USA, WA: Pyramid Alehouse closes permanently its restaurant and brewery in Seattle

On Thursday, April 30th employees at the Pyramid Alehouse in Seattle were notified that the restaurant and brewery would be closing permanently, the Washington Beer Blog reported.

“Since we opened the Alehouse over 30 years ago, we have had wonderful customers and excellent employees who have been strong ambassadors for Pyramid. On behalf of our brewery, we want to thank them for their support as we shift our full attention to making great beer,” said Bruce Kehe, Brand Director, Pyramid Brewing Co.

According to FIFCO USA, the company that owns Pyramid Brewing, cited the need for “high volume sporting and entertainment events to off-set the much slower restaurant business during non-peak times.”

Obviously, because of the pandemic, there are no sporting events happening at T-Mobile Park or Century Link Field right now, so the writing was on the wall. The Alehouse has always relied on big crowds before and after soccer, football, and baseball games at the stadiums across the street.

The vast majority of the beer produced by Pyramid Brewing comes from the company’s large facility in Portland, so this will not impact the beer you see on the shelf at your local grocery store.

Rich Andrews, Chief Executive Officer, FIFCO USA, said, “This location has provided strong visibility for Pyramid beer in the great city of Seattle over the years. Unfortunately, our business model relies heavily on events that draw a significant number of people to Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood. Our Alehouse business has become increasingly difficult to operate. The current environment will make it even harder.”

These days, Pyramid Brewing is currently owned by FIFCO USA. Pyramid Brewing was founded in Kalama, Washington by Tom Baune and Beth Hartwell in 1984. It was then known as Hart Brewing Company and its game-changing flagship beer was Pyramid Wheaten Ale. Following a somewhat infamous merger with another local brewery, the renamed and restructured company moved its brewery and headquarters to Seattle in 1996. There were more mergers and acquisitions as the years moved on.

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