Potlatch Brewing Co. prepares to open tasting room

Kirk Boxleitner | Sep 23, 20210

While Cody Morris isn’t a newcomer to the Western Washington brewing industry, he picked — by his own admission — one heck of a time to start a business in Mason County.

After opening Epic Ales in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood more than a decade ago, Morris and his wife moved to Hoodsport with an eye toward starting a brewery in the area. Aside from Bent Bine Brew Co. in Belfair, they didn’t see many other options for breweries at that time.

“We thought Mason County would offer a nice change of pace, and we definitely wanted to take advantage of the lower costs of operation and living when compared to Seattle, where those were escalating really rapidly,” Morris said. “When we finally found a space, we began construction with the great timing of February of 2020. So it’s taken us a long time to get open.”

Morris’ Potlatch Brewing Co. at 24180 U.S. Highway 101 in Hoodsport has made progress since then, opening a pop-up beer garden behind the brewery in June, with Morris predicting the indoor tasting room would be complete and open to the public in October.

“We’ve got a lot of construction going on at the brewery right now,” Morris told Port of Hoodsport commissioners during their Sept. 15 meeting. “I’m currently collaborating with brewers from Well 80

Brewhouse and Headless Mumby Brewing Co. in Olympia, brewing a dark lager with buckwheat and barley, all sourced from Skagit Valley.”

Morris grew up in Seattle and began his career in beer, wine and food there, but he’s been coming to Mason County since he was a teen in the mid-1990s when his parents bought a cabin in the Potlatch area.

As Morris bid farewell and welcomed aboard successive waves of partners, he saw one of his restaurants named “Best New Restaurant in Seattle” and his brewpubs ultimately expand to 5,000 square feet in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle. All that was before he came to Mason County and opened a seven-barrel brewhouse in Hoodsport on the shores of Hood Canal.

Beers are available on tap, with select beers available to go in cans, Thursdays through Sundays. Customers can find more information on the brewery’s social media channels.