Bellingham brewery was named 7th best in the US. Here’s what you can get there for $25

In our On a Budget series, a Bellingham reporter will visit a popular spot each month and tell readers what they can get or do there on a budget of $25.

If you’re looking for a budget meal in Bellingham, you definitely have a few cheaper options than Otherlands Beer. But what if you’re hoping to try the Sunnyland spot, just voted the seventh-best brewpub in the country in a USA Today poll, but don’t want to spend too much? What can you get at Otherlands if your budget is just $25, including tax and tip?

A lot, it turns out, largely thanks to the number of items on their menu that are available in half portions.

I recently went to Otherlands to see what $25 will get you at the nationally-acclaimed brewery. Here’s what I found.

Otherlands Beer of Bellingham

Located at 2121 Humboldt St., Otherlands opened in June 2020. The brewery is housed in a two-story building, with some seats outside as well. Head upstairs and you’ll find their main bar and dining area, complete with string lights, blue walls and, most importantly, a painting of the cover of the Silver Jews album “American Water.”

The dining area feels more like an eccentric living room than the floor of a restaurant — its owners told The Herald back when it opened that they were aiming for a cozy, guesthouse-like environment.

Otherlands food and drink menu

There were seven beers on tap during my visit. Most were some form of German-style lagers, with a saison (a style of ale that originated in Belgium), and an American IPA on the menu as well.

In addition to its beer, the restaurant serves lunch and dinner, as well as a weekend brunch, which they call “second breakfast.”

The food menu leans away from meat and toward Eastern European comfort foods, with some Middle Eastern options as well. There are only a handful of mains — three types of pierogies, shakshuka, latkes, falafel and a Reuben sandwich that swaps out the corned beef for beets — all in the $15 to $17.50 range.

The snacks section of the menu features several of the highlights (the french fries and Brussels sprouts are among the best I’ve had in town) in the $8 to $12 range. They also serve soup, salad and a few smaller sides. It’s the kind of menu that’s best enjoyed with a group of friends so you can split a few different sides and appetizers.

The brunch menu, which is available on Saturdays and Sundays between 10 a.m. and 2:45 p.m., also features shakshuka and the beet Rueben, along with French toast, farmers cheese pancakes, a potato hash with eggs, a breakfast sandwich and a “postmodern” breakfast burrito. Mains cost between $13.50 and $16.50, with mimosas, bloody marys, coffee and tea also on the menu.

What you can get for $25 at Otherlands

The beer served at Otherlands, often considered among the best in Bellingham, is available in a $7 full pour or a $4 half pour. I opted for a half pour of the “Brighten The Corners,” a helles lager that shares a name with a 1997 Pavement album, on my visit. The purpose of this article is just to tell you what you can get there on a fixed budget, so I’ll leave the reviewing to the 101 Yelp users who gave Otherlands an average rating of 4.8 stars. But I will say that the drink was refreshing, even if the glass was smaller than I expected.

There were a few ways I could’ve spent my budget. Pretty much any of their mains paired with a full pour of beer will total somewhere between $20 and $25. But with the goal of getting as much variety and value as I could for the price, I decided on a small order of their seasonal soup, a carrot bisque, for $7, and a half-order of latkes for $12.

Both were big enough to pass as full portions. The latke plate came with three of the potato pancakes and plenty of toppings, settling the sour cream vs. apple sauce debate by offering both (like the good hipsters they are, they swap in creme fraiche and a house compote). The soup was the highlight, and the best thing I’ve eaten in a week or two. Together, they made for a comforting meal on an overcast day.

The total came out to $23, although tax and tip pushed me a bit over budget. So it’s definitely more of a nice meal than a cheap-eats place. But if you’re careful, you can get plenty of quality, quantity and variety at Otherlands without breaking the bank.

This story was originally published March 22, 2025 at 5:00 AM.