Gastropod (Epic Ales Brewery)

No Longer In Business

I wish I visited more often, this place is very cool. It feels like they stuck a small, underground restaurant into an old office building. Oh, and in the back they make beer. The bar surrounds the kitchen, which is about the size of a medium sized bathroom. The rest of the small place sits a dozen people or so. The most interesting aspect is the adventurous food, that alone is worth coming for. Some recent food items: Coffee-tabacco-honey ice cream /// Tom yum spot prawns, hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, roasted garlic, sous vide egg, baguette /// Black garlic soba, matsutake, pickled ginger chips, soy whip cream. The staff has always been very on point without being in your face. Beer prices are good, 6oz for $3. The beer seems to always be better at the Pod rather than bottles around town.

Visited evening on Thursday June 25, 2015. Dogs not allowed. Sat by the bar with 4 friends and sampled a bit of their beers available. I didn’t eat, some of my friends did and seemed to enjoy it. Fast and friendly service. We walked over from Ghostfish, but parking available close by. Wifi available. If in SoDo I’d say a cool place to visit.

Seattle’s real must visit brewery. Innovative beers. Awesome ambiance, glowing wooden pub. They have the best food I’ve ever seen at a brewpub - ranging from japanese to french gourmet all at reasonable prices. $3 for a sample is still a good deal. Staff are super friendly and plentiful!

Smallish place with 10 bar seats and maybe seating for 20-30. Ended up here because of a great bottle the night before but the beer sampled here was overall more of a miss. Got there a little after 4 and by 5 there was almost no where to sit. They had 6 house beers and another 6 guest taps. Food was eclectic, delicious and reasonably priced; beer samples were cheap and on the epic side very adventurous although ranged from bad to good. It’s only a 20 minute bus ride from downtown and I would say is with the trip depending on what they have on tap, although you should definitely eat here, and there are other places to drink or tick around if you want. Also have never met a more humble or down to earth brewer who chatted a bit even though it was busy and was spending most of his time doing dishes.

Wow what a cool place. I stopped in to try some of there stuff and ended up having some awsome oysters on a half shell and a few bottles to go. Super nice folks working. I will stop in again next time in Seattle for sure.

The pub feels like I’m chilling out in a friends cozy dining room. Lovely, inviting aromas from the open kitchen as you walk in. Friendly staff are quick to happily greet on entrance. I really dig what’s being done here, though my score reflects the ambiance and venue itself rather than the beer. Food is good and they offer a menu featuring snacks, mains and desserts. Tasty stuff. To be honest though, the beers were pretty damn bad man, we struggled to finish our tasters. I have mixed feelings about Gastropod, I just wish the beers were so much better than what I tried on my visit.

Epic has something going on that is super special. Great beers to be paired with specific food. This is a epicurean delight. A must try on the Saturday tasting and food pairing. The beers are different and very very filled with great imagination . A mist for the true beer geek visit.

First off, Cody is one of, if not, the most down-to-Earth guy that I’ve ever met. He is very dedicated to his craft. The brewery, as after4ever has said, isn’t that large. In fact, the brewery is rather small. The availability of his beers around town shows that this guy must be working his ass off. He’s constantly taking novel approaches in his brewing endeavors, and it shows. His tasting room is only open on Friday, but the $1 pours are too generous, in my opinion. You get to meet the brewer, and can discuss beer, and other things with him, face-to-face. This environment provides such a unique experience, it would be hard to forget something like this.

Three taps, two stools, one employee. La la la. Cool up and coming new brewery. At this early stage, it’s not much bigger than a good sized living room cut in two, with half being the production facility and half being the brew room and tasting room. It’s very casual and low-key, with all the charm spinning up out of beer love and curiosity. So don’t go in looking for a hangout with a pub feel. Go in to talk to the brewer and hear all about how creative his beers are, explained in a friendly way and in layman’s terms (if needed). He’s just getting the ship away from the dock as this is being written, so it’s a cool time to learn about what’s going on with Epic. The beers are uniformly interesting and well done, and range from good to excellent.

Currently only open limited hours Friday afternoon, but hopefully Cody is able to expand that as sales/production ramp up. Pretty easy to find, but make sure you go to the entrance on 1st ave side of building. Epic is located just inside the front door of the Trigger building. The tasting room/brewery is a small space that has a nice short little wood bar top with 2 or 3 stools and 3 tap handles. Decent size taste glasses there and growlers available to go for right now. Cody is a former home brewer that is living his dream and loves to talk beer. I really enjoyed what I tasted and can’t wait for more as well as supporting him by buying some bottles now that labels are ready. Cool to see a little 1 barrel nano set up with a creative passionate brewer.