Pyramid Breweries, Inc., is a

brewing company 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 beer ...

headquartered in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. It produces beer under the Pyramid brand at two breweries and several

brewpub Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis ...

s in

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, and

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It was founded in 1984 as Hart Brewing, and is currently owned by

North American Breweries FIFCO USA is an American brewing company based in Rochester, New York. Established as North American Breweries by New York City investment firm KPS Capital Partners to manage its brewery acquisitions (Genesee Brewing Company, Pyramid, and Magi ...

, a subsidiary of the Costa Rican company Florida Ice & Farm Co.

History

Hart Brewing was founded by Tom Baune and Beth Hartwell in 1984 in

Kalama, Washington Kalama (kaw-law-maw) is a city in Cowlitz County, Washington, United States. It is part of the Longview, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,959 as of the 2020 census. Etymology James W. Phillips' ''Washington State P ...

. A pioneer of

craft brewing Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...

in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

, Hart's signature beer was Pyramid Pale Ale, which it followed with Pyramid Wheaten Ale in 1985. In 1994, Hart debuted the Apricot Ale, a

fruit beer Fruit beer is beer made with fruit added as an adjunct or flavouring. Fruit beer is a beer made from malt-scented strawberries, plums, raspberries, and cherries. It's an additive- or flavoring-containing form. Initially manufactured in Belgium, f ...

that quickly became its most prominent brand. The company opened new facilities and greatly expanded its production, and changed its name to Pyramid Breweries in 1996. It also started experimenting with other styles, which won a number of brewing competitions in the U.S. and abroad. Eventually it grew to become one of the five largest craft brewers in the country. Pyramid eventually stopped brewing in Kalama in favor of other locations, but maintained its headquarters in

. In 2004, Pyramid acquired Portland Brewing Company, makers of the MacTarnahan's brand. In 2008, the company was itself purchased by Independent Brewers United, the parent company of

Magic Hat Brewing Company Magic Hat Brewing Company is a brewery and wholly owned brand of Florida Ice & Farm Co., which is headquartered in Costa Rica. It began production in 1994, and is distributed across the United States. Their flagship beer, the apricot-tinged #9, is ...

of Burlington, Vermont. Magic Hat maintained the Seattle office and the Pyramid and MacTarnahan's facilities and products.Pyramid Breweries to be acquired by Magic Hat
/ref> Two years later, the joint company was acquired by

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

. In December 2012, the parent company was purchased by Cerveceria Costa Rica, a unit of the Costa Rican company Florida Ice & Farm Co. Pyramid's Snow Cap Winter Ale reached number one on the list of the top 100 beers b
Cold Cans podcast.

Beers

Pyramid once featured beers including, ales, lager, weizens, ciders, porters, and IPAs. Nowadays, Pyramid offers six year-round beers, including Hefeweizen, Apricot Ale, Thunderhead IPA and Outburst Imperial IPA. Pyramid also offers

seasonal beer A seasonal beer is a beer that is typically brewed during or for a particular season, holiday or festival period. Many breweries and microbreweries produce seasonal beers. Seasonal beers may be produced when fresh ingredients are available during v ...

s, including Curve Ball Blonde Ale, Oktoberfest and Snow Cap Winter Warmer, along with seasonal variety packs and limited release beers.

Facilities, alehouses, and closures

Pyramid ran three

restaurants dubbed "Alehouses": one near the brewery, one in Seattle, and a small outlet in the

Oakland International Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Port of Oakland and has domestic passenger f ...

. The Alehouse in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, closed its doors in March 2013, the

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

location closed in 2015, and the

Walnut Creek A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, ''Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true bo ...

location closed in early 2016. In 2019, the Seattle Alehouse settled a class action lawsuit for $450,000 over unpaid hours and wage theft. Less than a year later, on May 1, 2020, Pyramid Alehouse announced it was permanently closing the Seattle location, citing a lack of “high volume sporting and entertainment events” in the wake of the Covid-19 Pandemic that, before, would “off-set the much slower restaurant business during non-peak times.” On January 8, 2021, Portland Brewing Company announced that the brewery would cease all operations.

References

External links

Pyramid Breweries Inc.
{{portalbar, Beer, Companies Food and drink companies established in 1984 American companies established in 1984 1984 establishments in Washington (state) Manufacturing companies based in Seattle Food and drink companies based in Seattle Beer brewing companies based in Washington (state) American beer brands