SEQUIM — Barhop Brewing & Artisan Pizza, a popular Port Angeles pizzeria and artisan brewery, has expanded into Sequim, and the owner thanked customers for carrying the business through lockdown.
The eatery opened the doors of its new location at 845 W. Washington St. on Dec. 18 after eight months of renovation and preparation.
“We’re excited to be in Sequim,” said Andy Guillen-Givins, bartender and general manager of the Sequim location.
“It’s nice to move down the highway and meet some new folks who are also in love with pizza.”
Owner Tom Curry said the Sequim expansion was an “against all odds” story.
“For all our friends in the food and beverage industry, 2020 was devastating,” he said.
“We were all closed during COVID-19, then open to takeout only, to 25 percent occupancy with qualifiers, and the challenges were unlike anything we have ever seen.
“In Port Angeles, our ferry traffic disappeared,” while the Coho ferry was docked for 20 months because of international COVID-19 precautions.
“Tourists nearly disappeared.”
He said the business survived because of local support.
“We would not still exist in Port Angeles without them, and we would not have this opportunity to serve the community of Sequim.
“We are so excited to bring Sequim locals to our tables and look forward to making them part of our Barhop family.”
District manager Larry White, who was born and raised on the North Olympic Peninsula, said Barhop is a family-run business with an additional restaurant and bar in Port Angeles, The Rail, that serves burgers rather than the pizza, in addition to other food.
The production brewery is at a fourth location.
The menu features pizzas made using a 100-year-old sourdough recipe with a “top-of-the-line mozzarella,” a variety of toppings and house-made sauces, sausage from Sunny Farms and other meats from Provvista, a high-quality chef’s supply company in Portland, Ore.
“A lot of work, thought and love goes into the making of the pizza,” Guillen-Givins said.
Guillen-Givins’ first job with the company was as a bartender at The Rail. Now, he joked, he is more of a “beer-tender” as well as performing the multitude of tasks involved in managing a restaurant.
“I really wanted to open this place up,” he said. “I wanted to be part of the growth.”
Barhop is known for the award-winning brews of Sequim local Josh Blue. In Sequim, 10 different varieties and two ciders are served, as well as red and white wine and sodas.
The interior of the Sequim Barhop is large and spacious, with high ceilings and an open kitchen with a butcher block counter for diners around two sides of it as well as around the separate bar.
The two large rooms have tables and chairs for diners as well.
“We were quite lucky to get the people to help us that we did,” White said. “They were wonderful.”
He said APS Electrical, Angeles Plumbing, A.R. Finishing and ATF Concrete each helped fix up the building.
Blue and Guillen-Givins aimed to feature Blue’s paintings and add plenty of plants to soak in the light from the large windows.
Staff also plan to have expanded seating outside and, when the weather brightens up, a corn-hole game.
Children are welcome, except near the bar.
Barhop’s current hours are from noon to 8 p.m. on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, from noon to 9 p.m. on Fridays and from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays.
Kitchen manager Jeffrey Adams said he loves working at Barhop. He even shoveled his driveway for two hours to get to work on the day he was interviewed.
“I love to cook,” he said.
Adams said he features an original special each week, explaining he prefers weekly specials instead of daily ones.
A recent special was a pizza with ranch bechamel with chicken, bacon and macaroni and cheese, finished with green onions and Parmigiano-Reggiano.
“It’s very delicious and sounds simple, but it is wonderful,” Guillen-Givens said.
“We are definitely big into the specials. This is a more simple one, but sometimes we do some really crazy creative ones.”
Adams said working in an open kitchen hasn’t been too bad.
“I thought I’d hate it,” he said, “but I don’t.”
One of Blue’s brews is now for sale in cans as well as at the company locations, and more varieties will be sold in the future.
Their flagship beer, Citrasonic IPA, can be found at a multitude of local businesses: R Corner Store, McPhee’s Parkway Grocery and the Agnew Store, to name a few, White said.
He said the brews are to be sold at the Longhouse in Blyn and at Saar’s Super Saver Foods in Port Angeles.
“Blue does amazing work,” White said.
As head brewer, White explained, Blue runs the production side of things with one assistant brewer.
Said Guillen-Givins: “We think this is a really great town, and it means a lot to us to be here.”
For more information, see www.barhopbrewing.com or call 360-477-4257.
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Emily Matthiessen is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach her at emily.matthiessen@sequimgazette.com.
Sequim’s newest source of pizza and drinks, Barhop Brewing Artisan Pizza, features brews by Josh Blue, one of which — Citrasonic IPA, seen here held up by manager Andy Guillen-Givins — can now be found in local stores. (Emily Matthiessen/Olympic Peninsula News Group)