Located in Seattle’s downtown Pike Place Market neighborhood, Pike Brewing Company was founded in 1989 by craft beer and slow food pioneers Charles and Rose Ann Finkel. An industry icon with two restaurants and a beer museum, Pike Brewing is often the first stop for beer travelers visiting the Emerald City, as well as an earth-friendly fridge staple for locals.
Sustainability Focused Brewing Practices
Pike’s gravity-flow and steam-powered brew system is uniquely designed to optimize sustainable energy sources during the brewing process. Likewise, the brewery’s transition from bottles to cans in 2018 helped reduce the brewery’s carbon footprint and make the resulting beer packaging 55% more recyclable. Visit for an in-depth guided brewery tour and tasting to learn more about how Pike focuses on sustainability throughout the beer-making process.
Sourcing Ingredients Locally
In 1998, the Finkels became active in the Slow Food movement, traveling to Italy to participate in Salone del Gusto in Turin and to judge the Slow Food Awards at the University of Bologna. As a result, the Finkels also became leaders in the Seattle Slow Food community, and their passion for local sourcing remains paramount for Pike’s two restaurants, seafood restaurant and oyster bar Tankard & Tun and American gastropub The Pike Pub, a two-time Slow Food Restaurant award winner.
At The Pike Pub, find sustainably crafted dishes like Pike’s famous fresh-baked pretzels—featuring spent grain from the beer production process and served with two-time Good Food Award-winning beer mustard made in-house—as well as juicy burgers made with grass-fed beef from Harlow Cattle Company. Pair these with pints of Good Food Award-winning Pike IPA and best-selling gold medal winner Pike Kilt Lifter Scotch ale. Upstairs at Tankard & Tun, expect a meal showcasing the Northwest’s freshest sustainable seafood—think perfectly fried fish and chips and fresh oysters on the half-shell—alongside a TeKu glass of barrel-aged Pike Entire or a Tripel Copper beer cocktail featuring local Copperworks Distilling gin and Pike Monk’s Uncle Tripel ale. Tankard & Tun’s Oyster Happy Hour highlights local shellfish companies like Hama Hama and Taylor Shellfish; importantly, oysters help purify our oceans as they filter water for their food and turn excess nitrogen into their shells and tissue—as if you needed another reason to stop by! Whatever dishes you try, Pike’s commitment to regional sourcing and scratch cooking means you’ll be sampling some of the best ingredients in Washington state.
Of course, thoughtful ingredient sourcing is no less a commitment in Pike’s beers. Washington’s own Yakima Valley is the hop capitol of the world, producing over 75% of the nation’s hops, so obviously Pike takes advantage of that resource; in addition, the brewery was among the first to work with local grain from Skagit Valley Malting.
Interested in Seattle’s sustainable craft beer scene? Check out our list of Earth-friendly Washington breweries.
Advocating for the Environment
In the words of Pike President and Co-Owner Drew Gillespie, “Pike’s goal is to become a 100-year-old independent craft brewery,” and the brewery strives toward this goal in great part by being a community advocate and supportive partner to countless local nonprofits. Many of these partners also focus on sustainability and the environment, from Washington Trails Association and Washington Wild to the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance and beyond. Try the brewery’s King of Cascadia series, featuring an IPA, porter, and helles, brewed in collaboration with local co-op PCC Community Markets to benefit Long Live the Kings, whose efforts help restore wild salmon and support sustainable fishing in the Pacific Northwest.
Likewise, Pike is a sustainable transportation advocate, supporting the expansion of Seattle’s public transportation system, offering ORCA cards as an employee benefit, and partnering with R+E Cycles to raise funds for Food Lifeline at the annual Bike and Pike event. “Looking toward the future as a business means taking care of our community’s shared resources,” says Gillespie. “At Pike, we’re proud to be in a city that’s so connected to the state’s waterfront, farmland, and mountains. We don’t take that privilege or responsibility for granted.”
Feature photo: Pike Brewing celebrates its 29th Canniversary with Pike IPA, Space Needle IPA, Kilt Lifter and Monk’s Uncle in cans. Photo by Marcus R. Donner © 2018
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