USA, WA: Trap Door Brewing coming to downtown Washougal

Trap Door Brewing is coming to downtown Washougal, the Camas-Washougal Post-Record reported on May 19.

Bryan Shull and Michael Parsons, owners of Vancouver-based Trap Door Brewing, announced earlier this month that they will open a second location with a “family-friendly taproom, full bar with upscale drinks, local wine, limited cocktail menu and kitchen, and eventually a full-production brewery” at 1834 Main Street in Washougal this summer.

Owned by Washougal developer Wes Hickey, the building at the northeast corner of Main and 19th streets has housed two other breweries – Amnesia Brewing and Logsdon Farmhouse Ales — over the past decade.

Now, the owners of Trap Door Brewing are hoping the building, located in the heart of Washougal’s downtown, will help them build on the success they’ve found in Vancouver.

“We had tried twice to (open a location in) Ridgefield, and those projects weren’t working out for different reasons,” Shull said. “Then we came across this building, and the owner had a vision that aligned with ours. When (Hickey) expanded that place and put the brewery in there to lure Amnesia Brewing … he had a vision of what he wanted to do with Main Street, which is exactly what we did here, so it just seemed right. We saw the opportunity to buy a building and to expand a far enough distance away from here so we don’t poach our own (customers) and eat our own tail.”

Expanding to Washougal “made all the sense in the world,” Shull and Parsons wrote in a social media post.

Trap Door Brewing’s 15-barrel brewery, located at 2315 Main St. in Vancouver’s Uptown Village, currently produces about 1,000 barrels of beer annually.

The 6,500-square-foot building, which served as the home of Amnesia Brewing from 2013 to 2017 and Logsdon Farmhouse Ales from 2018 to 2021, will allow Trap Door Brewing to quintuple its brewing capacity over the next five years.

“We enjoy being a part of the revival of Uptown Village in Vancouver, and we want to create that same experience on Main Street in Washougal,” Shull stated in a recent news release announcing the second Trap Door location.

“It’s a 100-year-old building, so there’s character,” Shull said. “The comfortable vibe that we have here (in Vancouver) is definitely going to be repeated out there. And the space is huge. We’re going to be able to make a lot of beer. There’s a lot of opportunity for us to do what we do best, and that place gives us a lot more room to do that.”

Trap Door Brewing recently partnered with Ridgefield-based Corwin Beverage Company to distribute its products throughout Washington state, including its 2019 award-winner, Glowed Up Hazy IPA, as well as its Porch Beer Pale Ale, Trap Door IPA and seasonal offerings.

“Trap Door is an outstanding local independent craft brewer whose products are excellent and whose beers already have a following,” said Sam Madrid, the chief operating officer of Corwin Beverage Company. “We look forward to distributing for another small independent owner.”

19 May, 2022