The Citizen’s Guide to Seattle Beer: The Microbrew Minimart
Beers We Love
Maritime Pacific Old Seattle Lager
When you move to a city you seek out anything that will link you instantly to your new home. That’s what put me in a vinyl seat at Emmett Watson’s Oyster Bar five years ago. And that’s what compelled me to order a Maritime Pacific Old Seattle Lager from the hirsute server. The beer had Seattle in its name, and the word old. That was good enough for me, as I threw it back and turned to watch a table cheer the Mariners on TV. The beer had more hop character than I expected from a lager, a flavor I’d soon associate with Northwest beers—a surprisingly welcome bitterness that would beckon me again and again. The bar crowd was into the baseball game but not too into it, coming to life only when the tiny Japanese batter whacked one deep—and when another round of lagers came their way. - James Ross Gardner
THE SIGN ABOVE the entrance reads “Smokes-Beer-Wine,” but what beer! What wine! Since Min Chung bought West Seattle’s Super Deli Mart (9051 35th Ave SW, 206-937-1442) in 2009, the former beer sales representative and convenience store vet has converted SDM into a hangout for serious suds enthusiasts. They line up for offerings (available in pints, growlers, and kegs) like the super-rare Pliny the Younger from California’s Russian River Brewing and linger over sips at the store’s single wooden table.
You tap kegs that bars want but do not get. Do they hate you?
They call the distributor. “Who the hell is he? A convenience store?" Ultimately the rep has to say, “He’s my number one account. He sells more.” The breweries like me—they use me as a test market for special kegs because I have a lot of customers who are into beers and microbeers.
But you still stock Four Loko and cans of malt liquor.
It’s a convenience store. People expect certain things. You can come in and pick up a Cup Noodles and, at the same time, a $40 bottle of wine.
How do new customers react when they see brewery-sponsored tastings and people drinking pints in the aisles?
They think I’m breaking the law. In the beginning there were lots of complaints to the liquor board, but it was the liquor board who licensed me.
Does the store live up to its “super” billing? Well, I was the first one in Seattle to bring once-in-a-lifetime kegs to a convenience store. Keep up with SDM’s latest brews on Twitter @superdelimart .
