We have a couple of brewer legends right here in Skagit County! Mari and Will Kemper, owners of Chuckanut Brewery in Burlington, were recently inducted into the Washington Brewers Hall of Fame for their involvement in shaping Washington’s Brewing Industry.
“Mari and Will were among the inaugural group and were honored for their exceptional leadership, innovation, mentorship, excellence in the craft, advocacy, and dedication to the state’s brewing industry,” Chuckanut Brewery shares in a press release.
Meet the Kempers of Beer and Root Beer Fame
SkagitTalk: How did you go from root beer to beer?
Mari Kemper: It’s the other way around! We started with Thomas Kemper Brewery on Bainbridge Island in 1984, then moved it to Poulsbo. Five years later, Thomas Kemper introduced the root beer, which took off.
SkagitTalk: What drew you to craft beer?
Mari Kemper: We both love beer and we love beer with food. We liked European beers much more than the American beers that were available in the 1970s and early 80s. Plus, Will is a chemical engineer and that is a very important aspect of a brewery. Most brewmasters are chemical engineers, since beer takes into consideration yeast, heat, refrigeration, chemical reactions, engineering in tanks and the movement of the beer through the brewery. First in the brewhouse, then fermentation hall and finally into packaging.
SkagitTalk: You’ve traveled the world and helped start a lot of craft breweries – what do you love about the start-up phase?
Mari Kemper: The excitement from the people we are working with and seeing the brewery come together then tasting the first, second and following beers that come out of the whole process.
SkagitTalk: What made you decide to finally come home and start Chuckanut?
Mari Kemper: We had travelled quite a bit, but always had our home off of Chuckanut that we built. We missed our community and our fellow brewer friends in the Northwest. It was time to make our own brewery again. The views on Chuckanut are beautiful, just like our Chuckanut beers!
SkagitTalk: Where does the name come from?
Mari Kemper: From Chuckanut Drive on Chuckanut Mountain and looking out to Chuckanut Bay. The word “Chuckanut” is supposedly Native American for “where the tide goes out.” If you know the bay, that’s what happens, especially at the point where Chuckanut goes down into the Skagit Valley.
SkagitTalk: Do you still have a location in Bellingham?
Mari Kemper: No, we closed the kitchen in Bellingham at the end of COVID. We were feeling like we didn’t like the hassle of running a kitchen and we wanted to concentrate on our production at the brewery in Skagit.
SkagitTalk: When did you move/open your Skagit location?
Mari Kemper: We opened our Skagit taproom and brewery in September 2016 with the support of Port of Skagit Airport. We wanted to create a meeting place for all the creatives at the port, especially those of us that are agriculture-related in our business. Using malt and hops are both very agriculturally impacted.
SkagitTalk: What is your favorite beer to drink?
Mari Kemper: That’s a loaded question since we both like a variety of styles of beer. Mostly it depends on our mood, what’s available, what food we might be eating, etc., etc.
SkagitTalk: What does being inducted into the Hall of Fame mean to you?
Mari Kemper: It is a huge honor and formal recognition of all the work we have done to further the craft beer industry in Washington state. We started our first brewery when there were only 26 microbreweries in the USA. Most of them were scattered around California, but in Washington, we had about six of us who all started up within a year or so of each other. We were true pioneers in the field and the induction into the Hall of Fame confirmed our commitment to bringing the best craft beer to our beer-drinking fans.
SkagitTalk: What’s next for you?
Mari Kemper: To continue to make the best beer possible and trying out new styles that we have not made before. Our small brewery – half the size of our production brewhouse – is now fully functional and we are inviting our brewery friends to experiment with us on new styles that we want to brew. Also, we are hoping to continue to expand our can production so that we are available to new markets and people who did not have the opportunity to get our beer when it was only on tap.
Visit the Chuckanut Brewery’s South Nut Taproom and experience history for yourself.
Chuckanut Brewery
11937 Higgins Airport Way, Burlington
360.752.3377
