Gruff Brewing opens kitchen
Since opening in downtown Bellingham in 2016, Gruff Brewing has served no-frills brews in a laid-back, dog-friendly taproom. Its sprawling beer garden is the place to go for cozy fire table vibes. Gruff has never been known for its culinary offerings, but that may soon change.
Previously served by food trucks, Gruff opened its own kitchen at the end of 2023. The menu offers a variety of small plates including edamame, nori fries, karaage chicken and calamari. During a January visit, I opted for the house-made tofu gyoza (pork is also available), served steaming hot and washed down with a dark ale. For larger appetites, sandwiches are served with a side, and include chicken katsu, tonkatsu or teriyaki tofu options. Salads round out the menu for a good variety of vegetarian, gluten-free and dairy-free choices.
The kitchen operates like a food truck, minus the weather woes. Walk up to the window, order, take a buzzer and your food is served up shortly. Gruff also introduced a new draft cocktail menu featuring classics like the margarita, old fashioned and whiskey sour alongside a cold brew martini made with Tony’s Coffee.
Have a dry-ish January
Good news for anyone attempting Dry January: one of Bellingham’s best happy hour spots, Banter, is pausing dinner and cocktail service for a few weeks to “restructure, redesign and map out a smashing 2024.” Banter remains open for brunch daily, with plans to resume evening hours later in January. Fingers crossed for a return to table service.
For those interested in “damp January” (an unfortunate name for a month of light drinking), Kulshan’s got you covered. The Bellingham brewery recently released Get Low IPA, a hop-forward, 2.5% ABV (alcohol by volume) beer available at both taprooms. Stemma lowers the ABV bar even further with Hoppy Squeeze, a roughly 2% seltzer cocktail made by mixing their house-made Super Squeeze hard seltzer with Lagunitas’ non-alcoholic Hoppy Refresher.
Normally we’d be talking about robust winter warmer beers in January, and there’s certainly a time and place for those. But in recent years, there’s been a shift to lighter, “crushable” styles in the beer industry. Lagers are making a considerable comeback after years of living in the shadow of the almighty IPA.
Most local breweries offer light lagers on tap in the sub-5% ABV range. A few to try this month include Larrabee Lager’s crisp Legacy American Lager, Structures’ American/German hybrid Plainsman and Aslan’s perennial grain beer, Kernza Lager.
Spirits, cider and history
Save the date for Downtown Bellingham Partnership’s annual Spirits & Cider Stroll on Feb. 8. Pop-up spirits and cider tastings will take place around downtown “within businesses and buildings with interesting history.” Tickets (on sale soon) include a commemorative tasting glass and appetizers at each venue. Info: downtownbellingham.com.
Closures and new additions
2024 begins with a smattering of bar and restaurant closures across Bellingham. Jack’s BBQ, a local chain started in Seattle, closed in December. Housed in the former Copper Hog space on State Street, Jack’s offered 12 craft beer taps and signature cocktails.
Artivem Mead permanently closed at the end of December. Located in Bellingham’s Granary building, the business produced and sold artisan mead for three years.
State Street Bar closed following a fire that started in the bar’s kitchen on Jan. 3. The State Street space was the original location of the Beaver Inn (also known as the Beav), a storied downtown dive bar. No word yet if or when the bar will reopen.
Endgame Bar & Restaurant announced on social media that it will close on Feb. 24. The Holly Street gaming bar opened more than four years ago, offering board games, video games, cocktails and food.
“Unfortunately, with the mixture of increasing cost of goods, unstable rental prices and hitting the constraints of what we could do with our limited kitchen space, we’ve decided to close down,” the business posted on Instagram. The owners expressed optimism “about possibly coming back at some point.”
The Endgame space has hosted several bars over the years including Tubbs Tavern, Swillery Whiskey Bar and Boscoe’s. In my memory, it will always be the place to play Mario Kart 64 on a projector. Here’s to hoping that tradition continues one day. For now, there’s still time to support Endgame and wish them a bittersweet “game over.”
New establishments continue to open in Bellingham. The latest, reported by Jesse Stanton in a recent column, is now open behind The Orion. Odd Fellows Temple Room is Orion’s “community space” — a cocktail bar and live music venue with events in the works. The bar is currently open 7 p.m. to “late,” Wednesday through Saturday.
Brandon Fralic’s Drink Cascadia column runs the second week of every month. Reach him at drinkcascadia@gmail.com.
