Seattle?

[YojimboMonkey]

Oh, skip Seattle and take the boat to Victoria instead. You can stay at my mom's house. No bedbugs.

No passport

I just looked up Port Angeles on beermapping and most of the hits are in Victoria too

[ellaguru]

There's some good beer in Victoria & Vancouver, yep.

[Antero]

Seattle is also a great cocktail town. Murray Stenson is now at Canon, which is run by Jamie Boudreau, so that makes it pretty much a mandatory visit. Murray is basically the earthly avatar of some ancient god of hearth and hospitality.

Rob Roy is also fantastic and, as I discovered late one night, lines their urinals with freshly sliced citrus in what I can only imagine is some sort of bizarre barback hazing ritual.

[mackro]

Some last minute disconnected thoughts:

On the Fremont/Ballard border, there is the Hale's Ale Brewery Pub if you take 36th/Leary Way further west from Brouwer's before 8th Ave NW. it's a 15-20 minute walk each direction. Or if you catch the 28 bus, it's a 2-3 minute bus ride. There is not much around that pub though.

If you use your mobile phone, and it's iPhone or Android, get the free OneBusAway app. It's the best app ever for a Seattleite or visitor who's not driving.

Someone told me about a great retail place for Wine, beer and spirits called Total Wine in Bellevue WA.  It's a semi-national chain. I don't know what the breakdown of wine/beer/etc is though, but they have a ton of each.

Something to keep in mind: Washington state's liquor privatization law just went into effect June 1st, so if people look at the liquor aisles like they've never had it before, it's probably because it's still a novelty to people in the state.

[YojimboMonkey]

The neighborhood is all you said it would be but the hotel is quite clean. I think it'll be fine. On my way to Brouwers

[edison]

I ended up booking a room here: http://www.innatqueenanne.com/ ($89) for my first, immediate post-arrival night. I should be able to cancel it for free, so if it looks like a bad idea, feel free to let me know. I started reading a little bit about the beer and food situation in the area among other things, and yeah, it doesn't look bad at all!

[clare]

I've heard good things about the Inn at Queen Ann...I've never stayed there though - only in a B&B not too far from there, and the Green Tortoise (backpackers) next to Pike Pl. Green Tort was awesome, but that was in '97 and it was only just opened. Stayed there again in '04 and it was pretty grotty...although I see from their website that they've done a major reno :-)

[YojimboMonkey]

I live

[clare]

Hooray!! glad to hear it. How's the hangover?

[mackro]

YoJimbo is a supremely awesome being. I've also never seen anybody drink and handle extremely well that amount of beer in my life than YoJimbo. So much fun!

[El_Josharino]

Classic Jimbo.

[YojimboMonkey]

Thanks for coming out & drinking with me mackro! and thanks especially for having the stamina to stay out after my wife's cousin and her bf called it quits! I probably should have taken everybody's advice and called a cab back to the motel, as I have been under the weather ever since walking home in the rain. But I had a good time and even stopped at another bar on my way back that had a couple cask-conditioned ales that were tasty. I skinned my knee somehow but the bottles I brought back with me made it OK so that's the important thing

[DCDave]

Thanks for coming out & drinking with me mackro! and thanks especially for having the stamina to stay out after my wife's cousin and her bf called it quits! I probably should have taken everybody's advice and called a cab back to the motel, as I have been under the weather ever since walking home in the rain. But I had a good time and even stopped at another bar on my way back that had a couple cask-conditioned ales that were tasty. I skinned my knee somehow but the bottles I brought back with me made it OK so that's the important thing

Like.