Populuxe Brewing

Lets just start by saying Populuxe is one of my favorite small breweries in Ballard. All the beers are great, innovative and solid. Its hard to go wrong with Populuxe. That said, I have some favorites!
Cinderblock CDA (Cascadian Dark Ale)
Even if you ask the owners and bartenders, they’ll tell you the CDA is a favorite. The flavors are a mix of citrus and dark smokey malty flavors. Everything is well balanced making for a full bodied and characterful beer. Its my go to here
Citra Red
The red similar the the CDA has some citrus flavors but is definitely a red. Classic red with a little extra citrus flavor. Great!
Happy drinking my friends!

What a nice neighborhood brewery! Everything we tried was incredibly tasty! Free pretzels and as Keith the bar tender was super nice.

Great beer and layout. The back area with cornhole and live music playing really added to the ambiance of the place. My companion was also VERY excited that they had a great local Minnesota beer on tap!

This was the second stop on our cycle saloon. Was pretty excited about coming here; my gf kept talking about how good they were… Mehhhh… Wasn’t too impressed.
When you initially walk in, the area is incredibly small. Our group of 12 was all that was there, and it was pretty cramped. There’s an OK selection of beers, and I opted for a few sample pours. The dude behind the bar also lacked any customer service skills, and seemed pretty apathetic about serving us. Im no bartender, but if a large group of people stopped at my (not busy at all) brewery off a cycle saloon, I’d be turning my best «hey I’m awesome!!» face on and I’d try to sell them lots of beer!
They do have a sweet outdoor picnic area. There’s an awesome billboard advertising their name out there and an area for a food truck. During these gorgeous summer days/​nights, it’s a great place to hang out with friends. The beer unfortunately was not memorable. The only one that I would drink again and perhaps purchase a pint of, would be the Burke Gilman Bitter.

Great beer and they have a decent outdoor space. Additionally, they host some really good food trucks — especially No Bones About It.

Solid beer and tremendous atmosphere. Also often some dang good food onsite. One of the better outdoor spaces in the city. I wish that were higher praise than it actually is. Step up your outdoor seating game, Seattle!

Last Saturday I came to bar with 5 of my friends to celebrate a birthday. Bartender Erin went out of her way to ensure we had quick drinks, good energy, and a smile.
Superior, epic brew!!!
We will be back!

Excellent! Cleanly brewed and flavorful beers. A great addition to the Washington brewing community. Demanico Cellars urban winery across the street is a bonus!

A must stop on the Ballard Brew Crawl. Their beers are amazing — they even had a guest cider on tap when I was there. Plus, they have plenty of outdoor seating with games. If it’s rainy, some of the outdoor seating is covered and they have tables inside, too. Plus, free pretzels. ‘Nough said.

Your basic Ballard brewery, minimal and stripped down. Nice picnic seating in the back with fire pits during chilly nights. Friendly pourers that’ll let you sample. Food truck for vegans. Regulars.

Great beer in fantastically honest setting.
Populuxe Brewery is hard to describe. Imagine your best friend converted the ground floor of their house and backyard into a brewery., and you’re getting there. This is real DIY stuff with bare cinder blocks and plywood the décor of choice.
The tap room is about the size of your bathroom. Out back in the yard is where the party and food truck are located. The vide is that your aforementioned friend that built a brewery in their own house did so when the Parents were on vacation and anytime now the cops will arrive with a public offence order from the neighbour.
The staff/​owners are wonderful folk, oh and as for the beer, it’s fantastic, with the Pale Ale particularly good.

Small space, but not in a bad way. Really good beer selection.
Awesome back patio area with fire pits and lots of seating. You really get the best possible DIY vibe from Populuxe.

It is winter and the sun is down. It is cold. Below freezing. Lucky there’s a few heating devices and fires to warm nothing but my jean’s pockets or my hair. Still cold. *sip* Hmmm Populuxe stout.
…still cold.
Look if you come late or on a weekend you are going to be dining outside. In the cold, heat, rain, sleet, fire and brimstone, whatever. Dress for the occasion. I sure as hell don’t. Why? Stupid. If it is cold, there are a couple of gas feed fire pits and outdoor heaters. Both work only to a certain degree of effectiveness. Meaning in the below freezing temperatures Seattle has had in the past month or so you will freeze. Ideally, this wouldn’t matter as you suck down more beer.
Drunk people can’t feel much.
Yeah, there is a food truck. Big deal. I am sure the trucks rotate or some such but really I don’t pay attention. I am worried about the next guy spilling beer on me, no problem the jacket is water/​beer-​proof, and freezing to death. Or worse running out of stout.

Probably my favorite overall out of the 5 breweries we stopped at Saturday. A great mix of people, yard games, and delicious beer. Not to mention the cool food truck parked out back as well. Outdoor seating and heaters/​fire pits for when the sun sets. Great stop for the entire family, including the pets!

Fall just would not seem complete without getting some pumpkin ales along the way. Since October I tried a couple different ones and they were both amazing so I decided to continue with the Fall trend of getting just one more pumpkin ale.
Steve and I split the 2014 Pumpkin Ale at Populuxe Brewing which was the last brewery we hit on our mini pub crawl. At this point we either hit all of the Ballard breweries from previous trips or we were getting them in now. With the exception of any newer ones that may have slipped under the radar but I think it is pretty well covered at this point.
Populuxe has a more seating than what it seems. The front room could potentially get a bit cramped on a busy night but there is another room in the back.
The pumpkin ale we bought was pretty good! Not too sweet yet had all those Fall baking spices that you need to get a good taste of the ambience for the season. Cinammon, nutmeg and so on pop up as you savor the flavor of the ale.
It was an enjoyable experience on our last brewery stop for the evening in the neighborhood!

Tried the raspberry wheat ale and loved it. We had a good sized group and I didn’t hear any complaints about the other brews here. On a nice day the patio is open with plenty of tables. A food truck, Don Luchos, was out back as well! We played cornhole and had a great time!

Really cool & unique place, great outside atmosphere & good beer. We had the sampler with 8 beers, really liked 3 of them. Area where you ordered was small & congested, but owners were friendly & helpful.

We could barely open the door to get inside, which either means this place is hoppin’, or this place is small. Let me tell you it’s a little of both. When the place has an occupancy of about 15, hoppin’ doesn’t mean much. There are 4 tables. 4. Luckily we got there right when a table for 6 was leaving, which still meant 4 of us were left standing.
I’m sure the summer time is the right time to go because there is a beer garden outside with corn hole and a food truck.
We got a sampler of beers, none of which wowed me. The best one, hands down was the Beersnob Brown, followed by the CDA. They charge $ 6 for a growler… down side it’s just a brown glass growler with one of their stickers on it. Doesn’t make for a washable growler. Good thing we just collect them.

Populuxe Brewing is super cool– like Fremont Brewing Company used to be cool– before they blew up and got all big and crowded and mainstream.
The location is rustic, the beers are interesting and creative, and the people who work there are nice and will spend a few minutes chatting with you about their passion for brewing.
They make a few Saison style beers that are absolutely superb.
They have a broad range of other beer styles available– and typically one guest cider available for guests who don’t dig beer– or have a gluten allergy– but still want to be there. Kudos for being accommodating!
Suggest you try Populuxe Brewing– but don’t tell too many people about ok?

Populuxe is another outstanding example of what is going right with the small brewery scene these days: Just a small outfit in a neighborhood light industrial building. The taps change depending on what’s available every day, and based on my experience over two visits on successive weekends, they’ve got it pretty dialed in.
The taproom itself is spartan yet cozy, but you won’t spend much time indoors because the yard is where it’s at: food trucks, picnic tables, and corn hole boards. Kids and dogs are welcome, and it has the vibe of hanging out at a park, albeit a park with gravel in place of grass. The folks running the taps are enthusiastic about the beer and seem genuinely in tune with making sure everyone is enjoying themselves.
Thus far, I’ve enjoyed their Pale Ale, IPA, Double IPA, Porter, and English Blonde and I had a sample of the Saison just to see what that was about. It’s not my favorite style, but it seemed to be pretty standard for a Belgian inspired ale. The other brews were pretty much spot on, and the Double IPA alone is enough keep me coming back for more.
I love that Populuxe has created a business good enough to be both a beer destination and a family-​friendly neighborhood hangout.