The New Breweries Keep Coming

With all the talk of hop shortages, expensive malt, and high utility costs, you'd think that now wouldn't be the best time to start a new brewery. In this town, though, beer has never played by the rules, and brewers aren't going to let these problems get in their way. We've seen one brewery close its doors recently (Pacific Rim), but we've already told you about the good news coming out of their demise: Big Al Brewing.

We also filled you in on the Asian-inspired beers coming from Laughing Buddha Brewing Company. There are four other brewery projects that have either opened recently, or are in the planning stages and coming to a glass near you. Here's what we know:

Naked City Brewery & Taphouse—Local homebrewers Don Webb and Donald Averill have been looking for a spot to open their brewery for a few months. Last week, they finally signed a lease for a location at 85th and Greenwood, and started construction drawings this week. In light of the raw materials shortage, they have scaled back their business plan to include more of a retail presence featuring 30 taps of regional craft beers and specialty imports, along with a few rotating Naked City beers that will be brewed in their 3.5 bbl brewhouse. Food will consist of seasonal local ingredients prepared fresh daily. The plan is to scale up to a 15 bbl offsite production facility in 3-5 years.

You'll be able to find them at 8564 Greenwood Ave N, and they are targeting August 1st for an opening. Congrats, guys!

Photo of Don Webb, from Naked City Brewing, thanks to Andre at NWMicrobrews.com

Two Beers Brewery—This is a pretty small operation, on the same scale as Schooner Exact in West Seattle. They operate in an ActivSpace near Woodland Park Zoo, and have sporadic brewing hours when you can go visit, which we have not had the chance to do yet. They strive to be a "hyper-local" brewery, using as many local ingredients as possible. They currently list five beers in their lineup, but all might not be available. You can fill growlers at the brewery (call first; sporadic hours), and their 20/20 Blonde Ale is currently on tap at Nana's Soup House, on 55th St. just north of U Village. They also have a pretty cool website, including a "Beersonality Survey" that will tell you which one of their beers you resemble (this Seattlest is a Jive Porter). We're looking forward to visiting and trying some beer soon.

Black Raven Brewing Company—Beaux Bowman and company are still searching for the ideal spot in Redmond for their new brewery. They thought they had found a spot in the Overlake area last month, but the lease fell through at the last minute. Their website now says a previously pursued Redmond location is back on the table, so hopefully they'll have good news soon; they've been looking for over a year now.

The Black Raven will be a neighborhood brewery with a retail taproom. We will be the Eastside’s home to world-class, small-batch brewed ales & lagers. We also will feature a continually changing hand-picked selection of other notable Washington State beers. And most importantly, home to local beer lovers who want to be a part of a community that enjoys great beer and great friends.

Good luck, Beaux!

We've also heard of another small-scale brewery operation that recently opened on Leary, near Hale's Ales. But we don't have any details on this one. We believe it was mentioned in this month's Celebrator beer mag. Sounds like a similar operation to Schooner Exact and Two Beers.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Geoff in Food on April 9, 2008 12:30 PM

Comments [rss]

jvandenbrink

Geoff and everybody -

Thanks for the great post about my brewery. It has been a fun journey so far and it is only going to get more fun as the spring turns to summer. Be sure to check us out at the Fathers Day Brewers Festival and starting this Saturday (april 12) our 20:20 Blonde Ale is going to be on tap at the Park Pub at 62nd and Phinney, just north of the zoo.

blessings

Joel

Owner and Brewmaster of Two Beers Brewing Co.

Geoff

Yarek - We're just going to have to drink more:-)

Honestly though, the more great local beer there is the better. I think this city is far from saturated. For Pacific Rim, it didn't seem like they had a problem selling their beer...I'd love to see their detailed finances as to why they went under.

By the way, I think the other small brewery opening is called Gilligan's. No other info though.

MonkeyPilot

It's great to see new local breweries opening. As a beer enthusiast and homebrewer, I'm thrilled.

I just hope there is enough demand to keep these places in business. After all, Big Al is built on the ruins of another small brewery, and with so many other brewers right in Seattle (not to mention great pubs!), competition is going to be stiff.

That said, I plan to do my share of 16oz curls to keep in shape and support them!

umbra98

I've had a chance to try Two Beers Brewery's Blonde, Amber and Porter. All of them are really tasty. The Blonde is my favorite of the three. I'm rooting for them!

Geoff

Jack - that's a fantastic beer...enjoy! I'm hoping that's along the lines of what we'll see from them.

Saxtor - Looking forward to that one as well! I just love that beer continues to boom all over WA.

Saxtor

While I realize this isn't Bellinghamest, I'd like to note that the Chuckanut Brewery and Kitchen, which is supposed to open sometime this Spring, has a lot of people pretty excited. Especially considering it's owned and operated by the Kemper family, of Thomas Kemper rootbeer fame.

Jack

I can't tell you how excited I am for Naked City. I've got a bottle of Don's small batch "Grapes of Wrath" in my fridge right now. Hoping to crack that puppy open this weekend!