Wednesday 20th of May 2009 12:58:05 AM

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Roslyn Brewing currently only makes two beers - Roslyn Beer (a dark lager with a nice roasted taste and with local historical tradition to the early days) and Brookside Beer (a lighter lager). This forces us to give a fairly low score to selection but it’s well worth visiting anyway, especially if you consider they’ve been brewing since 1990. And they are due to start brewing some ales on their new brewing system soon.

The tasting room has a wooden bar with a copper top and a classic old brass foot rail. The floor is painted concrete. The current brewing area is quite visible behind a chain divider in the next room. The mash tun is clad in wood on a raised partial wooden floor. The fermenters are also visible behind glass in a chilled room further back. The new brewery is even further back from the street and isn’t visible from the tasting room.

Monday 19th of May 2008 02:35:11 PM

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Roslyn, Washington is better known as Cicely, Alaska from the TV show "Northern Exposure." That's where the exteriors were shot and a visit there for fans will offer up some familiar sites...save one: the Roslyn Brewery.

Not sure why since it's a block down the street from "Dr. Joel Fleischman's" office.

But it fits the profile of Cicely - small. This is more a tasting room although the brewery is there but unseen.

A beer garden sits adjacent for those beautiful Spring & summer months...but the problem is with the beer.

There are but two and both lagers, the light and the dark. Neither one did wife Persimmon & I find noteworthy although the Brookside had a bit better flavor than its Roslyn dark brother.

The folks there are very friendly and gladly serve up free tasters. Most customers are the locals who fill up on a pint and then their growlers.

The most interesting thing about the brewery is that, since 1889, it has always been one and nothing else.

Roslyn is one of the first communities you hit after the Snoqualmie Pass summit before dropping down the arid, farmland of Ellensburg and points East. It lies about 5 miles north of Interstate 5 so, if you're thirsty, drop in.

But for a better brew - and more variety, try Iron Horse in Ellensburg because, if you're gonna go searching for a good beer, make the reward worth the drive.