Last year was a rough year for the beer industry but that doesn’t mean there is no good news to report. Last year, more than 30 new breweries or brewery taprooms opened in Washington. How many closed? I don’t know for sure, I try to focus on the bright side, but it feels like I can count the closures on my fingers.
Below, I present the class of 2023: the breweries and brewery taprooms that opened in Washington last year. I list them in no particular order. Likely, I missed something, contact me and remind me. I’ll add it to the list.
Good Society Brewery’s Queen Anne Taproom just barely squeaked into 2023. I attended the soft open on Saturday, December 30th. It is up at the top of the hill, in a great neighborhood that needed a brewery taproom desperately. Read our story about it.
Pike Brewing. It was just over a year ago that Pike Brewing opened its satellite pub/taproom in Ballard (read about it). More recently, they opened another taproom on Pike Street at the new Convention Center Summit (read about it). Also, in 2023, the company built a new brewery in South Seattle, replacing the brewery at the downtown/Pike Place location, though the pub at the Pike Place Market remains open.
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7 Seas Brewing opened its brand new waterfront taproom in Gig Harbor in September. It’s in the same location as the previous taproom in Gig Harbor, but this one is brand-spankin’ new! Read about it here.
El Sueñito Brewing opened in February, adding yet another brewery to the Bellingham brewery scene. Specifically, it’s in the Sunnyland neighborhood, which is home to several breweries. This one is also a tamale shop! Read our story here.
Stoup Brewing opened a new location in August, taking over the former home of Optimism Brewing. The new-to-them brewery and taproom is Stoup’s third location: brewery and taproom in Ballard, taproom/pub in Kenmore, and now a brewery and taproom in Capitol Hill. Read our story here.
Recluse Brewing opened in early December in the town of Washougal. Recluse is a new brewery from Gus Everson, former Lead Brewer at Wayfinder Brewing in Portland. Read our story about it.
Project 9 Brewing opened in Seattle last March, much to the delight of the Roosevelt and Maple Leaf neighborhoods. On a busy corner, an instant hit with the locals. Read about it. (Image above from Instagram.)
Irrelevant Beer opened in Vancover last fall. The brewery is an offshoot of the business next door, Relevant Coffee. Sebastian Lynch, one of the co-founders, is making the beer. He’s a former lead brewer at Trap Door Brewing, which is right down the street. Read about it here.
Larrabee Lager Company opened in Bellingham last summer. As the name suggests, the focus here is on lagers. The company is already earning awards for its tasty beers. Read our story about it.
Double Arrow Brewing opened its brewery and taproom in Marysville last summer. It’s not downtown but is in a rural location a few miles off the freeway. Read about it.
Longmire Springs Brewing opened in the tiny, mountain town of Packwood last summer (above). The founders are familiar faces on the Washington brewery scene. Read more about it.
Wheat Head Brewing opened at the very end of the year. It’s a new brewery and taproom located in the hills above Kennewick. More than that, it’s an event space. All, with an amazing view of the surrounding environs. Read about it here.
Hat Trick Brewing opened in Spokane in November, taking over a former cafe in the city’s West-Central neighborhood. The soccer-focused brewery’s three founders previously worked together at Spokane’s River City Brewing. Read about it here.
Douglas Lager – In August, the folks from Lowercase Brewing introduced a new company and a new beer: Douglas Lager. It is separate from Lowercase entirely. Douglas Lager is “an uncomplicated lager designed to embody the spirit of the PNW.” Read our story here.
Taneum Creek Brewing is now open in downtown Cle Elum. The brewery closed its public-facing operation a couple years back but has now opened a new brewery and taproom along the town’s main drag. Read our story here.
Hops and Seed Brewery graduated in October, moving from its former home within a winery to a new location in Woodinville where it now employs a much bigger brewing system and operates a taproom. Read our store here.
Reuben’s Brews Fremont Taproom opened this past fall. A lovely selection of beers and seriously killer fish-n-chips. A few miles away from the original location, but all the same Reuben’s stuff. Read our story about it.
Haywire Brewing is Still in Snohomish but is now part of the downtown community. They closed the old location and then opened a new spot on December 2nd. Read our story about it.
Old Stove Gardens opened in September. This is the brewery’s third Seattle location. The new brewery/taproom/beer garden is at the location in Ballard that previously housed Lagunitas Brewing. Read our story about it.
Humble Abode Brewing opened its second location in Spokane in September, occupying the space vacated when Common Language Brewing shut down its brewery and taproom in the historic Chronicle Building. Humble Abode joins the other breweries in downtown Spokane’s West End brewery district. Read our story about it.
4 Stitch Brewing opened a new taproom -its first taproom- in Mill Creek last spring. The brewery has been around for a few years, but the taproom is new. Read more here.
Watts Brewing moved into the former home of Sumerian Brewing. The brewery previously operated a small system at a non-public location but has now moved up to a bigger system with a full taproom in Woodinville. They welcomed the public to their new digs in September. Read our story about it.
Future Primitive Brewing opened its new taproom at Alki Beach as the summer was drawing to a close. Cozy and compact inside, the taproom sprawls out onto a deck that is literally right across the street from the beach. The deck has now been outfitted for year-round beer drinking. Read our story about it.
Penn Cove Brewing opened on the mainland, in Lake Stevens, last July. The brewery, based on Whidbey Island, is now operating a brewery and pub in the former home of Meatheads Beer Works. The locations on Whidbey Island remain open. Read our story about it.
Holy Mountain Brewing opened a new taproom in Seattle last summer. Unlike the original location in the Interbay neighborhood, the new location in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood allows kids. The music is still loud and heavy because it’s Holy Mountain. Read our story about it.
Fast Fashion Brewing now has two taprooms in Seattle. The first, in Lower Queen Anne, opened last January. The taproom at the new brewery in SoDo opened late last summer. Keep an eye on what’s up at both locations here.
Outskirts Brewing opened last spring in the town of Selah, which is very near Yakima. It’s big and it’s beautiful. A full restaurant and cocktails as well as house-brewed beers. Live music is a big part of the game here. Read our story here.
Backwoods Brewing of Carson, WA opened another location across the river in Oregon. This one, in Hillsboro, is a 7,800-square-foot restaurant and pub with a 3,000-square-foot rooftop patio. It is the brewery’s third location: Carson, Portland, and Hillsboro. Read our story about it.
Vice Beer opened A Little Vice in downtown Vancouver last July. This pint-sized taproom is located just a couple blocks away from the new Brothers Cascadia Evergreen Pub, which is next on our list. Read more here.
Brothers Cascadia Brewing opened a satellite taproom and pub in downtown Vancouver last spring. The Brothers Cascadia Evergreen Pub took over a familiar location: the former home of Old Ivy Brewery and Taproom. Going back even further in time, it was the home of Salmon Creek Brewery and Pub. Read our story about it.
Sound to Summit (Sound2Summit) Craft Brewery, located in Snohomish, opened a satellite taproom last spring at The Port of Everett’s Waterfront Place. Read our story about it here.
Big Block Brewing opened its third location last summer. This one is in the small town of Carnation in the Snoqualmie River Valley. Now operating locations in Redmond, Sammamish, and Carnation. Read our story here.
Garden Path Fermentation opened a new tasting room in downtown Bellingham in June. Dubbed the Great Northern Bottleshop and Lounge, this is the company’s second location. Read our story here.
Ice Harbor Brewery moved to a new, much larger location in Kennewick. It shut down its longtime home on Benton Street and moved a few blocks away to its new home on Bruneau Avenue. The 14,000-square-foot brewery and taproom opened last summer. Read more here.
Double Bluff Brewing opened a new taproom in September just around the corner from its existing location. The brewery and taproom are located in the town of Langley on Whidbey Island. The brewery is still in the same/old location, but there’s no taproom there now. The new taproom is in the former home of Uselesss Bay Coffee. Read more here.
Moment Brewing in Silverdale opened in December of 2022. Not part of the class of ’23 technically, but I thought it deserved a mention.
What did I miss? Reach out and let me know.
