By Iron Chef Leftovers
Stop 3 – Anacortes Brewing/Rock Fish Grill in Anacortes
A hop, skip and a jump down winding Chuckanut Drive (and after an emergency bathroom break), lies Anacortes, Washington – a sleepy little waterside community known for Whale Watching, its ferry terminal, the Tesoro refinery and Anacortes Brewing, possibly the best top to bottom brewery in the state of Washington. Rock Fish Grill is the restaurant attached to Anacortes Brewing and they serve up some tasty food as well as all of Anacortes’s beers and are located right in the heart of downtown Anacortes on Commercial Street.
The Beer – OK, so this is going to be a slightly biased review. I REALLY like pretty much anything that Anacortes makes and they have a pretty extensive lineup of beers – they were pouring somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 beers when we were there, with styles ranging from Maibock to IPA to Belgians. I am a big supporter of Anacortes IPA – I consider this to be the best IPA in the Northwest and quite possibly the world. Their IPA is a tremendously balanced beer with just the right amounts of hoppiness, bitterness and flora aromas. Strangely enough, I did not actually order the IPA (although that is what came home with me in the growler). I indulged in my second favorite beer in the Anacortes lineup – their seasonal Mai Oh Maibock. The Maibock is the kind of beer I look for on a warm summer day – malty and refreshing with a bit of hops on the back of the palate. The one beer they had on tap, which I had not tried before, was the Bourbon Barrel Aged Blonde (say that one three times fast). I am really not at fan of barrel-aged beers – they tend to be overly oaked and remind me of chewing on wood. It is the same reason why I tend not to like oaked chardonnay; all you taste is wood. The Blonde was surprisingly well done. Don’t get me wrong, there is no mistaking that this beer ended up in a Bourbon barrel, but it didn’t whack you over the head with that flavor and you could surprisingly taste the beer (Blonde isn’t exactly a heavy style), making it more than just a one dimensional beverage. With a alcohol level approaching 9%, you probably wouldn’t want more than one, but you are not exactly going to chug it either. Alas, Anacortes’s beers are available on tap only and don’t make appearances in Seattle in any great quantity (you will usually find a handful of places with it on tap), so I would recommend taking home as many as you can before you leave. Overall, I would give their beers 5 Sebastidae out of 5. Heck, the only thing keeping the beer from being 6 Rock Fish out of 5 is that you can only get it on tap, and most of the beers are only available in Anacortes.
The Atmosphere – Rock Fish is a big space, plenty of tables and a large outdoor space (although not large enough to accommodate 8 people on a beautiful sunny Saturday). It feels like a brewpub – inside has plenty of wood, a nice, long bar, the current selections hanging on panels over the bar. Having been to Rockfish several time to eat, I tend to think of it more as a restaurant, and it is a comfortable and homey place to have a meal o go with your beers. Outside there are 2 outdoor areas, one on the side of the building with a few tables and the other in the back. One of these days I am going to have to go back just to have beers and judge it from that perspective, but until then, Rock Fish gets 4 Trophospheres out of 5.
Dog Friendliness – This is a tough one to judge since we couldn’t be seated as a group outside. I am not sure what the Rock Fish policy on dogs is on the back patio, but you can have them on the side patio, which will allow you to indulge in your beer with Spot by your side. The drawback here is I believe the side patio does not have any waiter service, so you have to get your own beers. Rock Fish scores and incomplete 3.5 belly rubs out of 5 due to lack of information on their policy (and I didn’t think to ask).
FlatbreadGarden 