Gilligan’s Brewing

Per their blog, they have gone out of business.
Sad.

Ride your bike on the Burke-​Gilman Trail between Fremont and Ballard (Frelard?) and you’ll come across a sandwich board outside Gilligan’s Brewing Company which currently resides within ActivSpace. I asked if the place was a «‘nano’ brewery» which the GBC guys took in stride — let’s just call it a brewery — and sampled the Chamomile Ale. Maybe it’s the alcohol still swirling through my head but that ale is a fantastic brew, especially when you want to take the edge off summertime heat.
The (garage) door’s open from 12:00pm to 5:00pm on Sundays but check the online calendar to make sure – there was also talk of opening the door on Thursday evenings.
Come September 30, GBC will have to find a new place to make its delicious brews. That leaves me just enough time to buy a home and prepare the garage in exchange for growlers of the chamomile ale.
A growler is only $ 10 or $ 14 if you need to buy one to hold the brews! Well-​crafted brews that are affordable. Seattle breweries best beware.

In writing this first review of Gilligan’s, one of Seattle literal hundreds of nano-​breweries, I want to make it clear that this 4-​star review would have easily been 5 stars if there had been more than two beers available to sample during our visit on Memorial Day. (I’m going back, so I expect to revise it later) It also bears saying, here, that Gilligan’s Brewing’s turd-​bag landlord, after seeing a recent KING5 piece about the brewery, decided to evict Gilligan and his tiny operation, a bush-​league play that ranks right up there with anything Brittney Spears has done in the past five years. So, we don’t know where this little gem will be after September but it was such a shock, delight, and discovery, during our hot, dusty slog down the Burke-​Gilman Trail, that I wanted all of you to know about it and enjoy it NOW.
We had just been to Hale’s Brewpub and split a taster, that afternoon, which was nice but, as every time I’ve tasted Hale’s ales, a bit of a let-​down. While I admire Hale’s expertise, their style is just too mild and timid for me. So, we resumed our walk a bit, let’s say, unsated. About another block down the Trail, we passed an open loading door in what appeared to be a self-​storage unit. I saw a beer fermenter and did a double-​take that rattled my fillings. Inside this tiny, maybe 10′ by 20′ space, was one guy, industriously doing chemical tests on ales. There was a sign in back saying «Gilligan’s Brewing». He was also setting a tiny plastic cup of beer in front of a large man holding a bike. (This is right ON the B-​G Trail, remember, NOT on a street.) He asked if we’d like a taste and poured us each a cup. He described it as a Northwest-​style ESB. I tasted it and, magically, all the disappointment (as well as the after-​taste) of Hale’s went away. It was *beautiful* beer; light, crisp, hoppy, but substantial; a mouthful of flavors that stepped right up and took over the palate. Next was what he called a traditional (English) ESB. Even better! A totally different hops profile, with that smooth, malty Brit texture and aroma that shows up in a Samuel Smith or Young’s ale.
The little nook was crammed with brewing equipment and had one narrow aisle down the middle, between several big tanks. In the rear one, Gilligan said, was a Dry Irish Stout. I nearly got swoony. We ask, when are you open? He says, check the website. Irregular hours and usually only two days a week. And, I see from his blog, they’re gonna be moving somewhere by the last of September.
This is SO worth seeing, friends. A guy by his lonesome, brewing beautiful, expert craft beers in a space the size of my living room. Somebody like that HAS to be doing it mostly for love because the obstacles, the location, the hassles, and the expense ain’t gonna make it all fun or AT ALL profitable. That sort of love almost ALWAYS shows up in the finished product and it REALLY does here. GO, TRY Gilligan’s Brewing, while you can. He may find the right, affordable relocation in time… and he might not but, for now, we can all help with that effort by just showing up, buying a growler (the only way to get his ales), and making friends.