Here is some great news for beer drinkers on Capitol Hill. A trio of beer loving businessmen will be opening a new bar called The Pine Box in the space that was previously The Chapel Bar at the corner of Pine and Melrose. Ian Roberts, one of the founders of Seattle Beer Week, has teamed up with friends Dean Hudgins and Mark Eskridge and they hope to have the bar open in early 2012. Roberts was previously a bar manager at the well-known Brouwer’s Cafe.
The Chapel Bar appealed to some, but for many the bar was somewhere to stay far away from. The Pine Box plans to change that. Roberts says, “If you’ve ever been into the old Chapel space you’ve been to the closest thing to a German disco this side of the Rhine. We’re purging that feeling as we rid the space of lasers, bubble machines, and giant white pleather couches. We want to bring the original charm of the historic 1920’s building back, while adding a bunch of kick-ass beer in the process.”
The beer menu will focus on American craft beers with a few special imports mixed in. They’ll have a wide spectrum from rarities to accessible crowd-pleasers. Basically, they plan to have a beer for everyone served in proper glassware. You should also expect some special events at The Pine Box, especially when Seattle Beer Week returns in May 2012.
The bar will also have a food menu that will show the same concern for quality as their beer menu. It will include inventive pizzas, as well as local steaks, chops, and seafood.
This is great news for Seattle and Capitol Hill, and I can’t wait to check the new place out once they open. Congrats to Ian, Dean, and Mark!
Beer? On Cap Hill?!? I am so confused. Usually I have to go across lake union to get good beer. Thank my lucky stars… 😉
great news. i either have to go to quinns or madrona ale house (an unheralded tap selection, btw). should be great.
Don’t forget about the stumbling monk – dudes.
I loved the chapel Bar, I am looking forward to how they utilize the space for this new bar. Especially to emphasize its historic architecture, good work!
oh come on, plenty of good beer on cap hill. try hopvine or the stumbling monk.
for whatever reason, i just don’t dig hopvine. i’ll have to go back. and the monk is cool if you’re in the mood for belgians and that smell of beer on the floor.
Elysian brewing. Last I looked, 13th & Pike is still on Capitol Hill. And there’s always the Summit Public House…
yeah, get it, there is beer. but i don’t dig any of those places.
Cap Hill has good (or great) beer places. Hopvine and Stumbling Monk are nice neighborhood pubs with plenty of good beer. But the selection is relatively small.
But this place has the potential to be something really special and outlandishly good for the Cap Hill beer community. Having Brouwers 2.0 will be insanely fun for us beer nerds.
I just hope they focus on the beer and forget about all the silly small-plate nonsense that craft beer enthusiasts like myself have no time (or money) to buy.
Yes to Hopvine & the Monk, and I look forward to having more beer on the lower Hill. P.S. There’s a new public house on Ballard Ave. with 30 something taps, all things I’ve never heard of. Ya’ll prob. know this by now. Happy drinking!
Don’t forget the Deluxe Bar ‘n’ Grill and Kiki’s, both of which have a respectable beer tap selection. But yeah, I’m totally stoked about this new place.