Mac and Jack’s Brewing Company

Kind of a classic brewery in the Seattle area. Generally (as is common in Seattle) specialize in hoppy beers, although their African Amber is a staple and they do surprisingly good BA stuff. Gotta stop in here at least once--won't be something you tell your grandkids about or anything but they do quality beer for a good price and, again, it's a classic.

You can drink pints on site now! I feel like it's important to get a recent place rating on the books for Mac and Jacks. It seems to have slightly changed in the last few. We stopped in after Postdoc, due mostly to convenience, and also it's a place that I feel like everyone needs to check in to at least once. They still operate the taproom in a room about the size of an average bedroom. There is a small production area that you can stand out on the side, but in the winter, the service window was closed up. About 10 beers on tap, all available for free sampling, pints (both to plastic cups), and growler fills. Other than a couple standing tables, the rest of the room is dedicated to Mac and Jacks swag. Anything you can really think of. I'm sure they had a Mac and Jacks mouse pad in there. Are mouse pads still a thing? Anyway, the beers were all pretty good. Good value. Kinda hard to give anything less than a perfect score on value for a place that gives you their beers to try for free. Service was very friendly. With pints now available, as well as some experimental brews on tap, I feel like this is becoming a really good stop when doing the Redmond area crawl.

Not really a taproom, just a garage-like area where you can sample their draught beers, and a little shop to fill your growlers and purchase bottles to go. You can sample the beer for free, which is sort of run-of-the-mill -- competently brewed but nothing outstanding. Very friendly service. Not really worth coming to, but if you’re at Postdoc and want a few more ticks, it’s 1 block away.

Visited the Sunday 3pm tour. Use the website to find this old-school, out of the way, in an industrial complex, brewery. Only 5 of us on tour, so more intimate than usual. You get a free shaker glass, and 4 free samples. The brewery now has "Employee Beer" only available for sale on premise. Kegs and growlers for sale in small tasting room. The tour was good and the tour guide did not talk down to the audience and did not treat it as a frat bro drink-a-thon tour. A brewery-only bottle for sale as well this time around. Mac and Jack’s does a few things you usually don’t find in other breweries. Mac and Jack’s isn’t the darling of the new generation of craft beer drinkers but it holds an important role in the expansion of craft beer. Currently, its the largest draft-only distribution brewery in on the North American continent. For all these reasons I think its worthy of locals to visit even if you are tired of seeing African Amber everywhere.

A must visit for locals, especially for brewery-only ticks and to learn about some of the brewery’s methods.
For out of towners, only if you want some ticks and its not a traffic filled day.

These guys do great things for the beer world without a doubt. They focus on a rock-solid business model: produce flagship beers that anyone can enjoy, and don’t spend a lot of time on side projects. As a result, you get a fairly bare-bones experience here. There are tanks and kettles, and there are faucets and growlers. There are grains, yeasts, and hops somewhere as well, but those are marked employees only. You come in, you get your growler filled to go, maybe you shoot the breeze a little, then you go drink your beer. This place offers a nice lineup of beers. They actually offer the current sales leader in Western Washington among craft beers, I think--the African Amber. Redhook and Widmer and a few other mid-major craft breweries challenge it pretty well, but the African is a king among kegs of craft beer in this town. You see it at places where it’s the only non-industrial beer, that stately lion on the tap handle announcing that there’s at least one thing on tap with a grain bill that’s all barley. You see it at restaurants, sports bars, sometimes even at higher-end places that are crazy for beer. You occasionally get a stale keg of the African because it can sit so long at places that don’t move much craft beer, so it has a bit of a middling reputation with a few people--some people think it’s too sweet, because by the time they get to a place with a keg of it, the hops have faded, and the crispness and refreshment have gone. But African is a very drinkable beer, and the Serengeti Wheat is solid as well. They also serve a decent porter and IPA, and they occasionally make an interesting special batch of this or that. But most of all they serve beers that anyone can enjoy, and more than once their beers have been compared to Kind of Blue by Miles Davis--something both musicians and a large percentage of the public alike can really get into. Very well-crafted, but also very accessible.

Hard to find. They have a little tiny sign on the road, but it took me driving past it 3 times to see it. Once I did find the place, I had some samples. The beer was good, the guy working was nice, but not incredible knowledgeable. They had 6 beers on tap including a Barleywine.

Mac & Jacks Brewing Company. Production only facility with a small tasting/retail was not sure what I was going to find. Why has no one made fresh brewed cologne sure baffles me? I say this as I just passed a huge vat of malted grains as they vent off steam and wonderful aroma. I was not the only one standing there wafting at the aroma. Once inside the small sampling room you where greeted by a young man asking what would you like to try. Hell I can’t hurt the kid’s feelings so I tried them all. Yes, I have lived here in the Pac NW for a few years so yes Mac & Jacks African amber is like a staple but when free you taste. They have lots of tee shirts growlers and posters to buy. You can get your growler filled or buy a new one when there.