Uprise Brewing Company

My wife and I stopped in at Uprise yesterday for a bit of lunch and a beer or two while passing through town. I’m from the other side of the state, but I’d be very impressed by Uprise’s beers (particularly IPAs) and wanted to pay the brewery itself a visit.

It’s a big spot in a new purpose-built building, with a cavernous taproom area filled with 6-tops and other large tables, plus an upstairs area and a nice patio outside. Kind of a spare, sleek look, but not precisely industrial (although you can see the brewhouse kinda off to the side and behind the bar — I always like to be able to see where the magic happens! They also have a couple old arcade games in a little nook.

On my visit they had 13 beers on tap, plus a hop water. Styles included pilsner, Mexican lager, Vienna lager, stout, a guava gose, a pale ale, and 7 differnent IPAs of a variety of styles — DIPA, West Coast, hazy, etc. You can just look at my reviews to see what I think of Uprise’s IPAs — they’re phenomenal. The Vienna lager was good, too, though IPA is where this brewery really shines.

Service is friendly and quick; you order at the bar and if you get food they bring it out to you. I got the chilaquiles and my wife had the pork taquitos — both very good! I pass through Spokane once or twice a year and I think I have a new regular lunch stop. Highly recommended on all counts!

We’ve been on the road for 5+ hours now out of Portland, and we have a few more hours ahead of us yet to Missoula. Damned if I haven’t seen the landscape change 20 times already. It’s magnificent and we’ve barely scratched the surface. A bit peckish finds a perfectly timed drop in for lunch in Spokane on this great Western jaunt. College town off the highway, navigated this corner joint in a residential neighborhood. Parked off the park and in…

Wade through the tables to the bar at the rear; straight white Formica topped, and a horizontal plank base on most of the stretch but a black hexagon tiled base piece fronting the 4 hightop chairs on the end. On barback center, a large concrete piece with a logo ‘U’ filament neon lit, and a row of 18 uniform logo wood tap handles below. White subway tile barback wall to both sides with tap selections printed on slats (beer, style, ABV), and slight mugs & crowls shelved to one side, and glassware, crowls, & plants pipe and plank shelved to the other side. Crowl crimper countered below with glassware, over cupboard & shelving space tucked down under with more glassware & crowls.

Concrete slab floors, white painted walls, plank ceiling with rafters, duct work, spinnys, and long fluro drop lights. Track spots on the barback, along the perimeter, and down center. Dish & cutlery bus station, fountain drinks, can cooler, & corner merch on one side. Kitchen look in on the opposite wall, with the brewery behind glass in the rear corner, and 3 pinball machines and a Ms. Pac Man stand up in the front corner. 4x6 flats on both walls for the looking at.

18 tables raised roundie and low rec 4’s & 6’s in rows. Bar counter ledge seating off 2 walls in the front corner on hightop back metal chairs; 8 on the side wall below a roll up over the outside patio space, and 6 more forward looking over Spokane on the hill yonder (me, pointing).

13 beers up by the pint or half pint, hooray! I could do without there being 4 Hazy IPAs but all in all it’s a good range of hoppy and Lager and other things (Bright Side IPA, 7.3%; Static Glow, Hazy IPA, 6.2%; Fast Forward, Hazy IPA, 6%; 3D Glasses, Hazy IPA, 6.5%; Mosaic Montage, Hazy IPA, 6.8%; Steady, Juicy Pale Ale, 5.2%; Pilsner, Lager, 4.8%; Mexican Lager, Lager Especial, 4.3%; Helles, Lager, 4.9%; Vienna, Amber Lager, 5.4%; Stout, American Stout, 6.2%; Saison, Farmhouse Ale, 6.2%; Guava Gose, Fruited Sour, 4.2%).

Bright Side, IPA, super clean, bright, West Coast love; Pilsner, it’s a really nice clean Pils; Saison, hoppy, sure, lovely Belgian candy sugar notes; Steady, Juicy Pale Ale, it was just that; Stout, tasty tasty, and nicely not pastry bullshit. Bright Side IPA, Pilsner, & Stout for the wins, but really there was not a clunker in the lot I went through.

And a bite. ‘spicy jerk bowls for all’, I say! Hmmn, choices, do I go chicken or stupid stalkface Cauliflower? I mean, duh. So, chicken, brown rice, jerk sauce, lime crema, salsa verde, cilantro, roasted potato, lime. Well done. Just perfect for fixing my head.

On walkabout now. The upstairs seating space is closed for a private event (I should have crashed it anyway), and the aforementioned outside space. Side porch seating under awning and not with a fenced in yard on faux lawn with cornhole action. Nearly a dozen and a half tables; mesh, rec, square, & hightop. Strung lighting, and an inlay along the perimeter walls. It’s a really chill space.

Good tunes, and fine feels this Friday early afternoon. Beers were solid, and the food crushed. Someone knows what they’re doing here.

Modern open feel with a good number of taps with good variability in styles. This brewery is located in an older area of town that is currently being revitalized.

Upscale, modern, freestanding, new looking, brewpub in a residential neighborhood on the west side of town. Spacious, open a airy taproom with a long straight bar opposite the entrance along the back wall, that is mostly service, but has 5 stools on the right end. Maybe 2 dozen tables about the room, some arcade games, and good sized patio/lawn area with additional tables on the left side of the building. A dozen beers on tap, I really enjoyed their IPAs. Friendly bartenders. Jackfruit was interesting.

new place in the hottest area of spokane, kendall yards. new build, the space is rad, and way bigger than i thought it might be, among some pretty dense residential units too, they will have a build in audience here for sure. open and airy and modern looking, some design elements to the spot, a big outdoor area but it was already winter when i was in and this was pretty much packed away for the season it seemed, but im sure it just pops all summer long. inside is gorgeous, almost danish or something in terms of architecture, a classy minimalist aesthetic, wood and white and black, but still arranged like a beer hall, lots of natural light, long tables encouraging stranger meet ups, even a kids area in the front, and then a big bar along the back all in front of what must be the production area, and even a lofted upstairs area, kind of a coffee house vibe during the day, really neat, warm and welcoming, still smells new. they had a modest but diverse beer selection, some named, some just called their styles, i enjoyed the pils and the cold ipa, both super clean and tidy and crushable, the saison was less impressive, but its obvious they know what theyre doing in the brew house. im sure it will get more ambitious as time moves along. service was friendly, the food menu looks really good but i didnt eat, and its definitely a place i want to go back to when i am up there again, mellow slightly upscale vibes, but also unpretentious, and the beer was way ahead of the curve for how new they are. the spokane beer scene gets another good one!