Happy endings: Yonder Cider and Bale Breaker Brewing to open Ballard taproom this summer

Seattle beer and cider lover's wildest dreams just came true: Yakima's Bale Breaker Brewing has announced that they will open a collaborative taproom with Yonder Cider — which was forced to close their garage bar retail operation earlier this month following complaints from a neighbor — sometime in summer 2021.

Not only does it mean that Yonder will be returning with a brick-and-mortar outpost, but it will also be the first expansion of Bale Breaker west of the Cascades. Due to their location in Yakima near the hop harvest, the brewery is known for their hoppy IPAs like the Topcutter.

The new taproom, which will be housed in the former Populuxe Brewing location, will feature 20 taps of Washington-made beer and cider, a first of its kind collaboration for the Emerald City. Rotating food trucks, outdoor fire pits and specialty releases are also planned.

The brewery emphasized that the partnership was natural as Yonder also focuses on using ingredients from Washington.

"Because our beer focuses on showcasing the best of our homegrown ingredients, partnering with Yonder Cider was an easy decision," said Meghann Quinn, co-founder of Bale Breaker in a news release. "We’ll bring the hops from Yakima, they’ll bring the apples from Wenatchee, and we’ll showcase the best of the east side of Washington to those on the west."

The new partnership does come with some legal hiccups. Under current Washington state law, cideries and breweries cannot share a single tasting room.

The owners have managed to circumvent that rule by establishing a distillery together, making the site technically a shared distillery for harder alcohol products (whiskey and apple brandy) that will also be developed.

Following the abrupt closure of their retail outpost in Greenwood, the owners of Yonder had decided to switch to just retail and move back to their Wenatchee production facility. The new partnership will allow them to stay in the Emerald City,

"By joining forces with Bale Breaker, we will be able to bring customers the full craft beverage experience," said Caitlin Braam, founder of Yonder." I’ve been lucky to call the founders of Bale Breaker friends for nearly my entire career and could not think of better partners for this exciting project."