Project 9 Brewing Company

2/13/24 Project 9 Brewing Co.

First we got Macrina, a premium bakery. Now Maple Leaf has a brewery that opened just a few months ago and is already a nominee for USA Today’s best new brewery of the year. Maple Leaf is finally on the culinary map!

Originally a gas station, the property now occupied by Project 9 Brewing Company has been at least a couple of other auto service businesses (including one that installed the security system on my Miata years ago). From the exterior, it still very much looks like it should be pumping gas (I plan to sketch it when the weather warms up), but the interior is spacious and probably has good natural light in the daytime.

Meeting a friend there in the evening, I didn’t get to see the light, but I caught this quick sketch of other patrons and one of several TVs on the wall (Kraken hockey was on). I don’t care for sports bars, but the spacious interior didn’t make me feel forced to view the screens. A grilled cheese sandwich from the Sammich food truck parked outside was a great accompaniment to my brew. An upstairs level separated from the taproom makes it a family-friendly venue. The sign on the door said it was also dog-friendly, and a couple of pooches had accompanied their humans.

Maple Leaf has been in need of more casual places like this, and I’m looking forward to patronizing and sketching Project 9 again.