Ballard’s Distillery Turned Nordic Bar Has Closed Its Doors

BALLARD — Less than six months after a shake-up, distillery turned restaurant-bar Old Ballard Liquor Co. has closed its doors on Shilshole, writes local blog My Ballard. Its owner, Lexi (who only goes by that singular name) shut the business down in order to focus on running the food program at soon to open Scandinavian bar Skal, also in Ballard. The bar closed Sunday night with its only employee also headed over to Skal. Old Ballard Liquor Co opened its doors back in 2013 doing vodka and aquavit, then added a coffee shop in 2016. Last summer, it closed its doors temporarily to morph into a Nordic restaurant and bar, ditching the distilling operations. It seems likely that Lexi will take items like lutefisk handpies and Swedish meatballs over to Skal, given the similar approaches.

Hawks Nest West/Facebook

ALKI — Meanwhile out west, Alki Avenue sports bar Hawks Nest West has closed down, according to West Seattle Blog. New owners took over the bar recently, so it seems that they closed it down to retool it as...some other business. The original SoDo Hawks Nest lives on, though.

• Old Ballard Liquor Co. Opens [ESEA]
• Old Ballard Liquor Co. to close this weekend [My Ballard]
• Ballard’s Former Aquavit Distillery Reopens as Nordic Bar With Traditional Food [ESEA]
• Another one on the Alki ‘closed’ list [West Seattle Blog]