Skagit River Brewery partie Un

We decided to give a local brewery a try that was not on the Bellinghamster's radar. The Skagit River Brewery is located near the train and bus station in downtown Mount Vernon. It is a bit hard to find parking but the central location is easy to find. We chose to dine on a Saturday night which happened to feature a live musician, Ryan LaPlante, who killed it with a solo steel-guitar blues performance that had everyone tapping their toes. 

We started with a beer sampler. For $6 you can choose four on-tap beers, ranging from light to dark. I chose to sample a lager, a hefeweizen, a brown ale and a porter. The lager, called the Del Rio Lager, was light and crisp. It was similar to a Raineer but with a smoother finish. The hefeweizen was really good, sweet with a hint of hop, I would compare it to a Blue Moon. The brown, called the Skagit Brown Ale, was my favorite. It was rich, full bodied and smooth. The porter, called the Highwater Porter, was the strongest beer with a complex flavor profile. The dry finish with a bitter hop taste was bit too much for me.

On to the food. We ordered two items that are staples for any Pacific Northwest pub, burger and fries and a pizza. 

The Big Pub Burger is advertised as a “wood-fired burger.” I am not certain what that means but I wanted to try it anyway. The burger is placed on a toasted onion bun and dressed with mayo, lettuce, tomato and red onion. A choice of cheese can be added for an additional charge, I chose Havarti. The burger is served with a mountain of waffle fries, which if you ask me is the king of all fries. The fries hot and crispy, lightly seasoned, a good fry. The burger was fairly thick, filling the 1/3 lb description, seasoned well but was a bit dry. We did neglect to ask for the burger to be cooked at the correct medium temp and were given medium-well, which is forgivable. However the mayo was a store-bought variety and did not add any value to the overall flavor. 

The pizza we ordered was the Padilla Bay, a hand-tossed nine-inch dough topped with prosciutto, feta, rosemary, mozzarella, Parmesan and fresh roma tomatoes. All pizzas are sauced with a roasted garlic tomato sauce. I am a sucker for anything prosciutto so this pizza was a must try. When the pizza arrived we noticed large chunks of feta covering nearly every square inch of the pie. This turned out to be this pizza's fatal flaw. The feta was so over-powering that we could not taste any of the other ingredients. It was still edible but required several drinks of water between bites. Once I removed 95% of the feta from a slice I was able to taste the garlic-tomato sauce, prosciutto and rosemary, a fantastic combination. The crust was great. Thin and fire-kissed, it reminded me of La Fiamma's crust without being too chewy. I will be trying this pizza at home, minus the feta.

A pleasant surprise was the salsa. Available as an appetizer, the chips and salsa was the best thing we ate that night. The prefect balance of ingredients with just a hint of heat. Overall there is enough good at Skagit River Brewery for me to make a return trip when I am down in Mount Vernon. I am interested in trying their Ruben and several pizza combinations on their menu. Plus there are more beers to sample.

Don't miss the second of our SRB review.