Halcyon Brewing to open in the former Naked City Brewing space
There is a new brewery coming to Seattle, WA’s Greenwood neighborhood, Halcyon Brewing will bring Asian cultural touchstones to the former Naked City Brewery & Taproom space later this year.
Founded by two local families, owners Tom and Lisa Furey, and Matt and Lauren Hipp are bringing their experience across a wide variety of disciplines to introduce a new brewery to the Seattle beer scene.
Tom Furey will be head brewer, with many years in Seattle’s craft beer community he has risen up the ranks from homebrewing English teacher to brewery tour guide with RoadDogs. Tom met his wife and co-owner Lisa while teaching in Taiwan, after college he moved back to Washington and attended the brewing program at Central Washington University. From there he got closer to the brewhouse by washing kegs at Stoup Brewing, and then runing a brewpub and McMenamins, to overseeing all of the brewing operations at Chainline Brewing while seeing them through an expansion. More recently he was brewing at the new Sovereign Brewing spinoff of Standard.
Lisa grew up in Taiwan and studied art and interior design before she met Tom. For her day job she works in the world of commercial interior design, and Halcyon will tap into those skills for interior design aesthetics of the taproom. One of the primary goals of the redesign is to create an inclusive environment that can help expand the approachability of craft beer for more women and people of diverse backgrounds.
Matt & Lauren Hipp are the owners of Broadview Taphouse in north Seattle, and of Hill City Taphouse in South Seattle. Prior to getting into the beer service business Matt had consumer facing roles at Ford Motor Co. and Seattle Chocolates. Lauren is a lifelong Seattleite. As if co-owning Halcyon and 2 taprooms wasn’t enough, she is a mother of 3, and works in advocacy to advance policies that support children and families. Lauren is committed to helping create inclusive gathering spaces, and see’s beer and the public house as an important opportunity to do so.
Halcyon’s founders want the taproom to be a community gathering space, and will utilize the large outdoor patio previously used so well by Naked City. They have commissioned a new mural on that patio space by local artist Stevie Shao that has unfortunately been the source of some controversy. The same area previously featured a different mural that was beloved by many before it was recently replaced.
“We understand that painting over the patio mural came as a surprise and to some a disappointment and we are sorry about that.” says Halcyon co-founder Matt Hipp. “We can't wait to be a part of this growing community and hope that folks will be excited for what we have in store -- and will come in and try it out. We are so excited for Stevie Shao's artwork to shine through the space - bringing our backgrounds, vision, and the history of place all to life through her artistic vision and imagery.”
Shao's artist statement on his new artwork: The mural is based on a folktale about the Halcyon bird (the partial namesake of the Brewery) nesting on the sea, which it calmed in order to lay its eggs on a floating nest. Two weeks of calm weather are expected around the winter solstice when the Halcyon lays its eggs. The Halcyon Coromanda is the main inspiration and represents the owners' roots from Japan and Taiwan.
Food is part of the Halcyon pub program but not want the owners want to focus on. “We believe food is so important to beer and the larger experience,” says Hipp. But it will start small and basic with a limited menu of Asian inspired hot dogs and snack items to compliment the house made beers. The long term goal is to find a chef or local food provider to partner with and have them run the kitchen with an expanded menu.
Halcyon Brewing will stick with beer and wine only at the bar, 14 taps with cider and wine complimenting the lineup, but no liquor. Family friendly community spot first, dog friendly outdoors. The old brewhouse used by Naked City Brewing was auctioned off after they closed in 2018, but Halcyon has replaced it with a Czech steam brewhouse that Tom already had experience brewing on when it was previously used at Chainline Brewing.
Bringing their Asian heritage to play in the Pacific Northwest is a big part of the vision for what will set this new brewpub apart. Co-owner Lisa Furey was born and raised in Taiwan, while Lauren Hipp is yon-sei (fourth generation) Japanese American. Lisa will use that influence to brighten up the space, and add cultural touchstones that influence the space inside out. “Whiteness is all around us but we often don't name it, which is a function of white supremacy. From the beer to the food, mural to the foliage, you'll see influences from each of our backgrounds,” says Matthew Hipp.
the Halcyon Brewing family: Tom and Lisa Furey, Matt and Lauren Hipp, and their kids.
Halcyon Brewing Company is located at 8564 Greenwood Ave N. Seattle, WA 98103 and hopes to open by the end of October.