Latest reviews from Sumner

“The award for biggest surprise based on location definitely goes to Half Lion. You think you’ll find nothing more than equipment rentals and chain saw sales down along this little shoulder of highway--seriously, it’s just a little strip of land between 167 and a slope that’s too steep to develop much; there’s a side road and a few warehouses, and then all of a sudden there’s this popular local brewery.

There’s plenty of parking, there are high ceilings, there’s plenty of ventilation with the big roll-up doors. You know their real estate costs are under control all the way out here, but they’re clearly doing what it takes to pull lots of folks out for a beer, and it’s immediately easy to see why.

The interior is so offbeat and cool--it’s a fun place to drink. This is one of those brewpubs that can easily succeed as a bar even if they sell 90+% of their kegs onsite only. They cordon off the taphouse from the brewhouse with huge rough-hewn logs, and the light fixtures are giant bandsaw blades that they’ve added bulbs to and hung from the 30’ ceilings. They’re clearly giving a nod back to the old lumber industry culture that dominated western Washington years ago. I love the hell outta that. There are picnic tables and crazy highboy tables (you seriously have to see the huge conference table looking thing with lifeguard chairs around it), there are big risers in the corner with big speakers on them, there’s just elbow room for days in here. They could probably have live bands very easily. And the sound, just playing a mix list of recorded music, was perfect--you could tune in and hear every instrument, or you could tune it out and easily chat with people next to you.

When you get to the bar, the staff are right on point, super friendly and cheerful, and they actually kinda look like they are probably the last three reigning Miss Sumners. They know the beer list cold, they can recommend stuff based on style, heaviness, and so on--they’re not just there to pull taps and run cards. They might even be able to answer some basic technical questions about the beer, for all I know. They’re super quick to offer complimentary snacks, too--which are actually all good, not just the stale pretzels lots of places offer.

We hung out on some cool naugahyde swivel bar stools that looked like the most amazing vintage 70s thrift store find you can imagine. We watched one of the many flat screens showing the game. We listened to locals giving each other crap; they clearly all know the staff and each other, at least to say hi, and everybody’s friendly. It looked like kids were allowed in at least part of the space. It’s easy to see this place packing in crowds of all different kinds of people during different days and nights of the week.

The brewhouse is easy to check out from your stool; it was hard to see how they were loading the grain, but they had some cool old-school technical touches and a good-sized system. They appear to be keeping about a dozen beers on tap regularly; no guest beers from what I could see. The house beers had some promise, but they were showing some side-effects from yeast stress which made everything we tried taste the same. That should be an easy thing to remedy, even if they have to go get fresh yeast from another brewhouse (this happens all the time, it’s not an emergency fix or anything like that). Based on the people and the room and everything about the way they’re doing business, I’d have to say that tidying up the details in the beer would make this place pretty rad.“

after4ever 2842 days ago

“Nice place. It’s located in a sheet metal building, but you’d never guess that from the interior. The owners used reclaimed lumber to give the place a unique, logger motif. It’s much larger than any craft brewery I’ve visited, so everyone has space to relax and converse without being bothered by too much noise. Service was prompt, attentive and friendly. They had a pretty good selection of beers (and one cider) on tap. Although the selection isn’t as large as many breweries, the beer was very high quality and would be enough to keep anyone interested until they’d had their fill of drinking. They don’t serve food, but there was a really good food truck in front of the brewery when I visited--and it had better food than any brew pub would, so this is actually a plus. Prices are reasonable.“

Hanuta06 2891 days ago

“These guys are a ways from Lake Tapps, but the lake seems to be home for half the people you see even down here in the valley--there’s so much residential up there, that even here in Sumner, the name probably makes sense. They’ve taken over a building by The Old Cannery that looks like it might have probably been a few different restaurants and bars through the years, and made it their own. There’s a huge amount of parking, and a big open deck that extends out into that parking lot--makes for a great sunny spot to sit and soak up some suds. You walk in past a restroom door that leads to a clean but very basic facility. If you keep going down the hall, you’re passing tables and a flat screen, then a bar, then couches and overstuffed chairs and a flat screen, then out to the deck. So you get a decent variety of group seating, especially for a smaller, newer brewery. Might seem like a small thing, but it’s very much appreciated. They do have a guest tap pouring, or they did the day I was in. There was a kitchen behind the bar but they don’t have a menu--they allow outside food, including deliveries. They definitely offer complimentary peanuts and pretzels after you order a beer. They had about a dozen of their own beers pouring, virtually all of them IPAs, porters, stouts, and other big anglo-style ales. The beers are pretty decent; the best one was probably the Glacier IPA. The staff here were super friendly and nice, and checked back on the table after pouring the beers. 5 small samples were $7, which is a pretty easy way to taste a variety of things. This is not really the kind of brewery that is worth a long drive to visit, since any long drive in this state will take you past several other breweries that are all probably equally interesting. But if you’re in the area (say, shopping for furniture, for example), then it’s a solid choice.“

after4ever 3296 days ago