Métier Brewing pours from a flagship taproom at 2616 East Cherry Street in Seattle's Central District, the heart of the city's historic Black community. Founded in 2018 by Rodney Hines and Todd Herriott, it is Washington's first Black-owned brewery, and it built the taproom as a gathering space first.
Who would love it: a beer drinker who wants a community taproom, a rotating tap list and a brewery with a clear mission. Who would not: anyone after a cocktail bar or late-night scene, since Métier keeps taproom hours and closes earlier than a bar.
The room is built for community rather than spectacle. The Central District taproom is family- and bike-friendly, with communal seating and a counter pouring 12 to 16 beers on any given visit. Seattle Met profiled the brewery as part of a wave of Black-owned breweries reshaping the city's beer map, and the Cherry Street location reads as the neighbourhood anchor of that story.
The beer to know is the Black Stripe Coconut Porter. Infused with toasted coconut, it is silky and robust with a touch of sweetness on the finish, and it was the brewery's first award winner, taking a silver medal at the Washington Beer Awards. It carries more than a medal: proceeds from the porter help fund Métier's internship program, which trains aspiring brewers and aims to widen who works in the industry. The rest of the list rotates through ales and seasonals, and flights are the way to read the range. Prices land in the standard taproom range.
The detail that sets Métier apart is its purpose. HeraldNet reported on the brewery as the only Black-owned brewery in Washington when it opened, and the founders built it around a welcoming gathering space and a pipeline into the trade. That mission, tied to a beer people actually line up for, is why the taproom reads as a destination rather than a neighbourhood afterthought.
The crowd skews Central District locals, beer travellers tracing the city's Black-owned breweries and families early in the day. It runs busiest on weekend afternoons and evenings, when the taproom fills and events fill the calendar. Service is counter-led and friendly, built for flights, pints and conversation.
What to order starts with the Black Stripe Coconut Porter and works outward through the rotating ales and seasonals on the 12-to-16-tap list, with flights reading the range best. Regulars on Google Maps and in local press point to the welcome of the room and the events calendar as much as the beer, and the porter remains the one pour first-timers are told to try before anything else.
Best time to go: a weekend afternoon for the fullest taproom, or a quieter weekday evening for the beer on its own. Métier works as the community heart of a Central District beer stop. See where it sits among the best craft beer in Seattle, and read our wider guide to craft beer bars by city before mapping the rest through the Seattle bar guide.
Getting there places it on East Cherry Street in the centre of the Central District, a short hop from the 23rd Avenue corridor and the neighbourhood's other Black-owned businesses. The location is part of the brewery's identity rather than an afterthought, and it pairs naturally with a wider tour of the district. The taproom closes on Mondays and keeps earlier hours than a bar, so a weekend afternoon is the reliable window.
Pair this bar with
For a high-craft Seattle brewery, compare Holy Mountain. For a Fremont taproom, try Fremont Brewing. And for a flagship Capitol Hill brewpub, Elysian Brewing makes the natural next round.
Sources
Métier Brewing official site · Seattle Met · HeraldNet · Google Maps reviews (accessed 2026-06)
Reviewed by Marcus Webb, barsforKings. Published Feb 24, 2026 · Last reviewed Mar 26, 2026.
