The best breweries in Pierce County aren’t only in Tacoma, readers say
The best breweries in Pierce County, according to readers of The News Tribune, include the oldest craft brewery in Tacoma, one that started in Gig Harbor and a newcomer in a city of just 10,000 people.
E9 Brewing Co. took home a landslide victory in the TNT Diner Best Brewery poll, garnering 44 percent of more than 1,200 tallies. It makes sense when you consider the brewery’s expansive catalog dating back to 1995 on Sixth Avenue. Brewer Shane Johns has run the show since John Xitco’s ownership team bought the business in 2011, building one of the nation’s preeminent barrel-aged and sour programs.
Allegiances for other Pierce County breweries — more than two dozen — remain strong, as the rest of the vote split the rest of the way down.
In second place, 7 Seas Brewing, which started in Gig Harbor but is well-known for its expansive production facility and taproom in Tacoma, landed 13 percent of tallies.
Showing the importance of breweries as community anchors, Top Down Brewing in Sumner snagged bronze with 8 percent, or more than 100 votes.
Rounding out the Top 5, Narrows Brewing in Tacoma received 55 tallies (about 4 percent), followed by North 47 Brewing in Browns Point with 45.
Odd Otter, Sig, Wet Coast, Camp Colvos and Dystopian State filled out the Top 10. (Scroll to the end of this story for full poll results.)
Pierce County breweries
Top Down owners and brewers Chad Cray and Greg Burd, writing on their Instagram page when the poll went live in March, asked their fans “to vote either way.”
“All of the breweries around the county deserve more recognition,” they said.
Visiting their taproom on a recent Wednesday afternoon, you’d wonder what the heck people in Sumner did before Top Down opened in August 2021. It was half-full at 3 p.m. and full two hours later, with both people (many greeted by name) and dogs.
Through the Washington State Food Truck Association, Pierce County trucks park outside on the regular, serving tacos, pizza, burgers and more. As is true of most breweries without an in-house restaurant, guests are welcome to bring food from elsewhere — and highly encouraged to support another local business in the process.
Cray and Burd are proud to recognize the locals that play a role in the Top Down experience, starting with Tacoma-based Ferguson Architecture, whose team developed the one-of-a-kind setup. Inspired by the brewery’s name, the fermentation tanks are overhead on custom steel beams, saving space and fostering a unique atmosphere in an otherwise cookie-cutter housing development. Their almost-full Coaster Club features wooden coasters from two centuries-old maple trees that had to be torn down in Sumner’s Loyalty Park, cut by Live Edge Woodworks in Auburn. Dan the Sausage Man, now headquartered in Burien, supplies picnic packs of cheese, meat and crackers.
En route to its second birthday in August, Top Down unveiled its first collaboration beer, a Kölsch made with Seattle’s Lowercase Brewing, and is looking forward to adding the final two fermentation tanks.
“We want people to come to Sumner, stay in Sumner and spend money in Sumner,” Cray said.
With more than 420 breweries, Washington state has more than all but three states, and though the scene has long focused on Seattle, Tacoma and Pierce County has blossomed in the past decade. Many are family-friendly, some serve food, most allow outside eats, and plenty permit pups to join you on your beer journey.
In honor of National Beer Day, we’ve collected all of Pierce County’s breweries in one place, with essential info — food, dogs, kids — and fun facts to guide you to the best choice for your palate or your party.
Click here for a comprehensive guide to drinking beer in Pierce County
