Beer Pioneers
On Tap 2025 Series • March 20 • Volume Three
Spokane Craft Beer On the Map
How do you put a city on the map? No-Li was already asking that question when Spokane’s local craft breweries were still coming into their own.
“For us, it was always about creating validation for this city that it could be a beer center — not just in the Northwest, but across America or the world,” says No-Li founder and owner John Bryant.
Back in 2012, global renown for Spokane as a craft beer hotspot sounded wildly ambitious. But Bryant knew that the city already had a reputation for punching well above its weight. If the Zags could do it on the basketball court, why couldn’t local breweries?
Yet cultivating a world-class craft beer scene isn’t something you do alone. It takes the passion and support of a community.
Bryant takes inspiration from some of Spokane’s up-and-coming breweries, like Whistle Punk Brewing. “In addition to many of their delicious beers, Matt Hanson and his father Craig make the best Czech Pils on the planet,” says Bryant. “They represent the spirit of craft brewing and community. They make us all better.”
Whistle Punk’s co-founder Matt Hanson says that in his brewery’s early days No-Li’s collaborative spirit was a catalyst and a resource for smaller startups like theirs.
“They’re the originators in town, right? They have been the ones to do things first in the Spokane area. And so they created a lot of shared knowledge. Plus, as our biggest brewery, they do a lot to bring attention to Spokane.”
That attention comes in many forms — most visibly through sought-after industry awards. With a total of 190 (and counting) to its name, No-Li has been America’s most decorated brewery for several years running when it comes to international distinctions. In the past few months alone, European Beer Star gave No-Li’s Wrecking Ball a coveted silver medal for Best Imperial Stout. Just before that, Wrecking Ball took the bronze medal in the 2024 Brussels Beer Challenge and gold at Japan’s International Beer Cup.
No-Li’s extensive lineup of IPAs — including Big Juicy, Born & Raised, Imperial Squatch Juicy Haze and Cascade Fog Hazy — also racked up awards on multiple continents throughout 2024.
And No-Li isn’t alone in enjoying that success. Through the Craft Brewing Certification program that the brewhouse helped establish at Eastern Washington University, No-Li and EWU garnered a bronze medal for their E Dubbel U Belgian Ale at the 2023 Asia International Beer Competition in Singapore. It was the first medal ever shared by a university in an international brewing contest.
“That brings a lot of eyes to the culture of brewing that’s being cultivated in Spokane,” says Hanson. “Anytime a brewery like No-Li wins an award, it just shows the high-quality level of beer we’re making here.”
”Matt Hanson and his father Craig
Hanson, make the best Czech Pils on
the planet, in addition to many of
their delicious beers. They represent
the spirit of craft brewing and
community. They make us all better.”
- John Bryant
