The Beer Junction. How’d we get along without it?

On a Tuesday afternoon, at about 1:30, I stopped by The Beer Junction to talk with Morgan Herzog about a project we were working on together (The Beer Junction website). I figured this would be a good time for us to chat without pesky customers distracting him with questions about beer. When I arrived, there were two people browsing with shopping baskets and a third chatting with Morgan in front one of the coolers. As those customers left, more shoppers arrived. By the time we completed our project some weeks later, I learned that there is no good time to stop by The Beer Junction without pesky customers distracting Morgan.

Today I want to introduce one of our blog sponsors: The Beer Junction. Looking back, it is hard to imagine West Seattle without a bottleshop. Morgan Herzog opened the doors at The Beer Junction in June of last year. Partly because of the buzz generated by the West Seattle Blog and partly because West Seattle was starving for a bottleshop, The Beer Junction opened to a cascade of community support.

The Beer Junction offers a vast selection of beers from near and far. The current count is around 1,000 different labels. They also allow customers to special order kegs-to-go and rent all the gear needed for a successful event (taps, jockey boxes, ice tubs, etc). Kegerator kits, glassware, t-shirts, and other beery swag round out the shopping experience. A popular and unique item at The Beer Junction is the West Seattle Pint of View t-shirt, which features a graphic design of a pint glass with the city view as a backdrop.

Morgan - The Beer Junction
A week before they opened last June. Boxes of beer everywhere.

Every Thursday from 5:00 – 8:00 The Beer Junction hosts a tasting event. Usually, the tasting features beers from one particular brewery. The events are well-attended, to say the least. The Epic Ales tasting a few months ago, which featured beers paired with artisanal cheeses, was… well, it was epic. You should follow The Beer Junction on Facebook or check out the events calendar on the website to find out what is on the schedule.


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Totally packed for the Epic Ales beer and cheese tasting.

The Beer Junction is located at 4707 42nd Ave. SW in the heart of downtown West Seattle. For those who know the neighborhood, it is one block east of Elliott Bay Brewery and Pub—around the corner from the Rocksport Bar and Grill, directly across the street from Jefferson Square. Free parking is available on the street and in the lot adjacent to the building (behind the Rocksport Bar and Grill).

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A resident of West Seattle, Morgan hatched the idea of opening a bottleshop while sampling beers at West Seattle’s Porterhouse Pub. While Full Throttle Bottles in nearby Georgetown is a great shop, Morgan thought that there needed to be a place to buy great beer “on the rock.” West Seattleites agree. Back in March 2010, when the West Seattle Blog announced that a bottleshop was coming to town, the story received more than 60 comments. Morgan is a native of the Seattle area and his father graduated from West Seattle High School—a fact that helps endear him with West Seattle’s old-school, highly provincial homers.

I should note that Morgan does not consider his customers to be pesky. That’s an opinion reserved for me. He knows a lot about beer and is learning all the time. For you beer geeks, you’ll find that Morgan speaks your language. I’ve witnessed people asking him some pretty ridiculous questions about beer. Morgan answers them politely. Some people come into the shop looking for advice and education; however, others come into the shop because, indeed, they do know absolutely everything about beer and they think it is important to share some of their vast knowledge with Morgan. He handles them with deference and patience. It would drive me crazy.

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I have no idea why it took so long for someone to open a bottleshop in West Seattle. Less than one year into the experiment it seems pretty obvious that we needed one all along. The Beer Junction is open Tuesday through Sunday. Check the website for hours. Tell ‘em the Beer Blog sent you.

The Washington Beer Blog is very glad The Beer Junction opened in our neighborhood and is sincerely thankful that they sponsor the blog. Cheers to that!

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