Manito named state’s top beer bar

(UPDATED with comments from celebration party Tuesday night)

Manito Tap House has been chosen as Washington’s best beer bar in an online poll by the national craft brewers’ organization.

Craftbeer.com, the consumer website of the Denver-based Brewers Association, today released the results of its fifth annual Great American Beer Bars voting.

"This is like a GABF (Great American Beer Festival) gold medal for us as a beer bar," owner Patrick McPherson told the crowd at a "Spokane Rocks" party to celebrate the news. It featured a special firkin of Perry Street Brewing's Session IPL, which won GABF gold in Denver last fall.

"It's a big deal for us," he added. "We're super stoked."

Craftbeer.com readers were asked to nominate their favorite craft beer bar and fill out a short survey about it. More than 7,000 votes were cast in this year’s competition; only one vote was allowed per IP address, to make the results more meaningful.

Manito, which opened in 2011, was recognized for its 50 taps and 70 bottled offerings, Cicerone-certified staff and its environmental standing as a four-star Certified Green Restaurant.

“It certainly makes all the hard work by our team worth it,” McPherson said. “We look forward getting even better in the years to come.”

Tacoma’s Parkway Tavern was last year’s Washington winner. Awards in the three previous competitions were by broad geographic regions (five nationwide), not individual states.

Other Northwest winners this year included Idaho’s PreFunk Beer Bar in Boise, Montana’s The Dram Shop in Missoula and Oregon’s The Bier Stein in Eugene.