Boise, Idaho, is known for its beautiful landscape and variety of outdoor activities. But the ‘City of Trees’ is quickly becoming the city of breweries. Many Boise breweries are popping up or relocating to Boise to take advantage of the affordability and rapidly growing population. Its thriving downtown scene includes several bars, tasting rooms, and restaurants.
The following is a list of breweries in Boise, Idaho, and surrounding areas. If you visit the city, sign up for a Boise beer tour and sip on the best beer in town.
Boise Breweries to Tour in Idaho
1. Boise Brewing
Located on 521 Broad Street West, Boise Brewery set up shop in 2014 thanks to the support of a Kickstarter Campaign. The brewery also has a tasting room and offers private keg sales.
Boise Brewery has a series of craft beers that it rotates according to the season. In the Classic Seasonal series, you can have a Snowboarder Porter from October to March and a Blonde Broad Street, an American blonde ale, from April to September.
A few other series will bring beer lovers unique styles, like the Dark Daisy, a chocolate milk stout. The Sun Cruiser, a juicy IPA beer, and Better Hazy Than Never is a popular IPA in the Evolution series.
2. Payette Brewing Company
Payette Brewing, located at 733 Pioneer Street, is one of the first breweries to open its doors in the area in 2010. The brewing company also has a Tap Room and Beer Garden. The Beer Garden is a dog-friendly, 11,000-square-foot outdoor seating area with a fire pit, bocce ball court, and food trucks. Beer lovers can take a self-guided brewery tour through the mezzanine that overlooks the production area. Payette offers different types of beer year-round, such as lager, Citrus Wheat Beer, India pale ale, and Sour ale. The brewery then rotates other flavored porter and barrel-aged imperial stout beers throughout the year.
3. Woodland Empire Brewing Company
Woodland Empire Ale Craft is located at 1114 Front Street. This brewery is constantly bustling to keep up with production and hosting events like trivia night and food pairing parties. At Woodland Empire, you can find popular beer styles like Berliner Weisse, fruit and field beer, American IPA, and American amber (red ale).
4. Edge Brewing Company
Edge Brewing is located at 525 Steelhead Way and has the Edge Brewing Pub downtown on 205 10th Street. The brewery location also houses a restaurant. Edge Brewing takes pride in using high-quality, locally sourced beer and food ingredients. Year-round beers include West Coast IPA, Pilsner, American-style amber, Double IPA, Russian Imperial Stout, and rye-style Porter. There are some seasonal and limited-release beers available as well.
5. Barbarian Brewing
Barbarian Brewing has a downtown Boise location on 1022 Main Street and Brewery Taproom close by in Garden City. Traditional barrel-aged beers and IPAs are available throughout the year. For more adventurous beer drinkers, you can try aging limited-batch sours, bourbon barrel stouts, barley wines, Belgian ales, cocktail-inspired beers, and dark and malty styles.
6. White Dog Brewing Co.
White Dog Brewing Co. is located at 705 Fulton Street, a Tap Room. The brewery began in a garage between friends and quickly expanded to its downtown location. You can find a variety of beer styles on tap, including River Beer, Vanilla Cream Ale, Blood Orange Hefeweizen, Blackberry Sour, Marzen Oktoberfest, and Scotch Ale. White Dog also is a great place for dinner, a date, and a work function, as they regularly host game nights and other fun events.
7. Twisted District Brew Co.
Twisted District is located at 3840 Chinden Boulevard West in Garden City, just a couple of miles outside Boise. This family-owned brewery and restaurant is a relatively recent addition to the craft beer scene. Beers on tap include Doppelbock, West Coast IPA, German-style Pilsner, and push-and-pour cold brew.
8. 10 Barrel Brewing Co.
10 Barrel Brewing is located in downtown Boise at 826 Bannock Street. 10 Barrel originally started in 2006 in Bend, Oregon. In 2013 they expanded to Boise, and in 2014 10 Barrel partnered with Anheuser-Busch to become a member of their family of craft brands. The brewpub has a variety of beers on tap, including Cream Ale, American IPA, Blonde Ale, Imperial Ale, German Pilsner, and more.
9. Clairvoyant Brewing Company
Clairvoyant Brewing is a go-to place for game night located at 2800 Idaho Street in the west end of downtown Boise. Clairvoyant is a craft beer microbrewery that serves craft beer of all beer styles. The brewery houses a tasting room and regularly hosts different food trucks. On tap, you can find Dark Arts Stout, Japanese Rice Lager, Dry Irish Stout, Blood Orange IPA, Bohemian Pilsner, Dry Coffee Stout, and German Hefeweizen. Clairvoyant is expanding after purchasing County Line Brewing in March 2022.
10. Lost Grove Brewing
Head over to 1026 La Pointe Street, and pair your craft beer with a delicious handmade pizza at Lost Grove Brewing. The menu has a full selection of pale ales and IPAs like West Coast Double IPA, Teddy Bear Picnic Golden Ale, Sour Ales, beverages described as malty and roasty, Coffee Hazelnut Porter, and Imperial Stout. You can also find draft Cider courtesy of Meriwether Cider Co.
11. Cloud 9 Brewery
Cloud 9 Brewery at 1750 State Street is the only organic brewery in Idaho. Cloud 9 is a nano brewery with production limited to four barrels and eight kegs per hand-crafted batch. Cloud 9 features six taps available year-round and six rotating taps. The year-round beers include Blonde Ale, American Amber Ale, NSN (Never Say Never) IPA, Double IPA, 9 Grain Porter, and Salted Caramel Stout.
12. Mad Swede Brewing Company
The Mad Swede Brew Hall location is at 816 Bannock Street, and there is a Tap room at 2772 Cole Road. Mad Swede has ten year-round beers, including the award-winning Danegeld Golden Ale, Helm of Awe Robust Oatmeal Porter, Mundo Loco Mexican-style Lager, and Naked Sunbather Nut Brown Ale. The seasonal beer styles include the Helhest Oat Ale and Shield Maiden Cascadian Dark Ale.
13. Highlands Hollow Brewhouse
Highlands Hollow, located at 2455 Harrison Hollow Lane, is Boise’s oldest-running microbrewery. The restaurant portion opened in 1968, and the microbrewery began in 1992. Always on tap are a variety of ales like IPA, Porters, and Stouts.
14. Sockeye Brewing
Named after the iconic sockeye salmon of Idaho, Sockeye Brewing is located at 12542 Fairview Avenue. Open since 2002 as a restaurant, Sockeye brews and cans its beer in the same place. Sockeye also has Idaho’s most-awarded craft beer. Sockeye carries many beer styles, from IPA to Lager, Pilsner, Porter, and Wheat. They also have non-alcoholic hop water and hand-crafted hard seltzer.
15. Crooked Fence Brewing
A change of ownership and a relocation place Crooked Fence now at 5220 Sawyer Avenue. Crooked Fence is a brewery and taproom that brings in food trucks regularly. Year-round beer styles include Pacific Northwest India Pale Ale, Red Ale, Amber Ale, Raspberry Blonde Ale, English Porter, and Imperial Stout.
16. Bear Island Brewing
You can find Bear Island Brewing at 1620 Liberty Street. The brewery is family and veteran-owned. The types of beer you’ll find on tap include Idaho Potato Ale, Euro Style Pilsner, German Amber Bock, and American Pale.
17. Powderhaus Brewing Company
Powderhause is an Idaho craft brewery located at 9719 Chinden boulevard. The brewery sells kegs on-premise and distributes craft beer to surrounding areas. The facility has a large tasting room, outdoor seating, and of course, craft beer. The year-round types of beer available include Snow Blind Hazy IPA, Haus Session Ale, and Evans Gate Scotch Ale.
18. Mother Earth Brew Co.
Located on the corner of 3rd and Broad Street, this multi-award-winning brewery was founded in 2010 in California. Mother Earth first set up shop in Idaho in 2016 in Nampa and then opened its Boise location in 2021. They are the largest and fastest-growing brewery in the state. Year-round beer styles include Vanilla Cream Ale, Lager, Hazy IPA, India Pale Ale, Double IPA, Latte Stout, and Russian Imperial Stout.
Boise Breweries Help Downtown Thrive
The microbreweries and craft beer breweries that have entered the Boise market are attracting locals and tourists visiting the area. Boise breweries have become the ultimate entertainment destination as many of them are now brewpubs, where they have tasting rooms and restaurants in the breweries. They also host events like food pairing, trivia, game nights, and more to serve their craft beer and keep customers coming. Boise breweries are helping the downtown district thrive.
This article originally appeared on Savoteur and has been republished with permission by Mama Say What?!
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock /Huntstyle
