SEATTLE — A few minutes before 2 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25, Philipp Grubauer orders the Green Lake Lager. At his suggestion, you do the same. You take the pair of golden pints to a high-top table at Easy Pace Brewing, a building with warm wood and wall-to-wall windows that overlook the eastern edge of Green Lake Park. He wears a black hoodie from Gasworks Brewing, which sits along Lake Union 2.5 miles south.

This is home, he says. Seattle. Climate Pledge Arena. Easy Pace. Gasworks. All of the above.

For Grubauer, it hasn’t always been. The Kraken goalie and minority owner of both breweries was born outside of Rosenheim, Germany, where he rocketed through the youth hockey ranks. His NHL career included stops in Washington (2012-18) and Colorado (2018-21), before he agreed to a six-year, $35.4 million deal with the debuting Kraken in 2021. The 2017-18 Stanley Cup champion and 2020-21 Vezina Trophy finalist was signed to fortify an ascendant franchise.

It hasn’t been easy.

But it has been home.

“Being with this organization from Day 1, and the people and connections I’ve made outside of hockey and through hockey, they will stick with me for life,” Grubauer says, hands folded between beer sips. “I’m so grateful for that opportunity I got to sign here and spend five years of my life here, and probably way more than five years.”

The coming years may not include another contract. After being briefly demoted to AHL Coachella Valley and bypassed by fellow Kraken goalie Joey Daccord in 2024-25, Grubauer looked rejuvenated under new coach (and former Capitals assistant) Lane Lambert last season. He recorded a .909 save percentage and 2.65 goals-against average, both bests since 2020-21.

On this day, Grubauer polishes a Green Lake Lager (ABV 4.6%) after practice and meetings. The previous day, he stopped 32 of 35 shots in a 4-3 preseason shootout win over Calgary.

“He was our best player, by far,” Lambert said after the win. “I thought he was fantastic.”

But at 34, with 14 NHL seasons and 402 games of collective crouching, and entering the final year of his contract, Grubauer’s Kraken future remains clouded.

Which doesn’t mean Grubauer is going anywhere. He and his wife, Isobel, bought a house and live year-round on the east side. While many Kraken players spend offseasons elsewhere, he loves Seattle summers. He loves the Pacific Northwest’s mountains and water, which remind him of Rosenheim. He loves his dog, Leo, and his horse, Tucker. He loves volunteering at Save a Forgotten Equine (SAFE) in Redmond. He loves the “lifelong friends” he’s met through both hockey and beer.

“We will always be here in Seattle,” Grubauer says. “Who knows what’s going to happen after I’m retired? Let’s say I don’t get a contract [next season]. If I get a chance to work for the organization, then I’m going to stay here full time.”

Besides, Grubauer already works more than one job. After being connected by a friend, he joined co-founders Cody Cluff and Kyle Hansen in Gasworks Brewing’s ownership group in the summer of 2024. The trio opened Easy Pace this summer as well. He says, “I’m loving every second. I love being a part of the startup process, to where we are right now, sitting in a second location.”

He loves both beer and the community it brings.

It’s a belonging, a shared “stammtisch” — a German word translating to “table for regulars.”

“It’s basically this culture back home where the same people go to the same brew house, to the same pub, and you mingle all the time and bring new people in and the group grows and grows and grows,” he says.

“The culture back home is like, ‘Wake up and have a beer,’ basically. You have your weissbier, a wheat beer, in the morning, with your pretzel and sausages. Then you go about the day. You sit in the city center and just people watch. That’s one thing I think is missing here in America, because you don’t really have a city center where you sit and sip coffee or a glass of wine or beer and watch people walk by. Gasworks is a great spot where you can just sit and watch people.”

Including Grubauer, who picks up shifts there in the summer.

You read that right. The Kraken’s goalie — the one on billboards, with the Stanley Cup and the $35.4 million contract — pours beer, serves food and cleans tables for two or three hours at a time.

“When I go down there to work once in a while, I love talking to people and mingling,” says Grubauer, who worked at Gasworks three consecutive days the previous week. “I get a lot of people staring at me like, ‘Why are you taking my glasses and plates away?’ They know me. They recognize me, but they can’t put one and one together because it’s so out of context.”

If you know where he came from, the context is clear. Every summer, Rosenheim hosts Herbstfest, a festival celebrating the region’s traditions and community. And at Gasworks, which brews The German Gentleman pilsner and Rosenheimer Festbier, the same spirit flourishes 5,300 miles away.

“In the summer I spend so much time at Gasworks because our employees, even on their days off, come down there and hang out,” he says. “It’s created this amazing balance where everybody wants to be with each other and around each other. It’s just a great time. I’ve created so many friends just by coming down there and meeting them and getting to know them.”

It’s Seattle Stammtisch. At Easy Pace and Gasworks, Grubauer’s group grows and grows and grows.

As does the opportunities. Gasworks Brewing is planning to expand, opening a Sodo production facility and taproom in the near future.

Speaking of opportunity: another hockey season is starting Thursday night, when the Kraken traveled to take on the Calgary Flames. Grubauer won’t be cleaning glasses at Gasworks any time soon. But despite three consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance, and projections for a fourth, he does hope to hold up another Stanley Cup.

“That’s what we need and owe this city,” he says. “We need to make it back to the playoffs. Obviously being 34, with games like [the previous Thursday] night, the next day is a little tougher than when you’re 21. I’ve played in a lot of games and practices in my life. But it should be a great year. We have great players. I’m really excited to start.”

At 2:27 p.m., as raindrops pepper the pavement outside, you shake Grubauer’s hand and ask if he’s about to head home. He smiles and says he’ll stay for a while longer. Home, after all, is an adopted city and a horse and a dog. It’s an arena that adds extra letters to “GRUUUUU” after five-star saves. It’s a table where anyone is welcome. He’s already here.

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