First Call: Marjorie

Photo by Peter Mumford

Where: Marjorie
2331 Second Ave
Seattle WA 98121
206.441.9842

On the corner of Second and Battery, this Belltown restaurant is quiet on an early Tuesday evening. We have the bar, and the bartender, pretty much all to ourselves. During the summer, the courtyard tables crowd with people wanting to sip their cocktails outside, with the wait staff far too busy doing laps on the cobblestones to chat.

Barkeep: Rene

How long have you been bartending?
Five months, but I've in restaurants for thirteen years, all over the place, front of the house, back of the house, everywhere.

If you were off work right now, what would you have to drink?
Well, I'd be packing, so I'd want something lighter. I'm moving from an apartment into a new condo. So I'd have a beer. I like a dark beer, but I don't want something too rich and chocolaty. Something not too heavy.

Drink of choice: Hale's Wee Heavy Winter Ale
Wheat Heavy?
No, -- that happens a lot -- it's Wee Heavy. W-E-E. Not like the video game.
Another bartender pokes his head around the corner: It's lighter version of a dark Scottish beer: wee.

Rene doesn't have too much more to say about the beer (he's off fetching us happy hour snacks: a $3 cheese plate and $3 edemame) but my drinking companion does. He describes it this way: It's the Scottish answer to the German Dopplebok: a sweet strong lager. This beer doesn't have the sour rye taste of so many Irish red or amber ales you get: the true Scottish winter ale doesn't taste of rye. The Wee Heavy is a good example of its style. It's malty, mollassesy, kinda chewy, not too heavily hopped, and stronger in alcohol.

Rene: It's the last of our winter ales. We're just about the switch out the tap. But on a day like today…

He's right, of course. At the end of March, the lamb is not in the weather but on your Easter table. I find the Wee Heavy is about halfway to the heft of a Guinness, with a sweet finish. A block over on nearby First Ave, cherry trees are abloom, but the air is raw, and at this tiny six-seater bar, this winter ale is just about perfect.