Popular Pierce County cider maker down to 1 taproom. It once had over a dozen
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Locust Cider closed most taprooms, leaving a single Gig Harbor location.
- Owner cited increases in minimum wage and other costs and shifting customer trends.
- Brand will focus on production, retail distribution and new product development.
Locust Cider, a cidermaker that once had over a dozen taprooms across Washington state, Texas and Colorado, has just one location remaining after shuttering four others last month.
The lights are still on at Locust Cider’s Gig Harbor taproom, where they’ve been producing cider since 2021. The business also has a large-volume production facility in Ellensburg, The News Tribune reported.
In December, the business closed locations in Woodinville and Spokane and two near Pike Place Market. It also said goodbye to a location in Fort Collins, Colorado, while hoping to find a new managing partner to turn it “into a stand alone fully gluten-free celiac-safe restaurant,” according to their Instagram. The Fort Collins taproom previously offered gluten-free, celiac-safe meals. Owner Jason Spears confirmed that if the Colorado location turns into a stand-alone restaurant, it won’t be under the Locust Cider name.
“The cost of operating taprooms has risen faster than we’ve been able to keep up with, even with amazing support from all of you,” the business posted on Instagram Dec. 5. “To protect the future of the brand, we need to focus fully on what’s working: getting our ciders to more people through restaurants, bars, and grocery stores. Cider production and distribution will continue without interruption, and we’re already developing exciting new flavors for 2026 and beyond.”
Spears said in a phone call Dec. 31 that the taprooms “were all meant to be small neighborhood operations, and the financial math has changed” with changing consumer trends and rising costs. These costs include upticks to minimum wage particularly in Washington state, he said.
“It changed so fast that we haven’t been able to adjust our prices fast enough,” he said. “Our customers won’t accept 100% price increases.”
The business also faced rising property taxes and insurance costs, and it also became more expensive to buy ingredients and fruit, he said.
Spears founded Locust Cider with his wife Rebecca in 2015, but his journey to producing cider started a few years prior, when he discovered that he had some allergies to hops, he told The News Tribune. He tried experimenting at home, created some recipes he liked, called up his brother from Texas and began producing cider with him in Woodinville, he said.
The brand offers their classic dry hard apple cider along with a series of fun flavors including honey pear, juicy peach and vanilla bean, according to their website. They also have seasonal varieties and other limited-edition flavors.
The company has been downsizing in spurts since 2024, when they closed their taproom on Sixth Avenue in Tacoma followed by a slew of other Washington locations, The News Tribune reported. Spears said the COVID-19 pandemic hit them hard, as Locust Cider opened nearly all of their locations in 2019 and 2020, near the start of the pandemic.
The announcement of the most recent closures came just six months after Spears told The News Tribune that Locust Cider didn’t have any plans to close more locations.
Despite the shuttering of most of their taprooms, customers will still see Locust Cider cans in their local grocery and retail stores. It will also be available on tap in local bars and restaurants or via direct shipment, according to their social media. The Locust Cider website has a search tool to find which stores offer their products.
Spears said the company will continue to invest in new product development and is focused on “making cider and selling it.”
Asked to reiterate what makes cider different from other alcoholic beverages, he pointed to the ingredients.
“The thing that I think is amazing about cider, and the reason it will always endure, is it’s real,” said Spears. “We’re in Washington, freaking Washington. This is apple country. It’s the most pure interpretation of what the apple can become.”
The company’s lone remaining taproom in Gig Harbor at 3207 57th St. Court is family-friendly and offers “26 taps of hard cider and regional craft beer,” per their website. The business partnered up with local pinball operator Justin Kaping to add a series of pinball and arcade game machines to the taproom last year. It also debuted a new food menu including hand-stretched pizzas, sausages and hot dogs and gluten-free chicken nuggets and tater tots, The News Tribune reported.
The Gig Harbor taproom’s hours are Wednesday through Thursday 3-9 p.m., Friday through Saturday noon-10 p.m. and Sunday noon-8 p.m. They’re closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Locust Cider expressed gratitude to their staff and customers in their announcement about the closures on Instagram, and highlighted the $100,000-plus sum the community helped them raise to donate to the Hydrocephalus Association, a nonprofit that supports patients with the chronic neurological condition and seeks a cure. The Spears’ daughter Lucy was diagnosed with hydrocephalus and has had to receive multiple brain surgeries, the Locust Cider website says.
“We are incredibly proud of our taproom teams, both past and present, and deeply grateful to everyone who has visited, supported us, and shared a pint with us over the last 10 years,” the post said.
This story was originally published January 6, 2026 at 11:54 AM.
