In Bellingham, breweries have outsized visibility. But it can be easy to forget that the large presence is made up of a lot of small businesses.
Who are very busy. Working to stay in business.
That reality hadn’t yet fermented in my head in August, when newsroom brainstorming made me think that it would be straightforward to detail the brewery economy in Whatcom and Skagit counties. Get some industry stats for context. Talk with people at a handful of breweries for color. A good read, quickly served.
Contrary to my expectations, that idea went flat faster than a six-pack left open on a summer day. The numbers were the only straightforward part. The people part, not so much.
So let’s start with scope and scale.
Economic impact by the barrel
According to the Brewers Association, a national trade organization for small and independent craft brewers, the majority of Americans live within 10 miles of a craft brewer. Washington state ranks fifth nationally with 459 craft breweries as of 2023, the most recent full year of Brewers Association data.
Whatcom and Skagit counties definitely show up: Whatcom with 21 breweries, Skagit with 12 and estimated economic impacts of $102.41 million and $29.47 million, respectively, in 2023, including beer sales, related taproom sales and jobs. Production across the two counties totaled 37,820 barrels in 2023, noted Association staff economist Matt Gacioch, out of a statewide total of 560,967 barrels.
While just under 7% of state craft brewery output may not seem like much, it’s enough to make a mark.
“Whatcom/Skagit is one of the largest regions in Washington outside of the Seattle area when it comes to total production of beer,” said Daniel Olson, executive director of the state trade group Washington Brewers Guild. “Nationally, Whatcom/Skagit is well-known as having an excellent craft beer scene worth visiting.”
It’s a small business, after all
But trying to tap the knowledge of area breweries about their experiences and plans was frustrating. Interview inquiries to multiple brewers went unanswered, repeatedly. Others were met with kind and reasonable excuses. Oktoberfest events. Installation of new canning equipment. Staff pneumonia.
It became clear that for as big an impact some breweries have in both perception and economics, all are small businesses in what is often a challenging industry.
Kulshan Brewing Company — which General Manager Emily Mallos said is the largest producing brewery north of Seattle, with three locations (one seasonal at Bellingham’s Portal Container Village) and an estimated 9,500 barrels in 2024 — has fewer employees than many individual McDonald’s restaurants.
“Currently, Kulshan employs 38 people,” Mallos told me, once I had sampled my favorite Coffee Kitten Mittens winter ale. “After our seasonal hiring for Trackside, we ramp up to about 49 employees. So we certainly fall under the small business umbrella. Small but mighty!”
And no craft brewery, no matter what its size or history, is guaranteed success — or permanence.
Boundary Bay, Bellingham’s oldest operating brewery, announced it would close once it marks its 30th anniversary in September 2025, partly as a result of its building being put up for sale. Chuckanut Brewery, which had relocated from Bellingham to Skagit County, closed its P. Nut Beer Hall in Portland in October 2024 to better focus on expanding packaging, production and distribution.
Local companies shutting down included Darach Brewing in 2023 and Atwood Farm Brewery in 2024 (even as others, like Larrabee Lager Company, opened and Birch Bay’s Beach Cat Brewing Company promised an additional taproom for Bellingham in 2025). Twin Sisters Brewing was sold at the end of 2024 to become a second location for Stemma Brewing.
A little less crafty
Stemma’s consolidation move illustrates another broad trend in craft brewing: Some parts are static or slowly contracting.
Brewers Association data retrieved for Washington at the start of 2025 showed 424 independent craft breweries in operation, down from the 459 listed in 2023 and apparently the first drop in the state’s Association stats going back to 2011. Nationally, the organization recently reported, slightly more craft breweries closed in 2024 than opened.
Bart Watson, incoming president and CEO of the Brewers Association and its former vice president of strategy and membership, said craft beer is no longer the novelty it was in the 1980s when well-known brewers like Samuel Adams and Redhook were founded. Growth is harder and more expensive.
“A lot of that generation was fairly successful, at least for a time,” he said. “I think where people really ran into challenges with the next generation was where they thought that was the model,” not taking into full account increased competition for shelf space and tap handles.
No place like home
Future success may continue to be largely local.
“Local markets are often the easiest to penetrate because brewers can directly engage with accounts and better control brand identity,” the Brewers Guild’s Olson said. “Additionally, competition from larger, more established breweries at the regional or national level can make it difficult to stand out in crowded markets.”
Watson said the biggest challenge for many craft brewers that want to grow beyond their home is relevance.
“We’ve got more than 9,000 breweries in the country, a lot of great local breweries almost everywhere you go,” he said. “And local is one of the components along with flavor, quality and variety that beer drinkers look for. So the further you’re going away from your home market, the more your brand has to resonate, the more it has to still be relevant.”
Important, too, Watson said, is the “brand of the place you’re from.” He said Bellingham does have a strong brand among beer drinkers, perhaps making it a bit more feasible for area brewers to expand into new geographies.
Olson said for that kind of expansion, remote taphouses are a viable strategy (think El Sueñito’s dual locations in Bellingham and Seattle). Watson said direct-to-consumer shipping is showing promise to get beer cans to non-local fans.
But after I sat sipping my Coffee Kitten Mittens at Kulshan’s K2 taproom in Bellingham’s Roosevelt neighborhood, comfortably flanked by the wooden bar and large tanks in the next room, I recalled one point Watson made. One that ties back to the high profile Whatcom and Skagit county breweries have at home, each spot as individual as its founders, lagers and ales.
“Most breweries make most of their money by selling pints over the bar,” Watson said. “Today, I think, we’re seeing more breweries adopt a mantra: Go deep, not wide.”
Frank Catalano writes about business and related topics for CDN; reach him at frankcatalano@cascadiadaily.com.