huevos con vino

I was a bit naughty last night: Rather than drinking some wine with an eye toward describing the experience here, I had a couple of other drinks instead.  In the Seattle area, you have a handful of choices if you want to drink a real Belgian beer on tap:

• Brouwer’s - A great but expensive place if you go at the right time; otherwise, you are assaulted with terribly loud music and annoying patrons who think “Budvar” is a Czech soccer player
• The Stumbling Monk - The best place for a glass of real beer in Seattle; small joint, but well selected beers on tap and by the bottle
• The Taphouse - Very expensive, wide selection, terrible ambiance, worse service, tasty sushi

I go to these places infrequently these days…my fiance doesn’t drink beer, and I’d rather spend $6/glass on something else.  I did have a terrific Brasserie de Abbaye du Rocs Grand Cru last night, which had body and aroma that would make most other beers shrivel and dry up.

Why do I bring this up here?  Well, as I’ve said before, I think Seattle needs more wine bars.  More to the point, Seattle needs more wine bars that do not try to cater to 23-year-old bachelorettes and frat boys.  Portalis does a decent job, but they’re nearly alone in their efforts.  I’ve heard good things about other places but the clientele tends to put me off, which may or may not be the fault of the owners.

So which places in Seattle DO I actually like?  Good question.

I like Liberty.  It’s a bar on Capitol Hill near the Sonic Boom record store.  It has nice decor inside, with good seating (big leather couches, some tall tables, a bar) and a perfect assortment of alcohol.  It also has a sushi bar, which is usually a reason to run away screaming, but they actually do a good job.  And if you want a glass of wine, they pour generously and they have several bottles open at all times, with a sizeable wine rack next to the bar.  Overall, it’s quite a classy place with good ambiance and a decent clientele.

I went there last night for an hour or so.  My friend had a glass of 14-year-old Oban and a pint; I had a Hendrick’s cucumber martini with a splash of Pernod.  I drank about half of it before I spotted the Pyrat XO rum and wished I had ordered that instead.  After the Abbaye du Rocs I wasn’t interested in wine…I needed something with a bit more oomph, if I can use that word in a wine blog.  I thought about a glass of Booker’s bourbon, but I can only handle one of those every month or so.

So, if someone could open a wine bar in Seattle that functioned a bit more like Liberty and a bit less like Coyote Ugly, I’d be happy.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 29th, 2006 at 11:48 am and is filed under commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.