Saturday 29th of September 2007 01:52:21 PM

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What a surprise!
Our first visit proved disappointing with a bartender who did not want to be bothered except to serve the beer. Music that was turned up to just below the threshold of pain and competing with the baseball game on the lone TV. Five of their beers had run dry. Not a pleasant experience.
But, as any good, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper will tell you, the story is never truly revealed at the first interview so wife Persimmon and I returned...and oh so glad we did.
Sitting on a side-street in Burien, another suburb of Seattle, Pacific Rim is housed in a non-descript warehouse fronted by their beer "garden", a cement patio with iron grillwork sporting the moniker "Rat Trap." This, we learned, was taken from a bowling alley that had not been spared the wrecker's ball.
Inside, a small, intimate brewpub awaits with just a bar & six stools, a TV w/o sound & music that fills the silence but doesn't compete with the conversation. 2 other locals were quenching their thirst when we arrived. We asked them what they thought of the place and both agreed, it was one of the best brewpubs around because "it has beer and someone to serve it." One of them actually had a gas can for a growler. He drank while he waited for it to be filled.
Beers include an Alki Ale (named for a local beach area), Summer Blond, Oak-Aged IPA, a Mystery Ale (which they thought was a dry-hopped IPA and, if so, one of the best I've tasted), Vashon Oldstock Ale (named for a local island), Ring of Fire Pepper Ale (truly unique!), Fauntleroy Stout (again, a local community name and very yummy) and a Rat City IPA - this last named for history. During WWII, many white tents were erected in the area as a staging/training ground for troops...so the town became White City and, as time went on, it was bastardized to become Rat City.
Chris, one of the owners, began brewing in 1986 at the same time as brew-pioneer Bert Grant. As a result, he has collected and displays more than 350 tap handles overhead including a couple showing the venerable Mr. Grant wearing his trademark kilt. Classic.
If you want a place to hang out, drink good beer, feel welcome or left alone without the blare of TV & music assaulting your senses, Pacific Rim deserves a visit.
Laura, the bartender said folks come here "to hang out & appreciate a good beer. We're the community gathering place and that's a good pub."
Why yes, Laura, it sure is.