(Photo by Kurt Schlosser, GeekWire)
The private members club has opened its first non-Chicago location in an historic 118-year-old mansion in Seattle’s First Hill section. The club offers a BYOB membership concept without servers, along with temperature-controlled liquor lockers, access through finger scans, no TVs, and an atmosphere where “you can have a conversation without screaming at each other.”
Seattle has a new private club in its historic First Hill neighborhood, NBC KING 5 reported, and it’s 100% BYOB.
“Most traditional private clubs have been rooted in tradition around status or what you do for a living. We’re a little bit different in that we have no dress code [and] we like our members to come as they are,” Sharon Provins, co-founder of Birch Road Cellar, told KING 5. “Our members truly feel like it’s an extension of their home and a place where they can be themselves.”
Birch Road Cellar’s members bring their own bottles of liquor, wine or beer and store them in private lockers, KING 5 reported. They can access the space daily—gaining entry through a finger scan, rather than a code or pass card—from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. to hang out, get work done or entertain guests.
“You help yourself, you have all the glassware that you would need,” Provins said. “The best part is, you don’t clean up. We take care of that for you. But it is self-service.”
GeekWire reported that the new Birch Road Cellar is located inside an historic carriage house behind the Stimson-Green Mansion has stood on Seattle’s First Hill since 1901, as an historic landmark that dates to the family that moved west from Michigan to conquer the region’s ample timberlands. Birch Road Cellar originated in Chicago and has now set its sights on Seattle and its influx of tech workers with disposable incomes, GeekWire reported.
The carriage-house location, which is now owned by the Washington State Trust for Historic Preservation, is the third for Birch Road Cellar and its first outside of Chicago, GeekWire reported. Birch Road’s bring-your-own-booze club concept is intended to give people a new option for gathering with friends that gets them out of the house but away from traditional bar settings—or, as described on the club’s website, as a place where “your best night out feels like the perfect night in.”
Founded in 2014 by Provins with her friend Kim Bosse, Birch Road Cellar became a reality in Seattle five years after Provins and her husband moved to the city because of his job in tech, GeekWire reported. It took Provins that long to find the right location, she said.
“I just felt like Seattle was a perfect fit, especially among the culture of the craft beer industry, the craft whiskey, plus the wine country,” Provins said. And while new construction is impossible to miss across the city, housing everything from people to giant tech companies to restaurants and bars and more, Birch Road made a point of choosing a location that had history and charm, she added.
The carriage house behind the mansion has been tastefully updated, with new counters and cabinets and appliances added, GeekWire reported. The first floor has a comfortable living-room lounge feeling with lots of brick and wood and a long bar. There’s plenty of glassware for a variety of drinks, and mixers, too.
But there are also no servers at the club, and nothing for sale. And there are no TVs. If you need to watch “the game,” go to a sports bar, Provins said.
“We are all about being a place where you can have a conversation without screaming at each other,” she told GeekWire.
One of the biggest perks offered by the club is a temperature-controlled cellar with lockers to store personal booze stashes, GeekWire reported. Just like at the front door, access can only be gained through the scanning of a member’s finger. Birch Road likes the technology better than a membership card or code, which are passable, because scanning means you truly have to be a member whose print is in the system to gain entry.
A WhisperKool wine-cooling unit keeps the locker room at an optimal 57 degrees, GeekWire reported. There are 200 lockers in the room, which is the number of memberships Birch Road will allow at the location. Monthly memberships are $105 for a half-sized storage locker (holds 10 bottles) and $135 for a full locker (24 bottles), with each membership covering two individuals and each individual allowed to bring two guests when they visit.
The upstairs of the carriage house features a dining room that can be reserved for anything from a board meeting to a “Dungeons & Dragons” game night, GeekWire reported. And the historic character of the building is evident in various corners of this level, such as in the bathroom, where an old half-door was a onetime way for hay to be loaded into the space.
A larger room called the hayloft is set up to be flexible for a variety of events, which Birch Road plays host to as part of the membership offer, GeekWire reported. An upcoming event will feature the head brewmaster from Stoup, a local brewery, doing a guided tasting and Q&A.
Sandy Turner, a new Birch Road member, told GeekWire that “The beverage part obviously is a plus, but I really like the social aspect of it.
“It’s a really tremendous value for what you get,”Turner added. “[My partner and I] both love wine, we love spirits, we love socializing. It’s a constant part of our lives, so it was a really easy decision.”
While Turner also loves supporting local bars and businesses, she was attracted to the intimacy of Birch Road and the fact that it’s such an “intentional choice,”she told GeekWire. And the sense of community offered by the club was also important.
“I’ve been here 25 years, and you know Seattle — the social aspect’s a little bit hit-or- miss in general,” Turner said. “This is the best of both worlds. People who are signing up to be a part of this community are enjoying spirits, which we love, and obviously if you’re signing up for this sort of thing, you’re willing to put yourself out there to engage with other people.
“It’s kind of a win, win, win,” she added.
Provins told KING 5 that the location she found “originally was a true carriage house. There used to be a cow that lived here, and a horse named Doctor,” she said. “Then it was the actual offices for the Bullitt Foundation.”
The space now includes a main bar/tasting room and an upstairs room called the Hay Loft where members congregate during the day for coffee, KING 5 reported. There’s also a small dining room that can be reserved for private dinners or meetings at no extra cost.
“You can bring your own food, you already have your booze stashed away here, so all you need are the people to make it a great night,” Provins said.
The idea is already catching on, KING 5 reported. David Meyr lives in a 500-sq. ft. apartment, so he doesn’t have much space to entertain at home. He now stops by the new Birch Road Cellar in Seattle two to three times a week.
“I am definitely not your private club type. I just have a good time and I want a place to hang out,” Meyr told KING 5. “It’s almost like my living room, expanded by thousands of feet.”
KING 5’s video report on the club can be viewed at https://www.king5.com/article/news/step-inside-seattles-first-byob-private-club/281-048ca7ba-409b-4902-8bd3-cb8bcb568a4e
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