#2049 - Hare and Hounds Public House, Poulsbo, WA - 2/17/2013

An English style pub in "Little Norway."

18990 Front St, Poulsbo, WA 98370 - (360) 440-9583
Est. Dec 11, 2009
Web site: harenhoundspub.com - facebook
Reviews: kitsapsun - northkitsapherald - yelp - tripadvisor - urbanspoon

#2048 - Port Side Pub, Poulsbo, WA - 2/17/2013

Update: The Port Side Pub has been replaced by the Brass Kraken.

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Sheila's Port Side Pub / Tavern / Restaurant and Bar is a casual bar over the shore of Liberty Bay on the Kitsap peninsula. It is in the city of Poulsbo, an old cod fishing community that has been known as "Little Norway" for 130 years, and it now plays the theme up considerably to attract tourism. The small town is considerably more dainty than when old Ole Stubb and more Norwegian fishermen followed in the 1880s -- despite a fair number of bars and restaurants, the Port Side is the only place to stay open past midnight on weekends.

The interior of the the Port Side is woody and comfortable, peppered with art and shelves of books, and a few hints of its British-born owner. The most striking feature is a large painting by a local artist, depicting several of the staff and regulars at the bar. It will remain forever unfinished, as the artist herself, painted in the lower right, has passed away.

18779 Front St NE Poulsbo, WA 98370 - (360) 779-9997
Web site: sheilasportside.com - facebook
Previous bars at this location: Viking House
Reviews: yelp

#2047 - Golden Grill, Port Orchard, WA - 2/16/2013

The Golden Grill is on a bit of a hill which provides it a great view of Sinclair Inlet and a confusing entrance for first-timers (you must go up the hill and around the back). To get to the lounge you walk through the long narrow dining room, with a formal sort of appearance, where they serve pretty good classic American-Chinese food. In the lounge itself is a lively karaoke scene with a broad range of characters. One of the highlights of the evening was an arm wrestling match between an old German lady and a 25-year-old kid who looked 13.

1014 Bay St Port Orchard, WA 98366 (360) 876-0333
Web site: goldengrillonthebay.com - facebook
Reviews:  tripadvisor - yelp - urbanspoon - foodspotting

#2046 - Family Inn, Manchester, WA - 2/16/2013

The "Family Inn at Manchester," AKA the "Manchester Inn," is bifurcated into a roadside cafe and cozy lounge with a stone fireplace, collections of shot glasses, and other bric a brac on the walls. There was a medium-sized crowd and a performer playing guitar when we arrived, and at the bar we met Vicki and her friend (whose name I have lost). Vicki once found a book describing the best dive bars in Montana, and she and a friend decided to visit every one of them; so you can see how we had an interesting conversation comparing notes.

The Family Inn and Manchester Pub next door make a nice, complementary set of casual drinking options.

2386 Colchester Dr E Manchester, WA 98353 - (360) 871-8199
Est. 1988
Web site: familyinn.org
Reviews: nancysphotocorner -  tripadvisor - yelp - judysbook

#2045 - Manchester Pub, Manchester, WA - 2/16/2013

The unincorporated community of Manchester, Washington sits on the east edge of the Kitsap peninsula, across a Puget Sound bay from West Seattle. The community was established as Brooklyn in the 1860s and changed to Manchester in 1902. It is the home of about 5,000 people, and of the Manchester Family Inn and the Manchester Pub beside it. The pub is said to be "bike-friendly" and "biker-owned," but it's a genteel, middle-aged crowd in a nautically themed and non-divey setting.

The pub was established in the current space in 1981. When I asked about its history before that, the bartender directed me to another customer at the bar, whose name I forget, but whom she described as "the town know-it-all." The town know-it-all was friendly and couldn't tell us all the historical details, but told us that the pub used to be next door in a hotel built in 1903.

It's a pretty basic, mid-sized pub, with pull tabs, standard liquor and beer options, and a stage and dance area with rock bands on weekend nights.

2350 Colchester Dr E, Manchester, WA 98366 - (360) 871-2205
Est. 1981
Web site: www.manchesterpub.co - facebook 
Reviews: yelp

#2044 - Blue Goose Tavern, Port Orchard, WA - 2/16/2013

The Blue Goose was established in 1948, apparently by a marine and based on one of several military aircraft that have been known by that name (perhaps the B-24 bomber that disappeared in 1942). It had a fun, lively crowd, and we talked to Mike, and MBA who came back to the neighborhood to care for his parents, and now trims trees and bartends. Mike greets everybody enthusiastically and seems like an ambassador for the area, waxing poetic about the lifestyle and his five acres.

1931 Bay St Port Orchard, WA 98366 - (360) 895-8171
Est. 1948
Reviews:  yelp 

#2043 - Hi Tide Tavern, Port Orchard, WA - 2/16/2013

Despite its location in a sort of strip mall, the "Hi Tide Tavern" exterior has a lot of personality, with hand-painted signage and murals of widely varying skill, and an excellent view of Sinclair Inlet from its patio. So it's a little puzzling that inside it looks like a restaurant that should have "Pantry" in the name. The pastel colors, patterned wallpaper borders, and paintings of waves seem like they belong more in a waiting room or senior center than a tavern.

But the folks there are nice, and we had a pleasant discussion with old friends Ernie and Rollie, who spent much of their lives driving delivery trucks for Wonder Bread and Twinkies, respectively.

The menu claims that the Hi Tide has been here since 1926, although it would not have been a tavern since then, and the current building appears to date back to the 1990s. I would have very much liked to have seen the previous version(s).

1371 Bay St Port Orchard, WA 98366 - (360) 876-2248
Reviews: yelp 

#2042 - Pour House Pub, Bremerton, WA - 2/16/2013

An interesting mixture of punks and navy guys, with some fairly good pizza and beer.

(Note: Original Bremerton Pour House was 3 blocks from this one.)

312 Naval Ave Bremerton, WA 98337 - (360) 377-6250
Web site: facebook
Previous bars at this address: Red Rooster, Blue Jacket
Reviews: yelp - urbanspoon 

#2041 - Fuzzy Naval, Bremerton, WA - 2/16/2013

A classic dive bar that appears to have been around since the 30s or 40s (although I found no bar listed at this address until Jesse's Tavern in 1960). It was remodeled in the 70s, and which hoists a fairly boisterous crowd of regulars.

416 Naval Ave, Bremerton, WA 98337 - (360) 782-5487
Previous bars at this location: Jesse's Tavern (1960s)
Reviews: urbanspoon - yelp

#2040 - Wig Wam Pub, Gorst, WA - 2/16/2013

"Gorst, located on the shores of Puget Sound, is primarily a town consisting of stores, auto dealerships, topless espresso stands, and the county's only strip club." -- Wikipedia

The community of Gorst, sitting in the middle of the Kitsap peninsula where the highway forks around Sinclair inlet, is not a major destination for visitors. But just off the current highway, and easy to miss, is a nifty little tavern with character and history -- and a lot of fine northwest beers.  The Wig Wam was built in 1933, right in time for then end of prohibition, and burned down in 1961. A new concrete version was constructed in 1952. It was closed down for several years recently, and only opened again in 2012 because locals kept dropping by asking the new owners about it. It now features a very nice beer selection and good barbecue.  A bit more historical detail from the Kitsap Sun:

'The tavern was operated by Cliff Whitney and later a second generation, the Chamberlain family. The building burned in 1951 and was resurrected in concrete in 1952....  Lila Goakey ran the Wig Wam with husband Loren from 1973 through 1996.... The Goakeys sold out before Loren's death in 2001. Buying the tavern was a woman who changed the name and got rid of the iconic tepee on the sign. The place did not thrive, and closed in late 2009. There was a foreclosure. The Wig Wam sat empty and disheveled.' 

'Business partners Erik Sweet and George Wood bought the 1.44-acre property late in 2011 with no intention of operating a tavern. They wanted to start a brewery for George's craft beers and may still do so out back where the cabins used to be. As they started cleaning it up, people kept stopping by and saying, "Are you going to open up the old Wig Wam?" said Mike Sweet, Erik's dad, who moved up from Texas to manage the tavern.'

'The new sign, modeled after the old yellow and red one, bears a tepee like those used by Plains Indians, not a wigwam, the traditional housing of tribes from the Great Lakes eastward. The Great Plains motif is picked up on new wood-carved restroom signs, with a chief in feather war bonnet. There's a "liars corner" — a vestige of the old Wig Wam — and a quilters' corner. Yes, the Wig Wam has a nicely appointed area, where ladies ply their craft. Rumor has it the old Wig Wam had ladies who plied another craft in the second story, now gone. "That was something everyone laughed about," Goakey said, dismissing the colorful story as hearsay.'

3548 W Belfair Valley Rd, Gorst, WA 98312 - (360) 813-3548
Est. 1933 - Building constructed: 1952
Previous bars in this location: None
Web site: pubwigwam.com - facebook - blog
Articles: kitsapsun - portorchardindependent - yelp - taphunter

#2039 - MoonDogs Too, Port Orchard, WA - 2/16/2013

Update: After owner Darryl Baldwin died from cancer in 2015, Moondogs Too closed Oct 31, 2016.

Port Orchard, originally "Sydney," is the oldest incorporated community in Kitsap county, and Moondogs Too is housed in a building constructed on the main business street in the early 1900s, shortly after fire had destroyed most downtown businesses in 1895, and after Sydney won a battle with nearby Charleston in 1903 over which town could rename itself "Port Orchard." According to the Moondogs web site, it was originally the Port Orchard Pool Hall (e.g. listed in 1938 and 1942 city guides), became the Port Orchard Tavern in the 1950s, the Harborside from 1999 to 2004, and MoonDog Bar and Grill in 2005. The current owners liked the MoonDog name, and adopted it in slightly modified form when they acquired the place in 2007.

MoonDogs Too now seems to center the small, somewhat touristy downtown area of Port Orchard (which could nevertheless require a lot of police activity on certain evenings). They serve fairly broad selection of mostly typical bar food and drink options, and host open mike nights and booked acts on weekends -- playing either in a small area of the first floor, a stage area upstairs, or on a pleasant patio. It includes a fine old back bar said to have been constructed in the 1880s.

714 Bay St Port Orchard, WA 98366 - (360) 895-2300
Est. 2007 - Closed Oct 31, 2016 - Building constructed: Early 1900s
Previous bars in this location: Port Orchard Pool Hall, Port Orchard Tavern, Boomer's, Harborside, Moondog Bar and Grill
Web site: http://moondogstoo.com - facebook
Reviews:  yelp - tripadvisor - pugetsoundblogs

#2038 - South Pacific, Bremerton, WA - 2/10/2013

This place appears to have a colorful past, and now it seems to want to be a bit of everything: tiki bar, sports bar, D-List style nightclub. I haven't found much info online about previous bars in this space, but I got word-of-mouth info from several different people. From Jenny I heard that they used to have a two-lane bowling alley downstairs, and murals of Popeye-like characters probably done by Popeye creator E.C. Segar while he was stationed in the area during WWII. While they are clearly from the hand of a deft cartoonist, the latter story doesn't really check out, as I later found explained in a Kitsap Sun story:

"Pam Kruse Buckingham of the Kitsap County Historical Society said the facts don't support that story. Buckingham's research showed the building was built in 1913 and it housed Flieder Bros. Grocery until the late '30s. The building remained vacant until 1941, when it became the Rendevous [sic] Beer Parlor, she said. Segar died in 1938, according to his biography on the King Features Web site."

Between the Rende(z?)vous and South Pacific, it has been called "Cheers" and before that, the "Bowl and Bash," I was told. In the bar I talked with Misty, a pretty bartender from Kentucky who calls the customers "Honey," and Ike, who has been in and around the navy and coming in the place for many years. Ike had several stories about the old days of the place, including when it had a mynah that told customers "fuck you" as you walked in the front door, and a drunken night he hooked up with a women and they lost her prosthetic foot.

"Not afraid to over-serve.  I once had a Jägerbomb with each of my first nine beers and the barkeep never batted an eye." (Skattman)

Thankfully, so far it has been able to resist the people and forces that seem to think that urban renewal calls for the elimination of all vestiges of charm and character. It's not the kind of place I would be likely to go to regularly if it were in Seattle, but its jumbled themes seem to work here, and I might be here often.

218 1st St, Bremerton, WA 98337 - (360) 479-1657
Est. Dec 15, 2002 - Building constructed 1913
Previous bars in this location: Rendezvous Beer Parlor (30s), Bowl and Bash, Cheers
Web site: southpacificsportsbar.com
Reviews: yelp - tripadvisor - kitsapsun - waterfront development

#2037 - Drift Inn, Bremerton, WA - 2/10/2013

Blue collar Bremerton, dominated by its naval station, sits on the Kitsap peninsula just 2 or 3 miles southwest of Bainbridge Island, but a world away in culture. The city has essentially been in decline since WWII, with the submarine base in Bangor draining much of its labor and the shopping mall in nearby Silverdale draining its commercial center. But the area around the ferry dock features substantial modern development, with a convention center, hotels, and art galleries. Locals say that the divey "Drift Inn" Tavern is the only thing that hasn't changed in the area.

The Drift is a fairly lively that has been around since the 1950s, with other bars preceding it in this space ("Bottoms Up" is listed here in the 1934 Polk Guide, Sullivan's in 1938 and 1942).

Bartender Jenny talked to me about other old bars in the area, and told stories about the Drift. One involved a band performing during "Driftmania 2" wearing a fake bomb on his chest, and apparently deciding to leave it wrapped around a tree in front of the bar when they left for the night. The next morning, Drift employees attempting to open the bar could not get in because the FBI were sweeping the place.

The Drift Inn delivers on the dive bar basics: inexpensive, stiff drinks; engaging bartender; interesting cast of characters.

204 1st Street, Bremerton, WA 98337 - (360) 479-2339
Reviews: yelp
Previous bars in this location: Bottoms Up (1930s), Sullivan's (1940s)
Token:  tokencatalog.com

#2036 - Monica's Social Club, Bremerton, WA - 2/10/2013

"Good people watching - if you enjoy prison documentaries." - Rick D. Yelp

This is an odd social club. Most the decor is standard dive bar -- cheap paneling, beer company paraphernalia, a couple very regular drinkers on the bar stools. Then there's the sort of stage area, with dusty stools, and old hot dog cooker and a rake (?). But the drinks are cheap and strong, and the bartender is nice.

818 6th St, Bremerton, WA 98337 - (360) 377-4386                     
Est. June 30, 1985
Reviews: yelp