Skål to the Nordic Roots of Ballard!

Come Skål with Us!

Skål (meaning “Cheers” & rhyming with “Bowl”) is our modern interpretation of a Viking meadhall. The meadhall was the center of the community – a welcoming spot to gather and to host visitors from afar. It was the hall where stories of adventure, exploration, and new ideas were shared and debated over food and drink. It was filled with cheer.

As a Ballard resident of nine years with Norwegian and Swedish ancestry, I aim to honor the neighborhood’s Nordic roots through a relaxed, communal beer hall experience – what we envision a Viking meadhall would be like today. This is our “Viking Living Room” for the community to gather and a tribute to my Berggren family ancestors from the fjords of western Norway.

I am a student of history and care deeply about tradition. The streets of Ballard were once lined with bustling Nordic businesses. Sadly, only a few remain. Skål is our way of keeping the Nordic tradition alive.

We aim to provide the most diverse craft beer lineup in Seattle, both in whom we feature and range of styles. We celebrate the many breweries of Ballard, the best from across Washington, and hard to find Nordic imports. Outside of beer, our house focus is on the versatile Scandinavian spirit, aquavit, and the drink of Vikings, mead.

Our open kitchen features dishes that explore wild flavors from the woods and sea. Imagine gathering near a roaring fire at the edge of a fjord. Here is where you’d find our food.

This is not hundred-year-old traditional Scandinavian food. What we’re trying to do is reach back more like a thousand years, and use ingredients and techniques that would have been available and popular to the people living in Scandinavia at that time, and then try to prepare those in a way that’s exciting and interesting given what we have available to us in the PNW.

Come have a bite. Pair it with a beer, mead, or aquavit. Sit by the roaring fire or in our outdoor street cafe. And celebrate life and those who have gathered with you!

Skål!

Adam McQueen, Founder & Owner