Recluse Brew Works named one of nation’s best new breweries

During Recluse Brew Works’ one-year anniversary party on Dec. 1, 2024, Ezra Johnson-Greenough, founder of the “New School Beer and Cider” web magazine and the Oregon Beer Awards, told Recluse’s owner and lead brewer, Gus Everson, that the Washougal brewery might soon be receiving some special recognition. “He was kind of dropping hints,” Everson said, explaining that Everson mentioned that Recluse may be included in an article published by VinePair, a digital media company focused on content related to wine, beer and spirits. “He was like, ‘You guys might be in an article in ‘VinePair.’ You might not. I don’t know. I put some words together for you.’ I was like, ‘OK, let’s hope so.’” Everson’s hopes were answered 10 days later, when Recluse made VinePair’s 2024 list of the nation’s 22 best new breweries. The article, written with input from beer-brewing professionals, was published on VinePair’s website in mid-December 2024. Recluse is one of five West Coast breweries on the list, which also included Home Brew Mart in San Diego; ISM Brewing in Long Beach, California; Shorthead Brewing in Tieton, Washington; and Terranaut Beer in Bend, Oregon. “I was definitely surprised,” Everson said of Recluse’s inclusion on the list of the country’s top new breweries. “I’m really proud of the beer we’re putting out, but I definitely didn’t expect something like that. I’m definitely super proud of it. We just turned a year old, and getting recognized like that feels really good and makes us feel really confident in what we believe in. It’s awesome. It reassures me, personally, that I’m onto something. It makes me feel happy that people enjoy our beer.” Max Shafer, brewmaster of Pure Madness Brewery Group in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, told VinePair he was “drawn to the breadth of styles” Recluse offered, as well as the Washougal brewery’s desire to create “beer-flavored beer for people who love beer.” “That is me,” Shafer told the VinePair reporter. “My first (Recluse) beer was Hinterlands, their German-style pilsner, which nine out of 10 times is the style I am going to order. Hinterlands did not disappoint, so I tried a few other offerings and was very impressed with the quality and flavors coming through in their beers.” Everson focuses on creating lagers, which are brewed at cooler temperatures and are known for being crisper, cleaner and more refreshing than ales, with slightly more sugar and generally less alcohol content. “European traditions clash with West Coast expressionism in the nature versus nurture contradictions of Recluse Brew Works,” the VinePair article stated, adding that Recluse’s brews “appeal to ‘lagerheads’ who won’t shut up about horizontal tanks and decoction mashing” as well as to “the cheap-swill drinker who has never thought about beer beyond the foam-to-liquid ratio in a pint.” The article praised Recluse for creating beers that are “clear and precise like German engineering, but full of character and depth of flavors forged over years in the environment of Pacific Northwest beer culture.” As of Jan. 8, Recluse’s tap list includes RBW Lager, which won a bronze medal at the 2024 Washington Beer Awards; RBW Export Lager, which won a gold medal at the 2024 Best of Craft Awards; Entonces, a Vienna-style lager that won a silver medal at the 2024 Best of the Northwest Beer Awards; and Moose Man, a porter that won a silver medal at the 2024 Best of the Northwest Beer Awards. “I’m definitely happy that people are willing to drink (lagers) and seem to really enjoy them when they do,” said Everson, an Ohio native who worked as a brewer for Widmer Brothers Brewing and Wayfinder Beer in Portland before starting Recluse a little more than one year ago. “I feel like we’ve been putting out some styles that maybe wouldn’t have been as eye-catching a couple of years ago, and people are responding. We’re still doing the IPA (India pale ale) thing, and pale ales, and those are fun, too. I’m happy with the liquid, and it seems like the people who drink it enjoy it, too, which is most of why we do it,” Everson said. Recluse Brew Works, which opened in November 2023 in the Port of Camas-Washougal’s industrial park (4035 S. Grant St., Suite No. 102, Washougal), had a successful first year, according to its owner. “We achieved the goals that we set out to achieve,” Everson said. “I think we made a lot of good connections, and we’re insanely happy with where we’re located in the Port of Camas Washougal (industrial park). I think that being part of the Northbank Brewers Alliance and the surrounding community is a huge part of why we’re successful. I mean, we’re surrounded by so many great breweries and there’s so much good beer out here — it feels good to be able to bring something to the table in a community that’s already got such great beer. I think we definitely learned that, yeah, we are onto something, our plan is a solid plan, and we should stay the course.” With its founder-owner brewing award-winning beers on a regular basis, and its general manager, Richard LaRue, cultivating a burgeoning community of up-and-coming food-truck vendors, Recluse found a winning formula in 2024, but the brewery has even bigger plans for 2025, according to Everson. “We’re just trying to build on the momentum we have,” Everson said. “I think that what we have at the taproom is special, and I think that we can build on that and make it a little bit more robust, so we’re working on that. … Most of our business is wholesale, so we’re trying to expand our footprint in Clark County and Skamania County — we self-distribute there. We’re working on distributor relationships in Seattle and Portland. We’re just trying to get in more bars and be around (more) events.” To read the VinePair article, visit vinepair.com/articles/best-new-breweries-2024. For more information about Recluse, visit reclusebrew.works.

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