Check out our expert tasting panel’s winners from Seattle Magazine’s Inaugural Beer Awards here.

READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS
Best Places to Drink Beer
The people have spoken. The region’s legion of beer fans pick the best places to experience local brews.

Best Brewpub
A restaurant or pub with its own brewery on site

The Pike Brewing Company
One of the city’s oldest brewpubs remains the favorite. This expansive brewery and all-ages pub at the south end of Pike Place Market has been serving delicious beer and grub for more than 20 years. For many tourists, this is the closest they get to experiencing Seattle’s vibrant brewing culture, and that’s just fine; Pike Brewing is a worthy ambassador. Be sure to take a peek into the Museum Room, where Charles Finkel, one of the owners and cofounders, along with his wife, Rose Ann, displays a portion of his massive collection of beer memorabilia. Downtown, 1415 First Ave.; 206.622.6044 

Best Brewpub Finalists:
Elliott Bay Brewhouse and Pub (three locations: Burien, West Seattle, Lake City)
Naked City Brewery and Taphouse (Greenwood)
Resonate Brewery and Pizzeria (Bellevue/Newcastle)
Schooner Exact Brewing (SoDo)

Brewery Taproom
A taproom with a tasting room on site where you can get tastes and pints but not food; that is, it’s not a brewpub

Hellbent Brewing Company
Great beer is the solitary focus at this Lake City brewery and taproom, where dogs are welcome, but children are not (21 and older only). You’ll often find a food truck serving up victuals in the parking lot out back next to the spacious patio; the food truck schedule is available on the brewery’s website. You’re also welcome to bring food with you. Cozy couches help lend the main level of the taproom a living room atmosphere, and upstairs you’ll find video games, dart boards and a pool table. Say hello to Steven, the enormous and affable yellow Lab who frequently hangs out in the taproom; he belongs to the head brewer, Brian Young. Lake City, 13035 Lake City Way NE; 206.361.3707

Best Brewery Taproom Finalists:
Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery (Greenwood)
Fremont Brewing (Fremont)
Ravenna Brewing Company (Ravenna)
Reuben’s Brews (Ballard)
Stoup Brewing (Ballard)

Beer-focused Restaurant 
A restaurant or pub with an exceptionally strong focus on beer
Brouwer’s Café
Soon after opening in 2005, this Belgian-inspired café in Fremont, which features more than 60 beers on tap and hundreds more in bottles, quickly earned a well-deserved reputation as one of Seattle’s top beer bars. You might get bleary-eyed looking at the beer list, but don’t miss the food menu, which focuses almost entirely on Belgian cuisine, such as stoofvlees, a traditional stew made with beef, bacon and beer, served over a bed of pommes frites. Along with the city’s greatest variety of local and international beers on tap, Brouwer’s serves cocktails, cider and wine. You’ll need to leave the kiddos at home because this place is for grown-ups only (21 and older). Fremont, 400 N 35th St.; 206.267.2437; 

Best Beer-focused Restaurant Finalists:
Collective on Tap (Woodinville)
Dog and Pony Alehouse and Grill (Renton)
Latona Pub (Green Lake)
The Pine Box (Capitol Hill)
The Westy (West Seattle)

Best Beer Retailer
Best places to buy beer to go specifically

Chuck’s Hop Shop
Both of Chuck’s locations, in Greenwood and the Central District, are full-service beer emporiums, offering hundreds of beers in bottles and cans, as well as dozens of beers on tap for growler fills. In fact, you can even order a pint if you like. The original mini-mart-meets-beer-hall location in Greenwood is cozily cramped and always packed, with highly coveted picnic-table seating out front during the drier months. The Central District location is equally popular, but bigger inside, with a small outdoor seating section. A key to Chuck’s success at both locations is the family-friendly atmosphere (until 9 p.m.), and you’ll usually see more strollers than bikes parked out front. Greenwood, 656 NW 85th St., 206.297.6212; Central District, 2001 E Union St., 206.538.0743; 

Best Beer Retailer Finalists: 
The Beer Junction (West Seattle)
Full Throttle Bottles (Georgetown)
Metropolitan Market (various locations)
Special Brews (Lynnwood)
Total Wine and More (various locations)

Beer-focused Bar 
A bar with at least 12 beers on tap, which are rotated regularly; bar only, no food

Beveridge Place Pub
In West Seattle, people think of this warm, wood-heavy meeting place as their second living room, which just happens to have a constantly rotating selection of more than 30 beers on tap. Located at the corner of California Avenue and Beveridge Place, it’s a place where beer-loving adults (21 and older) gather around large tables or sink into one of the well-used couches to play a game of cribbage, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit or one of the pub’s other board games. But that’s only half the story. The back room features pub-height tables, shuffleboard, darts, billiards and plenty of televisions for watching the big game. There’s no food beyond pub snacks, but you are welcome to bring your meal with you or order it from any of the neighborhood restaurants, some of which will deliver to your table. We also love that it’s a beer bar without that beer bar smell. West Seattle, 6413 California Ave. SW; 206.932.9906

Best Beer-focused Bar Finalists:
The Brewmaster’s Taproom (Renton)
Flatstick Pub (two locations: Kirkland and Pioneer Square)
Malt and Vine (Redmond)
Stumbling Monk (Capitol Hill)
TeKu Tavern (South Lake Union)