Sunday 16th of August 2009 02:28:01 PM

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Ahhh Thomas Kemper. I remember the old Thomas Kemper place in Poulsbo WA where I grew up. The family friendly establishment where you could fill your belly with a root beer float and hamburger at the same time and justify it to your parents.

Fast forward 20 years or so and living in Bellingham. When I heard about the opening of a brewery by Will Kemper my eyes lit up. I was excited to have someone with his background and experience to come onto the brewing scene in Bellingham. And most of all I was ready for a alternative to Boundary Bay.

I think it's the old Hertz rental building.. Anyway. Very nice and inviting. There are two buildings. On one side you can peer into the huge windows or just go in and check out the brewing process. On the other is a friendly resturant and bar area.

What suprised me after a beer is how nice everyone was. From the bar tender to the wait staff to the owners welcoming you and making small talk. The head brewer Josh will come talk beer with you no problem and give you some samples and then talk about what kind of beer is comming up next.

They have a interesting selection. Always rotating. Always trying out new styles. And it's great. I've never had a Dortmunder or a Rauch Bier before I stepped foot inside. I like that they are brewing what allot of others are not. Not following everyone else. But taking a differnt direction.

The food is wounderfull. Try the yamburrito, goat cheese vegi wrap or the beer and brat combo. See you after work!

Sunday 21st of June 2009 12:02:17 PM

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All around a good experience. The brewers had a summer palate prepared during our visit in late June. There were three different pilsners, two lagers and an IPA.
All the beers were lightly hopped and very mild, even the IPA, which was one of my favorites from their current taps. I had the Thai salad which went very well with the Helles. My wife liked the Organic Amber Ale. I felt there wasn't enough body and hop content to make it stand out.
I would have preferred more diversity and range on tap. I would also have liked one or more of the beers to have more hop character or spice. However, what was offered was tasty, crisp and conservative.
The food was a little pricey too, although delicious. (at $8 the strawberry shortcake gave me sticker shock, but wow was it amazing...)
Allegedly there is Kolsch Tuesday that they offer(we visited on a Saturday)which sounds pretty cool. Also, the wait staff was friendly, but seemed poorly coordinated, having a tough time between two servers and five to six tables. They were patient and helpful, though.
Parking is all around, though on a busy night I can see how it could get a little hairy.
I'm not sure if I would go back to eat here with the price and the bistro/gourmet style. I'd rather stick to the beer and try in a month or so to check for more variety on tap.

Wednesday 21st of January 2009 04:23:37 PM

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A bit outside the main old town/downtown area of Bellingham, this place is on the waterfront in what looks like a working area. The initial impression is “warehouse on the water”. Looking from the street, the brewery is the building on the right and the bar/restaurant is on the left. In between is a driveway leading to the parking area. The two buildings share a common metal roof that slopes down from its highest point above the brewery and shelters the driveway.

Inside are dark wood tables and chairs and a small bar. The floors are brick red painted concrete. The ceiling is unfinished and has many metal electrical conduits traversing across it as well as several fans. The bar section has a glass garage door that presumably opens in warm weather. The atmosphere has a comfortable college-town feel to it.

The beers aren’t the typical NW brewpub lineup. There were six beers available on our visit out of a list of 20-25 possibles: Organic wheat ale, Helles, IPA, Schwarz, pilsner lager, and Marzen. The full list of possibles includes quite a few lager styles (Schwartz, Dortmunder, Kolsch, Rauchbier). We tried the IPA, and it it’s anything to judge from, all the beers have a lager flavor....

Monday 19th of January 2009 04:39:47 PM

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Stop 2 for the 6 breweries in one day trip. Chuckanut was next on the list. Not far from Boundary Bay this was a great stop. The place was different in that the brewery was on one side of a split building and on the other with a good amount of space there was the restaurant/kitchen. Found out it was an old rental car type place so they turned what they had into a very nice working brewery/kitchen. Chuckanut when you walk in is super clean and great to see they are very friendly to the environment. They want to be sure to reuse everything and are good to old mother earth. The beers I got in a sampler and found them very nicely brewed. Liked the Organic amber and brown ale. The Vienna was yummy and the Rauch bier was timid but finished quite well. I talked to one of the brewers Josh and we first talked Utah beer due to my shirt I was wearing and then we talked Chuckanut and all they are doing to be the best at being green. I had a nice lunch and the service was very pleasant. This is a great place to stop in also. Bring the kids they are very kid friendly. The sampler was pricey along with the single samples got pricey also.

Thursday 9th of October 2008 10:22:41 PM

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This person needs 3 or more reviews on the site for their scores to start counting.

Good atmosphere, excellent food from all that me and my family have experienced from the menu
for multiple visits. (Thats me and my wife and our two boys aged 10 and 8)
Beverage appeasement is also very good although at this point they have only been open a few months, and have more seasonal brews to come so we can all stay warm this winter.
The service has been great. The waitresses and waiters have all been very friendly and really seem to like their jobs and it shows in the way they do their work.
I love hitting the brewery in the afternoons when I leave my kids off at the rink for hockey practice. its such a nice atmosphere to just sit down, have a pint and read a book or just put up my feet and relax...or maybe both.

Wednesday 13th of August 2008 12:34:37 PM

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Also known as the Kemper Brewery (Yes, the same Kemper from Thomas Kemper soda). This place is brand new, so not many ales are available yet. Though, according to their list, they promise quite a bit in the future. I assume many of them will be seasonal, however.

The beer is pretty good, however, they taste more like lager beers as opposed to ales. In fact, their Stout reminds me of Thomas Kemper Rootbeer because of it's color and clarity. Though, it's still decent.

The food is pretty good too, if not a little limited.

This brewery has allot of potential. It looks like it'll offer nice outside seating when they get things settled. The inside seating area is a little small, looks to be about 70 occupants max. Hopefully they'll improve a little on their beer and menu so they can compete better with Boundary Bay--a nice walking distance away from this location. Still worth a stop, though. Check it out.