Friday 3rd of October 2008 11:10:52 PM

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This small brewery is co-located with Northwest Sausage and Deli which serves as the tap room. There is a small counter by the taps and a large bottle cooler for brews to go. The deli has a nice selection of sausages and smoked meats and table service if you choose to eat in (or out on their deck). There were nine house standards on tap when we visited plus a Hefe seasonal and a special Belgium Raspberry Tripel. I stuck with their signature Danger Ale and a Rye Ale with my lunch. I liked their brews well enough to take a mixed six pack for the road to complete the tasting later. It's a bit off the beaten path but it’s and easy loop from I-5.

Friday 5th of September 2008 09:58:24 PM

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Wow what a find. In the middle of no where there’s Dicks. A great little place for a easy to get German style lunch. The little pub with good beer and food. The people serving where very nice and busy and the brewery was small and soon to be relocated. This is a must see on your trips up and down I-5. Great times. They have a ton of beers on tap you can only find at the pub. They also have all sort of tee shirts, and such to sell also. Be sure to get some Lava Porter it is very tasty along with the IPA the brewers uses Dick’s fresh hops from the home garden. Talk to Dick he is a character and then some.

Wednesday 5th of December 2007 01:20:52 AM

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One of the best brewers in the Northwest, with the added bonus of being a great meat store. It's one stop shopping for a BBQ. Pick up some sausage, venison, and jerky and put it in the car next to a few growlers or a couple kegs (because you can't leave with just one type of beer). The Double Diamaond winter seasonal is one of my favorite post skiing endeavors. The Silk Lady (a Belgian style golden) is amazing, the Dubbel and Trippel are worth some time. Another few worth mentioning: Cream Stout, Workingman's Brown, Mountain Amber.

Tuesday 20th of November 2007 03:11:48 PM

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Centralia is just that, in the center between Seattle & Portland on the I-5 corridor. It's a place that you pass through on the way to somewhere else. It's a re-fueling stop, a place to replenish the back-seat snacks, top off the coffee mug and the gas tank and get back on the road. Not a lot goes on here and that's the way Centralians like it. A small town feel surrounded by elements of the 21st century.
Too bad because it's home to one of the best little brewpubs in the state.
Dick's Brewing Company (and Northwest Sausange and Deli) sits 5 miles outside of town in a village called Ford's Prairie. The main drag is a two-lane road that rambles through...well, prairie and farmland. Dick's itself is located in a long, wooden bunkhouse across the street from homes built in the 1950's surrounded by trees, shrubs and flowers of every color and species. Beautiful!
Like Dick's beer! His Danger Ale with a warm, chocolate brown color, creamy white head and full-bodied, malty finish gives perfect evidence why this is the flagship brew. Then move on to the Irish Ale, gold colored with a tinge of red and layers of toastiness and smooth and a subtle bitter hoppiness at the finish that brings to mind a hot summer day in the beer garden. Better perhaps than a lager which, by the way, "I don't make." Nope. Dick likes his ales...and so did wife Persimmon & I, even at 10:30 in the morning when we sampled his brews. (It was the beginning of a long, 4-brewpub day & we had to start early. Poor us.)
The Lava Rock Porter was a particular stand-out with its bitter-sweet chocolate & coffee flavors and aromas but the Working Man Brown was our favorite...full of sweet nuttiness, caramel undertones and a slight bitter back that disappears so quick, you have to sip again. A dangerous beer.
Dick offers up a variety of meats, all prepared and smoked on the premises and, if you're a-mind too, he'll take your kill, dress and prepare it for you.
The menu is basically hot & cold sandwiches except on Thursday and Friday nights when the town turns out to chow down on the prime rib specials and "the joint jumps." So says daughter Julie.
Some of Dick's beers (but not all)can be found in grocery and beer stores in and around Seattle. For that, you have to go to the source...and after a night at McMenamin's Olympic Club listening to the trains rumble by in-between catnaps, Dick's was a great place to start our sampling.
Don't miss this one