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Located in the Green Lake neighborhood I took the 358 straight up – I definitely like how the bus stop for the return trip home was *right outside* the front door of the pub.

Moving on to overall pub importance – with their huge selection of beer this place reminded me a lot of the Brouwer’s Café. I was impressed with the same as they had the Delirium Tremens in all three varities (I’m not going to elaborate). I ventured out a little bit with some of the beers and I can say that you need to be very careful with which beers you order as it depends in what size it comes (e.g. fuck off, very small, small, penis size, pint, imperial, huge, and Barry Bonds size – on the juice of course). On my way out I apparently ordered a beer of the “huge” variety that I couldn’t finish (I had a bus to catch).

The three main differences between the two (Ǖber Tavern and Brouwers Café) is size of establishment, food service, and the gun store next door (nice touch!). One thing I respected is that although they had no food service they did offer a “book of delivery menus” in which you could order from. They’re even kind of enough to deal with al the “external rubbish” afterwards.

BTW, don’t play with the melting stones on the fire table – they’re fucking hot!!!

Last night’s destination was Fiddler’s Inn in Seattle (Wedgwood).

As usual for pub night I took the bus which happened to be a fairly direct route via the #71 though with all the residential streets it took ~50 minutes for a roughly 8 mile route! To put it in perspective, I was able to go to Issaquah which is an 18 mile route in ~35 minutes… quite the difference! Though it was a lengthy ride at least there was a bit of entertainment on the way. For instance there were a couple occasions where some hoodlums refused to pay the fare (pay as you leave route) and the driver was hard-nosed and responded by refusing to let them off the bus; I couldn’t help but laugh. It was also interesting to see a sixty-foot articulated bus navigating down narrow residential streets and even dealing with the neighborhood roundabouts.

I finally made it up to the Wedgwood area and the bus dropped me off about eight blocks shy of the pub (5 minute walk). As I was walking along I couldn’t help but notice the whole area just being residential housing. This got me thinking whether I was even in the right neighborhood. Walking a little further I come across an old house with some neon signs in the windows… albeit the Fiddlers Inn. Right off the bat I have to give it ‘A+’ for character; impressive how they’ve converted an old wooden house into the local watering hole.

When I first walked in I really didn’t know what to think, the place was really small (it’s in an old house!) and the place was really lively (all the tables were full). I didn’t know how well accepted I would be, as I’m an “outsider” to the neighborhood encroaching on these people’s local pub. Apparently that’s nothing to be worried about, the bar man was cool and immediately made me feel as if I was one of the locals. Given the extensive list of beers – most of which I had never heard of before – I asked for a suggestion; after learning my preferences he gave me a taste of the “Anchor Liberty Ale” which hit the spot dead on.

He eventually helped me get settled in at a table and left a beer list for reference when the pub nighters arrive (I was the first to arrive to the pub night!). The beer list was class… it was just a small sheet of paper with the beers handwritten on it (some beers had even been crossed off). While I waited for the others I ordered up a pizza; it took ~25 minutes to prepare but I have to say it was worth the wait and in fact it was just flat out AWESOME!

The overall atmosphere was enjoyable and really appropriate for pub night. I especially liked the fiddle hanging from the rafters in the middle of the room – attached by a string to the front door. Now I just have to wonder if when the pub is slow that the bar man just watches to fiddle to announce the arrival of a patron… I guess it beats the hell out of a cow bell.

All said and done, I really enjoyed this place. The atmosphere, beer, food, and service were all well on par. The only negative is the place is a bit out of the way though I suspect that’s one of the things that adds to its charm (e.g. keeps a lot of the non-locals away).

Pub Night #1 (02-11-2007): Brouwer’s Café
I was quite impressed with this place; heck, how could I not when they have one of my favorite Belgium beers – Delirium Tremens – in three different varieties (330ml bottle, 750ml bottle, and on draught)? With regards to their overall beer selection, that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Food consisted of typical Belgium eatery such as frites, croquettes, cheese platter, etc.. I tried both the frites and croquettes; both were awesome!

No doubt I’ll be visiting this place again…

Pub Night #2 (02-25-2007): People’s Pub
This night there was a conflict with the Oscars but who cares the show (pub night) must go on! Anyways, this place was kind of small but definitely had an interesting atmosphere. One thing I liked is at the entrance there’s a bookshelf full of board games (Scrabble, Life, Operation, etc.) that you can enjoy during pub visit; we didn’t really partake in these however at one point we did have a conversation about how cool a “pub version” of Operation would be, the only difference is the tweezers emit an electrical shock rather than the traditional buzzer/lights.

Their brew selection was decent with primarily German and English beers. I was however quite surprised that they didn’t have Hoegarden (something about removing it to make room for a rotating tap), even though there was a huge Hoegarden banner hanging behind our table. The food is tailored towards the German cuisine; I had the Jagerschnitzel which was served exactly as I had it in Germany several months ago.

In summary this place wasn’t bad though it does have a couple flukes; if in the neighborhood I would stop in again.

Pub Night #3 (03-11-2007): Issaquah Brewery (Rogue)
To be honest I can’t remember much from this pub night as it fell on a Sunday and I had spent both Friday and Saturday nights partying it up good (I don’t think I got to bed until at least 4am both nights). I do recall that they had a good Belgium style beer though I forget the name of it and that they had an appetizer called the “Bleu Balls” which were meatballs with blue cheese crumbles mixed in…. tasty!

Based on what I remember this place has a lot going for it except for the fact it’s in Issaquah.

Pub Night #4 (03-20-2007): White Horse Trading Company
Kind of funny we even call this a pub night as not many folks even showed up (Greg, Clodagh, Kevin, Erin, and myself) which is probably a good thing too as this place was closed (there was a note in window stating they went on holiday for the week).

We ended up two doors down at one of my local hangouts (Kells) and listened to some of the live Irish music for a bit. Not much else to mention except for that Kells had Hoegarden on tap… in your face People’s Pub!!!

Pub Night #5 (04-01-2007): Big Time Brewery & Alehouse
Right from the start I liked this place. As you walk in and you know exactly where you stand. You want food then go to the kitchen counter and get it, you want a drink well then get up to the bar and get it; what I would call a self-service pub.

They have a fine selection of brews, most of which they brew themselves; their pale ale especially tasty and ended up sticking with it for the remainder of the evening. Related to their brew selection, the brew master must have had some sort of IPA fetish as they three different kinds on the menu… craziness!

The place looked liked it could serve up a mean pizza but I only went with the nachos, which by the way exceeded my expectations.

I can guarantee I’ll be back, but given its location to the University it’ll likely be on a school night to avoid the mass drunkenness of the kids. Oh yeah, for clarification this is the “Big Time Brewery” and shouldn’t be confused with the “Big Horn Brewery”; I’m not saying someone got these confused, but it could happen.