Every year Northwest Brewing News conducts a Reader’s Choice poll. They ask hundreds of readers to vote for their favorite beer, pub, brewery, and so on.
We just received word from Boundary Bay Brewing that they’ve tied for Washington’s Best Brewery. This is quite an honor considering the competition. After all the votes were counted, it was a tie between Bellingham’s Boundary Bay Brewery and Seattle’s Elysian Brewing.
Here’s what the folks at Boundary Bay had to say:
Boundary Bay’s continued success has as much to do with the community we are a part of as it does the beer we brew. Boundary opened in 1995 and, over time, became such a town fixture that locals often refer to it as “pure Bellingham.”
Ed Bennett, owner of Boundary Bay, said his goals were always to brew good beer, make good food, and create a place where the people of Bellingham could be comfortable coming together. This unexpected success just illustrates how well he has achieved his goals. Boundary Bay, as a whole, works hard to stay connected to its customers and to support local organizations, charities, and musicians. The brewery also offers support to the Bellingham community by employing over 100 people during its busy seasons.
“We try to do everything that we can ourselves,” says Ed, “from having an in-house bakery, maintenance department, and graphics department, to doing all of our own distribution. It’s just how we do things.”
Bennett also recognizes the craft beer community as a strong foundation for Boundary’s growth and success. He commented that, “The brewing industry has always been supportive and I am honored to be part of that culture. We live in a great region for craft brewing and the Pacific Northwest has a strong presence in craft beer.”
While I’m quite fond of Boundary Bay’s beers and the brewpub, I’m surprised they got such a top honor. I used to go to school at Western and generally go to their at least a few times a year. Sadly the service seems to go down year after year. Maybe I just manage to always get the bad servers, but we’ve had a few occasions of sitting with empty glasses for at least 10-15 mins before anyone decided to wait on us. After that happened a few times I just decided to skip the waitstaff and give all my money to the barman. He would always see me coming and have a glass waiting for me.
While I’m quite fond of Boundary Bay’s beers and the brewpub, I’m surprised they got such a top honor. I used to go to school at Western and generally go to their at least a few times a year. Sadly the service seems to go down year after year. Maybe I just manage to always get the bad servers, but we’ve had a few occasions of sitting with empty glasses for at least 10-15 mins before anyone decided to wait on us. After that happened a few times I just decided to skip the waitstaff and give all my money to the barman. He would always see me coming and have a glass waiting for me.