A 20-year resident of the Central District will open a new flagship taproom for one of the few Black-owned beer breweries in the nation early next year on E Cherry.

Rodney Hines calls Métier Brewing Company “purpose-driven” and said he chose expanding the brewery with a taproom and Japanese street food in the Central Area with the intent of recognizing the history of the communities there while also being present as a Black business owner in the neighborhood.

“A moment of tension for me is when I walk around my neighborhood and when I think of whether new people who see the street signs honoring Rev. McKinney at Mt. Zion Baptist have taken a moment to know who he was. I fear that there’s a lot of new energy, a lot of new people… that can be good. It can be better if people can pause and look at history of who was here and give some respect for that.”

Métier debuted in 2018 in a business partnership with Hines and Todd Herriott, owner of E Union’s bike shop/cafe/training facility Metier Seattle. It shares a name with the bike venture and has based its production at a bike-friendly spot along the riding trail in Woodinville but Métier Brewing is all about Hines and the beer.

2022 will be a massive year for the company. By the end of next summer, Métier and the Seattle Mariners will open the former stadium district Pyramid Alehouse as Steelhead’s Alley, a new beer-focused pre-game hangout honoring the Seattle Steelheads Negro League team that once played its games at Sick’s Stadium on Rainier Ave.

But before it looks back with nostalgia, Métier will push forward with the new E Cherry taproom and microbrewery slated to open in early 2022. CHS first reported here in October on early plans for the E Cherry property formerly used as an auto garage and blacksmith studio.

Now the project is taking shape as a 2,000-square-foot “community gathering space featuring rotating taps of the brewery’s award-winning brews” in the new commercial development from Capitol Hill-based developer Liz Dunn.

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Dunn has focused new attention on E Cherry after decades reshaping and preserving Pike/Pine’s auto row buildings and is also planning a four-story, 38-unit, mixed-use building there to replace the 1920s era spaces currently home to the Twilight Exit and Tana Market.

“We share a passion for urban economic development in the service of social equity, preservation, and local opportunity,” Dunn said of working with Hines and Métier. “Developing this property in partnership with MBC was squarely in my wheelhouse in the sense that the space has great bones and sits on a lovely fine-grained, nicely treed section of East Cherry Street where locally owned African-American businesses are still prevalent, but due to the building’s size might have otherwise sat neglected or been demolished to make way for a couple of pricey townhouses.”

The new Dunn project is designed by Belmont Ave-headquartered Graham Baba Architects.

Dunn and Hines first met while serving together on the board of affordable developer Community Roots Housing.

As he works to reshape this part of E Cherry, Hines says “the who” is as important as the vision. His intention is to create a beer-centered community space where everybody in the neighborhood is comfortable. That vision will entail every detail down to what types of music the taproom plays. But the people creating there will make the real difference.

Hines chose Marc Greene, founder and contractor of Greene Home Redesign, to lead the taproom’s buildout.The Veteran and Black-owned business is “firmly dedicated to preparing and positioning itself in order to remove barriers faced by minority contractors” and focuses on hiring other minority subcontractors.

Black-owned creative studio Conflare is also helping to elevate the brand with a new logo design.

And, almost as important as the beer, Black-owned Japanese street food provider Umami Kushi will be resident at the taproom with a pop-up location “offering richly flavorful simple eats that complement MBC beers. Umami Kushi is known for okazu pan — a fried bread stuffed with a savory filling — and “other classic Japanese foods like yakitori. The spot will also be open mornings “to serve pans and sweet, warm beignets.” Harold Fields started  Umami Kushi in 2009 and will continue to be headquartered at its Rainier Beach shop.

As for the beer, Hines said the taproom will feature MBC favorites including coconut porter, Belgian Golden, Kolsch, and Belgian Wit, but also may have opportunities to stretch out with small-batch, E Cherry-born creations. The taproom will also be part of MBC’s beer club offerings, plus barrel aged subscriptions. MBC’s original Woodinville taproom and production facility, meanwhile, will remain open.

Hines is also hoping the people who work in the new taproom will be connected to the neighborhood and is looking for “experienced candidates who grew up and live in the Central District.” One boost could be programs like the Mosaic State Brewers Collective. MBC, in partnership with Reuben’s Brews, started the new mentorship program “to inspire and empower underrepresented people to build careers in the beer industry.” Hines said providing knowledge and training in the creation of beer is at the heart of the program but his real hope is helping many kinds of creators thrive, from beermakers to kombucha brewers. Hopefully, there will be more Central District-create beer joining MBC and 25th and Jackson’s Standard Brewing.

“I hope that there might be others coming,” Hines said. “I get excited about makers of any kind being a part of the CD.”

MBC at Cherry Street is planned to open in February at 2616 E Cherry. You can learn more at metierbrewing.com.

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