Trailbend Taproom

The Place

When I saw a sandwich board on the side of Leary advertising Trailbend, I thought of the Bend Ale Trail. My husband has been trying to move us to Bend, OR for decades. So I thought a bit of Bend in Ballard could only be a good thing. Turns out, there is no connection between Trailbend and Bend. But the concept of the Ale Trail is not too far off. Located on 50th, sort of between Reuben’s and Lucky Envelope, Trailbend is a taproom that lets you test a wide variety of brews. It is also a rare (perhaps the only) Ballard Brewery District operation with a full kitchen.

The Vibe

The space feels taller than it is deep or wide, but a garage door wall at the front keeps it from feeling like an elevator shaft. In the summer when the doors go up, it must feel like being outside.

Lots of concrete, exposed metal, and slabs of wood give a bit of an industrial look. But blues music and friendly table service humanize the vibe. It was a sunny Saturday when we decided to try lunch with the whole family at Trailbend. There were kids at nearly every table. I don’t know if the sort of families who eat lunch in taprooms have kids who know how to behave, or if it was just the sunshine streaming through the windows. But the kids didn’t spoil the cool urban vibe of the place at all.

The Brews

Clearly, Trailbend know the secret of life, the universe, and everything because they maintain 42 rotating taps from local, national and international breweries and cideries. Draft selections are updated daily. They also offer a full bar.

On the day we visited, more than half the taps contained Washington/Oregon brews, but there were a few imports in the mix. They even had a ginger ale and a cold brew coffee.

Chris stuck with familiar favorites. He started with a Bits and Bobs from Reuben’s. It’s brewed literally around the corner from Trailbend and he buys this annual experimental brew whenever it’s available. Later on, in celebration of the late winter sunshine, he had a Georgetown pilsner.

I got Urban Family Preservation sour. I’d never heard of Urban Family Brewing before. They are based in Magnolia, with a taproom just outside our Project area on the south side of the Ship Canal. They focus on eclectic, creative beers. The sour ale I tried was certainly creative, with a strong flavor of pie cherries and a fizzy quality you don’t usually associate with beer. It would never be a go-to beer to keep on hand in the kitchen (it’s just not beery enough) but it was a tasty and fitting start to a drinking adventure.

The Food

The menu was mostly pizzas, salads, and sandwiches. It was pretty meat heavy, but I didn’t struggle to find a vegetarian choice. We got ginger soy chicken wings, barley quinoa salad, beet salad, and pepperoni pizza off the kids’ menu. Everything was good. The salads were interesting and flavorful. My quinoa was a perfect match with the sour ale. It felt like a proper meal and not at all like “I”ll be good and get the salad.”

The Conclusion

We really liked the Trailbend. Restaurant meals are a rare treat in our family. Chris is a great cook and we’d rather spend our money on tickets. But we’ve spent more grabbing burgers for take-out. Trailbend is definitely going on our short list of places we go when we go out.