Barfly, you say? Cake. Our default setting is at the Bar.

Front Street Ale House, our main default, sits just a block away from the ferry dock, overlooking the port of Friday Harbor. On the off season, it’s a great place to sit at the bar and jaw with the bartender (and the assistant brewer who’s there more often than not), and collect our all-the-time happy hour discount by wearing our “bar wear” — two quite stylish Front Street baseball caps. (The bar wear, I should note, extends to boxer shorts, though I couldn’t tell you if patrons are required to drop trou to get their discount.)

During the summer, Front Street (along the rest of the town) turns into a hopping, tourist-laden joint, and often times it’s hard to get a seat. It’s still April, but we’re starting to notice this already — packed tables and service that does the best it can to stay caught up.

Though we do default to the bar itself, at our most recent visit we found the bar seats full up and picked a window instead. This allowed me to grab a few quick shots: the beer (which you can order in full liter mugs as well as pints) and the ferry dock, just across the street.

Had I been hungry (I’d just eaten at home) I would have ordered my usual favorite, the “Ass-kicking chili,” but I opted to sit this one out and instead spend the time admiring Chopper Dave’s choice of the day, Shepherd’s Pie.

Yes, the food is pub grub. Very good pub grub, with a touch of the English to it, but still, pub grub. On a line cook’s salary, what more can we ask for? It’s not like the guys slinging the Veal Osso Bucco can go out and eat Veal Osso Bucco on those pay checks.

So, we default to pub grub. In part, also, because it’s comfort food and it’s a good excuse to drink the most(ly) excellent beer.

Our pick for this trip: Moggy Mild — a traditional English mild with a deep, malty flavor and made with equal portions of Fuggle and Kent Golding hops. It’s not a hoppy beer by any stretch, but the hops are still present in the background, and it was refreshing enough to add to our regular repertoire.

In fact most of the beers here aren’t all that hoppy. This could be a disappointment to me — my idea of the perfect beer is one that tastes like I’m sucking it through a vat of fresh-off-the-vine hop cones — but fortunately almost all of the beers brewed by San Juan Brewing have other assets that make them quite enjoyable.

Like the Ale Diablo. It’s made with four kinds of peppers — Anaheim, Jalapeño, Serrano, and Habanero, and believe me, it makes you sweat. There’s nothing better around here on a hot summer day when you’ve just stepped in from a long day at the beach or on the boat.

(Sheesh. Do I sound like a tourism brochure, or what?)

The Ale House, which is right next door to the San Juan Brewing Company facility, typically carries at least six or seven originals on tap, and they rotate in new ones on a regular basis. Next up, for Cinco de Mayo: a Smoked Pepper Ale, and a Mexican Chocolate Ale. Mix the two together, so they say on the promo flyer, and you’ve got Molé Ale. That, I can’t wait to try!

Front Street Ale House & San Juan Brewing Co.
1 Front St
Friday Harbor, Washington, 98250

Typical passer-by at Front Street Ale House:

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 28th, 2005 at 9:02 pm and is filed under dine & dish, food blogging events, island local. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.