We walk into an urban harvest

The Woods (Two Beers Brewing and Seattle Cider Company), Seattle (Sodo neighborhood), Washington
Dogs are welcome in The Woods. One would expect them to run freely and happily (it's the woods, right?) but they were all on leashes. They still seemed quite content.

As I sat at the bar, a man came up with his 17-week-old pup, Brandy. A woman asked to pet him, and when I asked about taking a photo, the man encouraged Brandy to look at me. We saw about four other dogs in the tasting room, and they were all happy to greet each other. (The tasting room page points out, “Dogs Welcome!”)

As cat owners, this wasn’t what attracted us to the place. The dogs are fun, but we came because The Woods is the tasting room for Seattle Cider Company, the first cidery to open in Seattle after prohibition. You might have noticed that we prefer cider over beer -- and what particularly caught our attention was that we could be at the tasting room when City Fruit cider was released. City Fruit is a local nonprofit that harvests urban fruit for the benefit of food banks and others in the community. The cider is made from some of that fruit.

As I entered the tasting room, I noticed Willy Wonka playing on a TV and the Talking Heads playing on the sound system. (After Charlie took off in the glass elevator [spoiler], that TV was changed to college football. “It’s what people want,” a bartender explained.) There are a number of entertainment options in the tasting room: pool, darts, shuffleboard, and, of course, dog watching.

There was a good crowd, and we even saw someone we know. Sean, who was our quiz master for Geeks Who Drink a few weeks ago. (His sister had brought along her beautiful dog, a Great Pyrenees.)

There were a lot of appealing ciders and seltzers to choose from (and beers, if you’re into that kind of thing). Mindy ordered a tasting flight to share, and we chose the City Fruit Cider (of course), Three Pepper Cider, Berry Rose Cider, and the Rose seltzer just for comparison. I went to the order window for Bread and Circuses, the brick and mortar space for a local food truck.

We ordered carmel stuffed churros and duck fat popcorn. (FWIW, the popcorn paired nicely with the Three Pepper Cider.) Instead of giving a me an order number, they handed out a Funko figure so the server would know who got the food. Ours was Clark Kent preparing to be Superman.

We asked Kristen, one of our bartenders, our two questions, “What makes for a good bar?” and “What makes for a good church?” She said she was willing to answer them, but right after we asked, she had a rush of customers, so it was several minutes before she could get back to us.

I mentioned that if she wanted, she could think of what makes The Woods a good place. She said, “The vibe and the energy.”

She said these things come about naturally; it was unexplainable. “People feed the energy.” She said the tasting room has many people who come frequently and stay a long time. She said having staff who engage with people, who are having fun, was important.

When she started telling us what she thought made for a good church, she mentioned (tangentially) that owner Joel VandenBrink had considered going into ministry and had earned a Master of Divinity degree. But to answer our question, Kristen said the important qualities of a good church include a community aspect, friendliness, and a sense of acceptance.

A sign at The Woods reads, “Life is more honest after two beers.” I can’t say I know that’s true, since I have a hard time getting through one beer. But life is more pleasant with cider. And dogs. Definitely more pleasant with dogs.