Craft Beer Bar and Bottle Shop Coming to South Lake Union

As the deluge of restaurant announcements continues for South Lake Union, the booming Amazon neighborhood will need more bars and retail shops, too. Enter TeKu Tavern, projected to open this fall at 552 Denny Way. The company description on its active Instagram account is, "Craft Beer Tavern and Bottle Shop specializing in craft beer quality and education."

The bar's name immediately trumpets its intentions to enthusiasts, referring as it does to a long-stemmed, wine-like drinking glass designed to be the ultimate tasting vessel for beer connoisseurs. The TeKu was created by German manufacturer Rastal a few years ago in conjunction with Italian brewery Birra Baladin's brewer Teo Musso ("Te") and Italian beer sommelier Lorenzo Dabove, aka Kuaska ("Ku"). As you can imagine, not many people bother to pour American light lagers into a glass this fancy; expect higher end and local options as the norm here.

It appears life partners and homebrewers Karrie Stewart — whose KareBier beer blog is currently inactive but whose Instagram account is alive and well — and Rich Powell, aka The Bier Runner on Instagram, are behind the venture. The owners did not respond by press time to a request for comment, but follow along on Facebook and Instagram for beer porn and status updates, like the recent announcement, "It's official, we're in!"