Hilliard's Beer was a
brewery
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...
in
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
, United States. It opened on October 7, 2011, in the city's
Ballard neighborhood, in a building constructed in 1947. The company is named after its founder Ryan Hilliard, a former flight instructor.
Hilliard's was one of the first craft breweries in Washington to focus on producing beer in aluminum cans.
In June 2016, it was announced that Hilliard's was to be bought by
Tukwila-based Odin Brewing Company and that Hilliard himself was to leave the craft beer industry rather than merge his company or join the new team. The brewery is now permanently closed.
History
Hilliard's brewed various styles of beer in 16 ounce tall boy cans. It typically served several beers on draft such as Hilliard's Nautical Reference Pale Ale (Pale Ale), Chrome Satan (California Common 'Style' Beer), Murdered Out Stout (Dry Irish Stout) and E.xtra S.pecial B.elgian (a Dark Saison, E.S.B. for short.)
The Hilliard's taproom served people seven days a week. The brewery's overall production in 2012 (its first calendar year) was 1600 barrels; or 384,000 cans. They were able to can beer at a rate of 24 cans per minute.
Community
Hilliard's frequently supported local non-profit groups in the visual arts, theater, youth media, film, and sports fields. Organizations which partnered with Hilliard's Beer included the Northwest Film Forum,
Seattle Art Museum
The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park on Cap ...
, Henry Art Gallery, Tilted Thunder Rail Birds Roller Derby, Seattle Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Frye Art Museum, and the Uganda Village Project.
Hilliard's Beer was also active in collaborations within the brewing community and was the first small craft brewery to jointly brew a beer with craft beer veteran,
Redhook Ale Brewery
The Redhook Ale Brewery is a beer brewery operating out of Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in Seattle in 1981 by Paul Shipman and Gordon Bowker, and is currently owned by Portland, Oregon-based Craft Brew Alliance. Its flagship ...
. Together they manufactured a product in July 2013 called, "Joint Effort", a hemp-infused beer brewed in response to the legalization of marijuana in
Washington state
Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...
. The session ale was brewed with hemp seeds and dry-hopped with Zeus, Cascade and Summit hops.
See also
*
Beer in the United States
Beer in the United States is manufactured by more than 7,000 breweries, which range in size from industry giants to brew pubs and microbreweries. The United States produced 196 million barrels () of beer in 2012, and consumes roughly of beer ...
References
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Beer brewing companies based in Washington (state)
Food and drink companies based in Seattle
Manufacturing companies based in Seattle
2011 establishments in Washington (state)
2016 disestablishments in Washington (state)