Bourbon in Seattle?

[tachyonshuggy]

I'll be in Seattle August mid-month (Vancouver as well). . .any particular stores or bars that cater to the bourbon fan?

[T47]

I am not sure about the bars, but our best liquor store for Bourbon is at 1702 4th Ave. S, which is down by the Baseball stadium. They supply most of the restaurants in the downtown area so they have the best supply of Bourbon. There is also one at 1302 6th Ave, which is right downtown. They have a small selection, but once in a while a surprise. No real dusty bottles here in our State Run Liquor Stores, at least in my experience.

Is there something you might be looking for? If so I can stop in and see, if their in short supply they might be willing to set it aside?

[BourbonBalls]

Vancouver has a liquor store just off Robson . . .

AND...you can get Buffalo Trace there! And its not even distributed here in California, but it sure made its way west....

[wadewood]

I will confirm Todd's advice on the liquor store; go to store on 4th. However, you will not find anything here in WA state that is not readily available in Texas and Texas is probably cheaper.

As far as bars, check out FX McCrory's (located right north of Qwest Field) and ZigZag Cafe at 1501 Western Ave (near the Pike place market).

[T47]

I just stopeed in checked the stock at the 4th Av. Store. I looked for bottles that are "hit and miss" for WA State, their stock can change quite a bit. Those hit and miss unusual bottles would be Pappy 15 at about $47 (they currently have only 2 bottles) Hirsch 16 Gold Foil at about $85(they have a case) Rock Hill Farms at about $45 (they have a couple) Elmer T Lee at about $27 (they have a couple). They have a pretty good stock of Pappy 20 at about $87.

The have a good selection of other bottles, but the others I see there fairly frequently and are common stock for them.

I asked the manager which Restaraunt orders the best Bourbon selction, and he popped of McCrory's with no hesitation.

You will (if you want) have to let us know when you plan on going, maybe some of us NW SB.com'rs can meet you at McCrorys and tip one or two back with you.

Anyway, they said they can set aside some bottles for you if I give them your name...if your interested. On any given day when you go in there are surprises though.

[tachyonshuggy]

Thanks for the info guys!

[clayton]

Beyond McRory's (which I don't much care for, given that it feels like a sports bar to me), I also highly recommend the bar Brouwer's in Fremont. They have a very impressive selection of bourbon and scotch, along with the biggest damn beer selection (specializing in Belgian ales) that I've ever seen.

[T47]

I will have to give Brouwers a look, never heard of it, looks like a fun spot. I do recall the manager of the liquor store on 4th Ave saying there was a bar in Fremont that was trying to really increase their selection of Bourbons, and she thought they might like to order some Stagg as well as some other's, maybe thats the one she was speaking of.

Can't argue with the "sports bar" feel of McCrorys.

I also see that the Liquor store at One Union Square (1302 6th Ave.) is closing up. The Manager there was pretty sharp, that's to bad.

[clayton]

I thought the One Union Square liquor store wasn't open to the public...?

[T47]

It's the store at 2105 6th Ave that's closed to the public. I spoke with the manager at the 4th Ave. store a while ago about a bottle that only seemed to be in stock at that store, and he told me as long as they have more than a "few" bottles, he could get me one during one of his runs there. So even that store has some accessibility in a limited way I guess.

[Thirsty]

I sent my wife up to the store on 4th, and found that it was well worth the trip from Phoenix. (there was something about a family christening going on there too, in seattle... not at WSLCB) The nice thing about washington state stores is that they list their inventories (more or less) online,

www.liq.wa.gov/services/brandsearch.asp

along with the manager's phone number to check on stock. While I am not a big fan of state level regulation of liquor, it does cut down on hunting time (and I suppose the fun) of finding bottles not readily available in your area.

[T47]

I have found some of the Stores are several months behind on thier web site stock, so I pull up the phone number and call to confirm they have what I am looking for.

I stop in to the 4th Ave Store just to see whats on the shelf, they keep a good variety on the shelf most of the time.

The West Seattle store has some Rittnhouse 100 Proof for you Seattle folks interested, the 4th Ave store has just had the 80 Proof recently.