Old Stove Brewing Co.

Craft beer and a cool experience

Making great craft beer is a laudable goal, but Old Stove co-founders Brian Stan and Chris Moore have a bigger vision. "We want to create unique and fun destinations to give people an awesome experience," says Brian.

Chris Moore and Brian Stan

"Chris and I started talking about a craft beer concept in 2013. We had both worked around the Pike Place Market, knew the vendors and atmosphere. In 2013/2014, an opportunity came up. For the first time in 40 years, the Market was expanding with the new MarketFront location. We decided to bid for a tenant space and were accepted, but the building didn't exist yet. On April 16, 2016, we opened a taproom space on 1^st Avenue with a 7-barrel production area just below in Post Alley. We moved into the new MarketFront location in 2017, but just as a lively taproom. In the summer of 2018, we were able to fully open up the space with a new 15-barrel brewery and a full-service restaurant."

Old Stove's Post Alley brewery is still in use, for production purposes only. The new MarketFront space was coined "Producers Hall," with tenants who actually make/produce something. "It's the 'Meet the Producers' mentality," says Brian.

"We've consistently worked with our neighbors, Indi Chocolate and Honest Biscuits, on the flow of operations at the new location. The extended patio space to our west, overlooking the Sound and Olympic mountain range, has been a great place for guests to enjoy a beer any time of year, since we installed heaters in 2020. Since COVID hit, we have been constantly adapting our operations, just like all breweries and restaurants, sometimes having to make adjustments week by week. When restaurants shut down in 2022, we started canning beer in our MarketFront space. We also decided to brew a bunch of big ABV beers to age in bourbon barrels to keep busy, knowing that a couple years later we would have a healthy stock of a variety of decadent barrel- aged beers like our Quiet Eon Imperial Stout and our Castaway Barleywine.

Currently Old Stove produces all of their beer with their MarketFront brewhouse, including all wholesale sales to local restaurants, bars, and retail shops. "During the summer, we typically hit our production capacity with our current 17-tank cellar. We have up to 24 beers on tap for most of the year, but that number can drop during the summer. So depending on the time of year, we have to make choices on what our beer lineup will consist of. We're already prepping for the upcoming summer." They also added a new beer refrigerator in February for To-Go bottles and cans and, in addition, have a 32-ounce Crowler machine to fill To-Go cans directly from their taps (photo).

One thing that will help with capacity is the Old Stove Ship Canal project on Nickerson in the North Queen Anne neighborhood. They are leasing a considerable amount of space to build out a new production facility and offer many other fun plans for the public. They've purchased a 300-barrel brewing system from Fremont Brewing to put into the facility. "We can't continue to do wholesaling out of the Market," says Brian. "We have big plans for the new property: production, taproom, beer garden with fenced courtyard, live music. We held a kickoff party in late 2021 and raised money for SMASH (Seattle Musicians Access to Sustainable Healthcare) and opened our first taproom in late February. The property has the ship canal on one side and Nickerson on the other. There's also a bike path that runs from Nickerson to the Market."

In addition, they own a Ballard lot on 7^th & 65^th that they're still in planning stages for use. "I envision a pop-up taproom, people playing horseshoes, outdoor barbecues-mainly in spring and summer. We want it to fit with the neighborhood. Chris planted sunflowers which the neighbors seem to like.

Old Stove has won many awards which is not surprising considering the depth of their brewing experience. Five and a half brewers wear multiple hats (someone is always delivering), and share brewing tasks. Their brewers have decades of brewing experience under their belts from many local breweries.

They currently brew 2,000 barrels a year from their 15-barrel brewing system. The Nickerson facility will allow them to significantly increase that number. Their spent grains are donated to a local farmer to feed his pigs. They self-distribute in Washington only and are on grocery shelves and in restaurants and bars.

"We've been at this for six years now, starting with a little taproom and 14 employees. We now have this cool MarketFront space with over 100 employees in the summer. It's been such a learning curve. We're so excited to continue to grow with the upcoming Nickerson."

Connie Adams/March 2022

Read about Brian Stan's and Chris Moore's backgrounds.

Watch for their restaurant story next month!

Old Stove Brewing Co.
1901 Western Ave, Suite A
Seattle, WA 98101
206-602-6120

www.oldstove.com