With the stagnant growth and downward sales trajectory in the craft beer industry, mixed-culture/farmhouse breweries may be getting hit the hardest as they produce an expensive premium product that most people enjoy in small quantities. Seattle, Washington’s well respected Standard Brewing launched spinoff project Sovereign Brewing in 2020. Needless to say it was not a great time to open a brewery and that category of sour and barrel-aged beers was already leveling off in sales as the market experienced a glut of competitors in those styles. The Sovereign brewery had all the makings of a fan favorite, including a stylish space with outdoor seating, and already well developed beers that Standard Brewing had been working on for many years. Today, owner Justin Gerardy announced his side passion project is shutting down to become a proudly queer owned and operated cidery for the furry community.

We will let Gerardy tell the story himself, as he goes into thoughtful detail in his statement below:

It is with a heavy heart that I’m announcing that Sovereign Brewing’s last day will be November 18th. Serendipitously, this will make exactly 3 years of existence. This decision is preempted by dozens of factors - some personal, but mostly businessThe TL;DR of this choice is that it will allow us the opportunity to “grow down”, and focus on making Standard as efficient and functional as possible, honing our craft, and balancing our lives. Sovereign has been held back for 3 years by the effects of Covid, and it is simply time to cut the anchor.

But if you want to know more:

When the lease was signed in late 2018, Standard was in a perpetual state of growth. We had just opened the restaurant, and aged beer was both a source of wild curiosity for us as well as a market opportunity in a growing niche of craft beer. We were regularly experimenting, winning medals and feeling proud of what we were making. There was a small but zealous sub-market of aged beer lovers. Oak aged saison, spontaneous and historical beers were something people were still discovering and the buzz was palpable. We found inspiration in the wild uniqueness of these styles, and needed space to satisfy our curiosity.

For the first 2 years of our lease, we spent most of our time building, establishing systems, building up stock, and using our space to push Standard’s wholesale as far as we could while preparing to launch as much Sovereign beer into the world as it would accept. Until March 2020, things were going great, but Covid changed everything. Bar managers who carried our beers religiously left the industry. 4 and 6 packs of cans saw an enormous boost as people started buying beer in bulk and for reasons that have yet to be clearly defined, aged beer is just not something people are spending money on like they used to.

During the shutdown, I spent at least half of my time building out the taproom. It was a good way to stay productive while the world burned, and at the time it seemed as though we’d come out of the quagmire with flying colors, like we’d chirp our tires the second we opened back up, landing a new venture in the fast lane. For a second, this was true. We opened the tap room at Sovereign the weekend after Thanksgiving, 2020. But the shutdown was stalling construction projects that we were depending on to supply us with curious beer drinkers as we grew. We were also expecting the imminent opening of the East Link light rail station, a block away, which would connect us directly to Microsoft and other eastside stops. Following strikes, collapsing hillsides and other delays, the contractors that are building it poured the wrong concrete under the rails and we could see that it was going to be delayed by years.

Having pivoted to cans to move beer through Covid, we were well buffered against the worst effects of the pandemic. Our huge cold room at Sovereign gave us the means to move cans to local grocery stores, but it was never efficient. The proof in the pudding was the day we quit canning. Outside of a global pandemic, it just doesn’t make sense for us, as an inefficient, shoe-horned event that burdens our production team once a month and turned me personally into a full time label designer. When we finally pulled the plug on canning, Seattle’s world of craft beer had undergone a shift toward packaged beer, and draft was declining. And perhaps you’ve noticed … those packaged beers are primarily in cans, not glass bottles.

So why didn’t we just can our saisons and spontaneous beers? Get with the times, Sovereign!! Well, there are a few reasons, but it all kind of boils down to “cuz I don’t wanna.” I loved having canned beer at Standard. Grabbing a 4 pack of 16 ouncers is a fantastic way to head somewhere with beer in hand. You’ll find me on weekends at a corner shop in the woods grabbing a 6x12 oz of a solid pilsner to enjoy. It makes sense, when you’re gonna put a few away. But a beer as nuanced and subtle, curious and complex as a beer tucked into oak for a year, blended, reconditioned, maybe fruited along the way with something grown in special fields with unique weather patterns? This is not the same kind of beer. It deserves a vessel that speaks to its story. Glass in 500ml format is undeniably the right choice for us, and often green glass at that, which allows a touch of light struck reaction to complete the layers of complexity. Yes, we like this. These beers are also dramatically more expensive to produce, and since you cannot sell curious beer in the same volume that you can sell hazy IPA, one must charge significantly more per unit. In the age of great inflation, people are more hesitant to spend $10 on a World Beer Cup winning saison, let alone $18 on a delicious kriek with beautiful artwork.

Summing it all up, we went all in on a space to increase wholesale and aged beer. Both of these things have slowed in the wake of Covid. Interest in aged beer has been waning on the whole. Bottles have lost their appeal to the masses and become expensive and less available to us. Inflationary pressures have made production difficult as everything from employment to raw materials have pushed an already expensive product to the brink of unaffordability.  We found a buyer, and I’d like to focus my energy where it is used most efficiently, so that after 10 years of running a brewery, I can do my other favorite thing - hiding in the mountains.

In our place, you will soon see Slighty Furry ciders taking over the building. They are uniquely positioned to take over our assets and make a delicious, fun venture out of our space. We hope you’ll show them some love, and while we work to sell off our remaining stock, you’ll see some very deep discounts on our remaining beers at Sovereign. This goes for wholesale as well as retail, so tell your favorite bar that they can make a killing by buying up our remaining beer! They can contact jason@stoupbrewing.com to pick up some of this award winning, delicious hooch.

We will very much miss making these beers. They are special to us, but in a world of quick trends in the beer industry, please take a moment to schedule a trip of two to a brewery that you believe in. Their existence depends on your wallet, and in a saturated industry, the smaller the brewery, the more you can help. Thank you to all the people who helped make Sovereign an exciting place. Thank you to the brewers who helped make these beers and the bartenders that sold them with excitement. Thank you to Garek Druss for all of the beautiful artwork. Come see us by next Saturday, November 18th, 4pm to 10pm, which will be our final day.

- Justin Gerardy
Owner, Standard Brewing /// Sovereign Brewing

Slightly Furry Ciders is leveling up bigtime with the Sovereign Brewing space. With no previous knowledge of the brand, their website is eye openingly bright and colorful with cartoon characters on prominent display, a stark contrast to the black and white gothic branding of Sovereign Brewing.

Slightly Furry is a proudly owned and operated queer cidery that self proclaims their interest in supporting and lifting up the furry, queer, and underrepresented communities that need a louder voice.

If you are not familiar with what a “furry” is, an excerpt from the wikipedia entry: furry fandom is a subculture interested in anthropomorphic animal characters. Examples of anthropomorphic attributes include exhibiting human intelligence and facial expressions, speaking, walking on two legs, and wearing clothes.