Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood enjoys a remarkable density of breweries. So much so that it has earned the name The Ballard Brewery District. There is perhaps no other neighborhood in the nation with so many breweries in such close proximity. Maybe, the world? Here is a map of the breweries and brewery taprooms in this part of Seattle.
Why Ballard?
In 1982, Redhook Brewery fired up its first batch of Redhook Ale in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, having transformed an old auto repair shop into a brewery. At the time, you could count the country’s small, independent breweries on one hand. Redhook’s opening was one of the first shots fired in the craft beer revolution — and nobody knew it at the time, but that’s the moment the Ballard Brewery District was born.
When Redhook eventually moved on, Maritime Pacific Brewing Company stepped in, opening in Ballard in 1990. Like the American craft brewing scene itself, things held steady through the 1990s and into the 2000s — but change was on the horizon. Urban Family Brewing opened its original location in 2011, Reuben’s Brews followed in 2012, Stoup Brewing arrived in 2013, and the whole thing snowballed from there. Today, Ballard is home to a dozen breweries and taprooms, and the neighborhood has never been thirstier.
The Ballard neighborhood is unlike anywhere else in Seattle. It has always had an unusual and happy mix of industrial and residential real estate. Historically, Ballard served Seattle’s marine industry, with small industrial businesses producing goods and services for the working waterfront. To a degree, it still does that today — but now it also produces a lot of really good beer.
Those compact industrial buildings, as Redhook proved more than 40 years ago, are tailor-made for breweries. And because those commercial spaces sit cheek-by-jowl with residential neighborhoods — apartments and houses full of thirsty people — Ballard turns out to be the perfect place for a craft brewery. Or, as is the case today, a dozen of them.
Beer touring in Ballard is wonderfully easy. Park the car once — or skip it entirely and take public transportation — then simply wander from one brewery to the next. Some of them are practically next door to each other; Stoup Brewing and Urban Family Brewing are literally across the street from one another. On Saturday and Sunday afternoons, you’ll spot groups of happy people drifting from taproom to taproom, some pushing strollers, some on bikes, all of them smiling. No agenda required. Just pick a brewery, start there, and see where the day takes you.
Ballard is fabulous, but there are other neighborhoods and many other breweries in Seattle. Check out our map of all breweries and recommended beer destinations in Seattle here.
