Brickyard Brewing: Woodinville's not just about wine anymore

  En route to the Washington Brewers Festival last weekend, I stopped off in Woodinville, the town a few miles northeast of Seattle, home of dozens of wineries.   They've had one brewery for some years, and a big one, Redhook, across the road from Chateau St. Michelle.  But now little bitty breweries are popping up all over this wine-soaked town.
   First I called on Brickyard Brewing, located in a little business park on the north end of town.

These guys have been open since last October.  The site was never a brickyard; the name derives from what was to have been the site of the operation, on Brickyard Road somewhere else in the town.  They pour four basic ales: an IPA, an oatmeal stout, a pale ale, and a blonde.  These are all contract-brewed at another new craft brewery in Woodinville, 12 Bar Brewing.  Brickyard has a very small system in which they create some one-time specialty brews; it sits in front of a wall used to project TV images.

There's a bar with stools and a half dozen tables in the area.  It's a friendly spot; someone did find an old photograph of a man operating a brick-making machine.  I had a short glass of the Stone's Throw Pale, 5.2%, remembering I had to save a lot of digestive space for the festival later that afternoon.
(Visited 6/14/13)