Comments