Sitting next to the 6-mile-long Cross Kirkland Corridor is Chainline Brewing Company’s unique Chainline Station within Feriton Spur Park. The walk-up, pet-friendly taproom is made of a retrofitted train caboose from the Northern Pacific Railway era that ran through Kirkland, Washington from 1905-2009. After the rail shut down, Kirkland redeveloped the space into a corridor for public use.
The caboose sits adjacent to Google’s newest building on their Kirkland campus. But nearly a decade before the addition, Chainline called the Cross Kirkland Corridor their home. In fact, the multi-use building there before Google’s addition was Chainline’s original home. Scott Holm, Chainline’s founder and chief “hoperations” officer, says he wanted his brewery to live up to its bicycle theme. “We’ve been tied with the Cross Kirkland Corridor since the very inception, and it was a big part of our identity,” he says, adding that the location was important because Chainline wanted to “walk the walk” when it came to their bicycle theme. That meant being located somewhere people could regularly bike to.
Chainline, which now has its main taproom in the Kirkland Urban plaza, recently won gold at the 2023 World Beer Cup for their Polaris Pilsner. “The pilsner is the one that we’re the most proud of,” Holm says. “It’s definitely the beer that has propelled us into the conversation as far as lager producers in the northwest.” The Bohemian-style pilsner is brewed with Polaris and Saaz Hops and is clean, crisp and traditional. They also have their popular seasonal barrel-aged stout, Dark Olympus, coming out in mid-November.
Before Chainline opened its original location in 2015, the craft beer scene had a good amount of momentum. However, Kirkland was lagging behind their neighboring cities. “Kirkland didn’t really have a craft beer option,” Holm said. “Redmond had it. Bellevue had it – kind of all around us. But Kirkland had this gap.” The location makes Chainline Station the ideal place to stop in for a drink after a walk or bike ride along the corridor. Feriton Spur Park stretches around the path and taproom and features an urban garden, where fruit, vegetables and herbs are grown for Hopelink, a social services non-profit. This portion of the corridor and Google campus also has pickleball courts, a basketball court and sand volleyball open for recreational use. There’s a lot to admire about Chainline Station’s surroundings, but their year-round and seasonal beer varieties are what make this cozy spot so enjoyable.
With a reasonably sized covered area that protects from the elements of the Pacific Northwest, the taproom is open all year round. Make sure to check Chainline’s website for the Station’s hours, which Holm says are likely going to be cut down to the weekends during the winter.
