Any craft beer taproom and bottle shop can say they are great (that’s just good marketing), but it takes a special place to actually be great. Sitting about a dozen yards off of Port Townsend Bay in Port Townsend, Washington, Pourhouse reaches that second tier. We sat down with owners Virginia Marston and Ned Herbert to discuss the bar, the bay, and of course, the beer.

Ned and Virginia met on the campus of Western Washington University, and later moved back to Virginia’s hometown of Port Townsend. While running a book binding company, the two found themselves delivering journals and photo albums to stores around the Seattle area. After making deliveries, they found themselves walking into breweries, bars, and bottle shops, having a drink, and taking a selection of their favorite bottles home. But when those bottles were gone, they began feeling apathetic about the same old selection found in the grocery store. That’s when they realized that Port Townsend needed them.

Always toying with the idea of opening a business, they hadn’t come up with one they both liked. But when they decided to open a craft beer taproom and bottle shop, they realized they had tapped into a joint passion. The self-described “beer geeks” soon took to finding a place, which ended up being right under their noses. “We would walk by this place all the time,” Ned told us as we sat in the beer garden, soaking up the beautiful weather and gazing out over the water just yards away. He was referring to the 1,000 square foot taproom and 4,000 square foot patio, appropriately named “The Impound Lot” after the original usage of the space. Now, instead of jacks and pneumatic drills, they have 12 taps and hundreds of bottles, a concrete ping pong table, and petanque court (similar to bocce) on the patio.

“It was sort of like one of those Field of Dreams: ‘if you build it, they will come’ situations. So we now have a petanque league,” said Virginia. “People are buying their own balls, showing up with their own cases,” Ned added.

If you build it, they will come should be the Pourhouse motto, as the story is very reminiscent of standing in a cornfield waiting for the Chicago Black Socks. “This place was for lease for a couple of years…and there was just something about it,” Ned continued. “When we finally got to the point where we had enough of an idea that we started looking for commercial spots to rent…it was the first place we looked at. We looked at every commercial space for lease, and kept coming back to this.”

And as the people came, so did the beer, as they received one of only six Boneyard Shotgun Session IPA kegs shipped to Washington. Ned sums it up with a laugh: “It brings a tear to my eyes.” As the Beer Curator, Virginia makes it her mission to not serve bad beer. “I don’t,” she laughed. “We always try to have a balanced selection. So, it may not be a style I would drink, but I know that it’s good.”

There is always something going on at Pourhouse, with a birthday, a band, and a high school reunion all happening the day we were there. Breweries have been founded over barstool conversations, the Head Brewer from nearby Port Townsend Brewing enjoys his evenings here, and the local mill has their retirement parties in the Impound Lot. I asked Virginia what her favorite part of all of this was. “We, from the beginning, had the idea of a community gathering place, and we didn’t know how it was going to play out.” Ned added: “like when Virginia’s third-grade teacher had his retirement party here. That’s really cool.”

Just because they are busy doesn’t mean there isn’t room for you to come by and pull up a stool. “I was across the street at the paint store, thinking of doing some work on the house,” I was told by a man at the bar. “But I decided this would be a better way to spend my Saturday.” He chose well.