One of Pierce County’s favorite breweries has a fancy new view
7 Seas Brewing has moved its Gig Harbor taproom 0.2 miles down the road.
The 11-year-old company, which rebranded its packaging last summer, opened its waterfront taproom in Gig Harbor on March 17, located at 2905 Harborview Dr. and open daily 11 a.m.- 9 p.m. Production also will transfer there by the end of the month.
Since 2012, owners Mike Runion and Travis Guterson operated a taproom at 3006 Judson St., in the Peninsula Shopping Center. They moved there from another Gig Harbor spot. In 2015, they opened a larger production brewery and taproom in downtown Tacoma, home also to the restaurant 3uilt and its sister coffee shop, 3uilt grind.
The waterfront taproom — with more outdoor seating than indoor, especially due to current pandemic capacity restrictions — boasts a view of the Gig Harbor Lighthouse and Mount Rainier, and soon will feature a dock for boats, paddle boards and kayaks.
“You may remember a few years back when we announced the move and redevelopment of the site,” they wrote in a Facebook post last week. “Adaptation and patience have been the mantra of these past interesting months, and in that same spirit, we have decided to make the move sooner rather than later.”
Shannon Runion, retail operations director and Mike’s wife, said originally they had hoped to build from the ground up, but administrative delays with waterfront new construction and then the pandemic hampered that plan. They are nonetheless excited for the business’s new Gig Harbor home, which formerly housed The Green Turtle restaurant.
“We just decided to move in and enjoy the summer,” she told The News Tribune in a phone call this week.
She described the new taproom as “beautiful and quaint and warm,” with “all those awesome qualities that you wouldn’t get in a new building.”
7 Seas also brewed on-site at the 10,000-square-foot Judson location; that 5-barrel production will move to Harborview Drive.
The much more expansive 25-barrel Tacoma taproom covers 80,000 square feet at 2101 Jefferson Ave., in the city’s historic and growing brewing district — neighboring Black Fleet Brewing, Sig Brewing and not far from Wingman Brewers on Puyallup Avenue. Last summer, the parking lot doubled as a beer garden in response to the state’s COVID-19 restrictions on indoor seating.
Both Gig Harbor taprooms are open this weekend. Shannon Runion encouraged fans to swing by Judson one last time before it closes for good on Sunday, March 21 at 9 p.m.
7 SEAS BREWING
▪ Gig Harbor taproom: 2905 Harborview Dr., open daily 11 a.m.-9 p.m., 7seasbrewing.com (3006 Judston St. taproom closes March 21)
▪ Tacoma taproom: 2101 Jefferson Ave., Tacoma, 253-272-7770
This story was originally published March 19, 2021 at 1:09 PM.