Self-Serve Wine and Beer Bar Planned for Capitol Hill Next Spring

Here’s some news worthy of a glass raise. A new wine and beer bar planned for Capitol Hill will let patrons serve their own drinks from a selection of different taps, with a machine that swipes cards and determines different pour sizes. Per Capitol Hill Seattle, the yet-to-be-named spot will take over the space on East Broadway vacated by Starbucks’s faux indie coffee shop Roy Street Coffee and Tea by next March or April.

While self-serve bars have been steadily growing in the US for years — from New York to Chicago to San Francisco — it’s a relatively new concept to the Seattle area. Buckley’s in Queen Anne experimented with table-top taps years ago through a third party company, but no longer have them available. This appears to be the first bar in the city to go all in on the effort.

Owner David Clawson recently ran the Remedy Wine Bar and Kitchen in London, which received some praise for its relaxed atmosphere, excellent selections of bottles from small producers, and good food. He told CHS that the new spot on Broadway will have a wide range of pours (likely more than 100 wine and beer selections), giving customers many options. The tap machine will also determine if a customer has had more than 10 ounces of wine or 24 ounces of beer, and will require the credit card to be reactivated for another drink, theoretically limiting complete drunkenness.

• Freedom! Capitol Hill Is Getting a “Self Pour” Wine and Beer Bar [CHS]