Good breweries to ride to in Seattle?
 

My son just move to Seattle and I know one of his favorite rides here in NYC was to the Bronx Brewery from where he lived in Brooklyn. They had outdoor seating and encouraged riders to stop and bring their bikes in. For me it was 30 mile RT, for him more like 20, if that.

For someone living in the Eastlake area, is there some equivalent ride we could do? When I lived there back in the 80s, the one ride we would do is out to Woodinville to Chateau St. Michelle for wine. But he's a beer drinker. And is St. Michelle still there?

I just checked Google maps and there is no shortage I see, most closer than the Bronx from Brooklyn. Lots of them between Fremont and Ballard, an area that I used to avoid on my bike. When I lived there Ballard was just some sleepy Scandinavian village and the waterfront areas were congested with trucks. And the missing link was just that.

It's been a while...

Holy crap, it's been a very long while. I just looked up the missing link and it STILL isn't built??? I thought we were slow here in NYC but even an improved Brooklyn Bridge bikeway has been built in the last year.

Tons of breweries near the Burke-Gilman, especially the cluster in Ballard. Out to Kenmore there are a few more, then in Woodinville there's Metier. I just went a few weeks back to Metier and was impressed.

The litigious ******* businesses along Shilshoe are behind the Missing Link still being missing.

OH MY! This is such an open ended question in the Seattle Region!
I would rather look for a ride you want to do then look for a brewery there. Almost all have tasting rooms! But bring a couple of locking options as sometimes bike parking can be tricky. We normally bring a very robust/thick cable with us (and a growler) when we go.

East across 520 bridge there are breweries! North along burk gillman or interurban are breweries! and always a good time to take the ferry to the pennisula! Breweries there too! Short rides, long rides, BREWERIES EVERYWHERE! Overnighters? Breweries! Just keep in mind all might not have food options, so pack a snack!

Another option would be to stop at Fremont Brewing on return of a big ride. Tonnes of bike parking and outdoor space. Good luck and let us know if you find any gems.

Little fun gem, but maybe out of your range is riding north on the Interurban to the Edmonds Ferry, take that across to downpour brewing directly on the other side of the ferry in kingston. Or if up to it, ride all the way to hood canal brewing about another 7 miles in. You also get a ferry ride this way which is pretty fun! Also the bainbridge ferry and do a loop there with bainbridge brewery on the other side of the ferry as well.

It sounds like I'll have to spend a lot of time around Seattle!

In the meantime, my son was in Seattle all of 5 days before he had to go to work again and came back to NY. He's a commercial pilot and is always on the move. He'll be using my house as his crash pad, unlike most other pilots that have dumpy shared housing somewhere in Queens. Very few pilots actually live here. He barely had time to explore Seattle, but he did find out really quick he didn't want to live on Capital Hill.

I'll go when he settles in, but that won't be for a few months.

If you are going for a quick visit (couple days) I would suggest the Seattle Bainbridge Ferry, do a loop around the Island and stop at Bainbridge Brewing. You get a cool ferry ride and taking the ferry on your bike is so fun! Check back in before you arrive, because weather could also be a determination in your decision making :)

That's ok, I've lived in Seattle in the past, and had friends on Bainbridge Island. I'd probably be disappointed to see how much has been built. I also had friends that lived along Hood Canal on a quiet country road along the elbow, until about a month later the Hood Canal bridge sank and their country road became the main road to the Olympic Peninsula.

As for weather, I always assume it is going to be raining. On my last trip there, already 10 years ago, the first thing I did was head to REI to buy a rain jacket and then I rode out to Marymoor on a sunny morning. When I got back on the bike to head across I-90 I saw it coming and by the time I got to Microsoftland it was pouring down rain, all the way across until I got to the tunnel in Seattle. I came out the other side and it stopped. The next day I was riding up around Ballard for a bike festival and on the way back a huge thunderstorm hit. I ducked under at PCC in Fremont for that one and waited it out. Thunderstorms were rare in Seattle when I lived there.

I still have the jacket but haven't used it at all on a bike since. I would swear it came with a hood but can't find that, and the listing for it was that it was optional to buy, so maybe it didn't.

I was at the opening of the new Brooklyn Bridge bike lane just 2 days ago. From conception to completion in about 5 months. Missing link? From conception to nothing in about 40 years! They could've built a bridge over the entire area in that time.

My son was back in NYC yesterday and I asked him if it had started raining yet. In the little time he's been there over the last 2 weeks and a scouting trip out there in June, he's never seen it rain. Maybe climate change has shifted the pattern so it no longer rains September through May, but maybe he's just been lucky so far. From what I see and hear on the news it isn't the Seattle weather that I remember. It was dreary fall going into an even drearier winter where it was getting dark by 3:30 since it was always overcast. In April you'd start to see an occasional nice day.

Climate change has dried us out a bit. It used to rain in August pretty reliably.

We still suffer a thousand years of darkness from November through March.

At least that is 4 fewer months now.

My son was here in NY with me and I was showing him the google map with the breweries. He thought the ride up the BG to Kenmore and the various breweries was more like what he was looking for. From where he'll be living in the Eastlake area Fremont is just a 15 minute ride . He wants it to be a longish ride but not so long that he won't make it back after a beer or two.

Eastlake is a great neighborhood to live in as a cyclist. I really enjoyed my time there and hope he will too. No breweries involved, but the ride south along Lake Washington Blvd is fun and scenic, and you can make a loop of any length you want. Can't recommend it enough. Ride down along the shore, come up Beacon Hill, ride home through downtown or Capitol Hill or whatever seems interesting that day. Or go around the S edge of the lake and take one of the floating bridges back. Lot of beautiful parks, mountain views, water in every direction. Eastlake is a great place to start and end that ride.

If he has pets, the vet there is expensive but excellent. I moved across town and we still go there.

He was already telling me of his rides and I want to go back and do them. And yes, he has pets. What is the name of the vet?

Eastlake Animal Hospital, all for Dr Sheerer, he's fantastic. The coffee place next door (Grand Central) is very good too. 🙂

Fairview a couple blocks from Eastlake had very little auto traffic and is basically a cycling and running and walking corridor, once it gets into the Eastlake neighborhood.

Thanks for the recommendation. His girlfriend is working at Fred Hutch so this'll be easy for them.

As it turns out he had already made an appointment with them as they would be convenient.

I guess my son's luck ran out with the rain since I last posted here. Meanwhile he's been here in NYC as much as he's been in Seattle and I see him more now than when he lived here. He'll be based in Seattle starting in January after doing training for about 3 weeks in December. Then I won't see him anymore until I go out there.

The breweries up in Kenmore sit literally right on the Burke-Gilman Trail. Once the weather warms up they have great outdoor seating. I ride by there quite often in the warmer months.