Two new breweries are scheduled to open soon in the Spokane area, and representatives say the design plans for both spaces will highlight the region and the brewing process.

Some local breweries and an architectural firm here say current trends in brewery design revolve around showcasing the Inland Northwest and honoring the region through the use of materials to create a sense of place in the community.

“We’re celebrating the Inland Northwest. We’re also celebrating the communities that they’re located in,” says Matthew Collins, principal architect at Uptic Studios Inc., a Spokane-based architectural company. “It speaks to the honesty of the Northwest and keeping everything exposed and natural, with natural materials, whether it’s concrete, steel, or wood, that really connects it back to the region.”

That honesty also goes to the design for the brewing process.

“Historically, it was all kind of behind closed doors,” he says. “In recent years, we’ve tried to expose and express the inner workings of the breweries to connect people to the process.”

Collins says Uptic Studios has worked on many local brewery projects, including Iron Goat Brewing, in downtown Spokane’s Riverside neighborhood; Perry Street Brewing Co., in the South Perry District; and most recently Emrys Fermentations, in Liberty Lake; and Uprise Brewing Co., in the Kendall Yards neighborhood.

He says working on brewery designs is an exciting process. “We’re working with industrial processes but also from a design aesthetic and to make it functional for occupancy and how (design) intertwines to blur the line between the front of the house and back of the house,” Collins says.

Emrys Fermentations’ owner Thomas Croskrey says his vision for the 4,600-square-foot building, which is under construction in Liberty Lake’s River District, is to create a modern and industrial English pub with subtle Nordic elements that speaks to responsible sourcing of materials and the ingredients used in the brewing process.

Construction for Emrys Fermentations began last July, and the brewery is expected to open this summer.

Croskrey says the building’s exterior was mainly designed by Greenstone Corp., the Liberty Lake-based real estate development company behind the mixed-use town center where the brewery is located. He says he provided limited input regarding color choices, but most of the exterior design was up to Greenstone.

Emrys Fermentations will include a brewery, meadery, and restaurant. The construction is valued at about $500,000, Croskrey says.

Uptic Studios helped Croskrey pivot his design plans to keep costs from climbing.

Originally, Croskrey says he envisioned elevated ceilings in a Viking mead hall with elements of the Inland Northwest and of an English pub, however the cost rose above his project budget.

Uptic Studios suggested design alterations, such as lowering the ceiling height, and adding a smaller, second floor event area, to open onto a rooftop patio, instead of a mezzanine, Croskrey says.

Emrys Fermentations will include repurposed materials inside the space, including salvaged wood from a red fir tree that used to stand near downtown Coeur d’Alene, outside of the historic J.C. White House, which was moved in 2019 to a site near the southeast corner of East Young Avenue and South Eighth Street.  Croskrey intends to use the repurposed wood to make the indoor tables. 

“There was this tree right in the way. They had to pull the fir tree out and it ended up just curing and drying at a lumber mill. I got that tree that’s got this cool story behind it, and that’s going to be our tables,” Croskrey says. “It really speaks to responsible sourcing that we’re going to express through our beer and mead too.”

The interior space will include distressed metal sheets on some surfaces, open beams on the ceiling, and rustic wood elements. The first floor will be family friendly, and the second floor will be reserved for people over 21.

Croskrey says it was important to him to exclude televisions to foster a community atmosphere.

The brewpub will have three outdoor areas: an area for lawn games, an outdoor beer garden space, and a rooftop patio with views of the Spokane River.

Common Language Brewing Co. is establishing its operations within the Chronicle Building, at 926 W. Sprague, in downtown Spokane. Sean Owens, the brewery’s president and co-owner, says the design choices were limited to the interior of the 3,350-square-foot space.

The Chronicle Building was headquarters of the Spokane Daily Chronicle newspaper from 1928 until 1992 and is now a mixed-use apartment building.

Owens says his vision for the brewery’s design is a mix of comfort and industrial that highlights the historic details of previous tenants as a way to showcase the history of the space. A few of the remaining design elements include tiled walls, tall windows, and crown molding.

Tenant improvements at Common Language began in August. The brewery is working with Design West Architects PA, of Pullman, as the project architect.

The construction value of the remodel is about $900,000, Owens says.

“It’s a historic building, so we wanted to honor the character of the building that used to be the press room floor,” Owens says. “It’s rather ornate with these wonderful, old, tiled columns, woodwork, and it just feels majestic. We knew that if we came in and tried to be fancy with something modern, sleek, and shiny, it wouldn’t do justice to the building.”

Owens says an eclectic mix of design elements were used to achieve a community atmosphere and to honor the history of the space. The brewery will feature copper bar tops, as an homage to historic printing plates that were made from copper. The space also will include a variety of seating options that Owens says he intends to make as comfortable as possible to encourage conversations and longer visits. 

Collins, at Uptic Studios, says new breweries should prioritize creating a sense of place with décor and styling used as grounding elements with the communities the breweries operate in. He says another important design element requires showcasing the brewing process to customers. 

“Most breweries are offering tours to welcome people into the back of the house, a little bit like Willy Wonka to show how the candy is made.”

At Common Language, Owens envisions customers receiving the freshest beers sitting about 10 feet away from the production room, where people can view the brewing process through two doors near the brewery’s front entrance. 

Owens says, “Washington state is a phenomenal place. So, we wanted to be true to the region with respect to the ingredients to brew the beer. To be true to the Eastern Washington style, we want people to taste Eastern Washington in our beers.”

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