USA, WA: Engine House No. 9 Restaurant and Brewery to move to new brewing facility

Tacoma’s Engine House No. 9 Restaurant and Brewery is on the move. The pub will remain at the current location, in the historic firehouse near the corner of 6th Avenue and Pine Street, but the company is moving the brewery (E9 Brewing Company) to a location in the city’s historic Brewery District, closer to downtown, at 2506 Fawcett Avenue. The new spot is just a couple blocks away from two other breweries: Black Fleet Brewing and the 7 Seas Brewing Tacoma location, The Washington Beer Blog on January 15.

Engine House No. 9 opened in 1993, making it one of the oldest breweries in the state and the oldest brewery in Tacoma. In 2011, the business was taken over by a successful Tacoma restaurant group, X Group, and the E9 Brewing Company’s reputation has skyrocketed since, with the brewery winning many awards and accolades in recent years.

Currently Engine House No. 9 (E9) brews its beer next to the firehouse in a smallish facility, but the new digs will provide 9,000 square feet of much-needed elbow room. This will be the home of the brewing operations as well as a new taproom. The new brewing facility will allow E9 to double its brewing capacity and provide room for growth.

New brewing equipment is on order from Portland’s Pinnacle Stainless. The target is to open some time later this year.

As well-versed beer geeks know, the E9’s head brewer, Shane Johns, has earned a reputation for his specialty beers, like sour beers, barrel-aged beers, and so on. Many local beer geeks are probably unaware that the brewery’s beers are distributed to exotic, far-off lands like Manhattan, Brooklyn, Boston, and Washington D.C. They also ship some beer to target markets in California, Oregon, and Vancouver, B.C.

17 January, 2019