In my case, the answer tends to be: bike there a lot. Snake River Brewery makes some classic local beers, plus the staff tends to be super friendly and easygoing. A ton of local people stop by there too, so it's been a good place to meet fellow Jacksonians. I'll give you two examples of times I biked there to give you a feeling for what I mean.
Time 1 - Work Farewell Party
My co-workers are awesome, so when one of them - Ranger, for the sake of this blog, since he quit to join the Army Rangers - left us, we had to give him a sendoff complete with pizza and beer on the company account. The Brewpub (as it's generally known 'round these parts) is in many ways easier to bike to than to drive to because its parking lot is the approximate size of a postage stamp. With the long row of bike racks along the pub's fence, there are actually more places to park your bike than your car. It's also just a block away from Snow King Avenue, which has a nice, wide bike lane and not that much traffic.
So I opted to head to the festivities on Little Red since it was a pretty nice day.
Knocking back: We opted for a pitcher of Pako's IPA for the table. I gladly partook of said pitcher.
Bon appetit: The table had a mix of three pizzas. I mostly stuck with the margherita.
Verdict: Pako's has a nice bite to it and is really drinkable, although it tastes strong. That's probably because it is, at 6 percent alcohol. I tend to like medium-dark beers, and Pako's is closer to the dark end of what I like than the medium. With how strong it is, I never order this one unless I'm also getting food. I am nowhere near enough of a beer drinker or a beer snob to be able to describe it any further in terms such people would recognize, so we'll leave it at that.
As for the food...I am mildly in love with the Brewpub's margherita pizza. Not because it's super fancy or all that gourmet, but because it has everything I like and nothing I don't from a pizza. It's big enough to share, but small enough that you don't have to; it's got its grease, but not so much you need to use the whole napkin dispenser to soak up the excess; and it's a nice thin-crust, so it's not a very heavy meal. Plus I heart basil and tomato. Not gonna lie, when we got down to that last piece and I was still hungry, there was a little bit of a "my preciousssss" moment before I consented to let Ranger have it. Hey, he was moving away from the delicious pizza. I could afford to wait.
Time 2 - The NFL Draft
Yes, yes, the draft was a while ago. But I happen to live in a town that inexplicably prefers hockey to football, so there weren't many places in town with enough TVs that I could commandeer one for my football geekery during an important (apparently) hockey tournament. The Brewpub has many TVs, so I used my pull with my favorite bartender there to get what I wanted.
It was another nice day, and so I saw no reason to drive. Little Red and I headed to see who my team (Seattle Seahawks, yo!) would take from a pretty talented field of prospects.
Knocking back: I was on my own, so I went for my favorite Brewpub offering - Snake River Lager.
Bon appetit: I hadn't eaten dinner yet, so I went for a baked artichoke dip plate.
Verdict: There really was no bad here. I ordered two of my favorite things on the whole Brewpub menu. The Lager is milder than the Pako's in both taste and alcohol content, but strong enough to taste like a proper beer. It's not too strong, not too mild - the Baby Bear of the Brewpub in my opinion. For those of you who will have any idea what that means, it's a Vienna Lager, but since just as I am not a proper Bike Person, I am not a proper Beer Person, so I mostly remember that in case I need to give someone a basis for a recommendation.
And of course, to me, spinach and artichoke dip is like crack. The Brewpub's version comes with carrots, celery, little sourdough bread slices and pita chips, enough that I often can't finish it. But it's inevitable that I will like it and that I will order it a lot because, like I said, crack.
As for my team's choice...it didn't make a lot of sense to me. ESPN even gave us the dubious distinction of being on its top 5 worst first rounds list. But hey, if I gave up just because my team was disappointing, I'd never watch football. Anyway, nothing like a good bike ride home to take your mind off of wondering just what Pete Carroll (Seattle head coach, for football noobs) is thinking.
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