Ask a Kenmore local what just wrapped up on 175th Street and you'll hear about the wiener dogs, the Bavarian sing-alongs, the beer garden that took over the block for nine days. Ask what's happening on that same stretch of the Burke-Gilman Trail next, and most people will tell you they're not sure yet. That gap in the story is the story. The address that hosted this year's Oktoberfest beer garden isn't going dark for the winter. It's finishing a build-out that's been thirteen years in the making, and the timing is not a coincidence.
The Taproom That Isn't There Anymore
For thirteen years, 192 Brewing ran the taproom at 7324 NE 175th St, one block north of Lake Washington on the Burke-Gilman Trail. Then brewmaster Derek Wyckoff shifted his focus to wholesale distribution and closed the 192 Lake Trail Taproom for good. That closure is the reason Copperworks Distilling Co., which already operated a cocktail bar and tasting room next door, could sign a lease on the vacated space this April and nearly double its Kenmore footprint.
The date on that lease is its own small piece of trivia: April 1, exactly fourteen years to the day after Copperworks signed the lease on its original downtown Seattle distillery. Copperworks president Jason Parker has been candid that the closure came with mixed feelings, saying the team was sad to see a longtime neighbor close that chapter but saw a real opportunity to grow into the space in a way that honored what was already there.
Four Concepts, One Address
What's replacing the taproom isn't a single new bar. It's a reorganization of the entire property into four distinct concepts under one roof.
| Concept | What it is |
|---|---|
| Copperworks Barrel House | The original cocktail bar and tasting room, renamed |
| De La Soil's kitchen | The existing farm-to-table kitchen, staying put inside the Barrel House |
| Copperworks Tavern and Whiskey Garden | New space next door, serving beer, wine, and cocktails |
| Ember BBQ | New barbecue restaurant inside the Tavern, from De La Soil chefs Cody and Andrea Westerfield |
Ember's menu leans into the same farm-to-table instincts that built De La Soil's reputation, but points them at global barbecue. Chef Cody Westerfield has described the approach as bringing together everything the team loves about barbecue and farm-to-table cooking with flavors pulled from cuisines around the world, with early menu items like chargrilled shishitos in sumac tajin and Carolina gold barbecue sauce, and an ember-roasted beetroot dish built around watermelon, aji amarillo chevre, and cashew dukkah. The cocktail list at the Tavern follows the same instinct outward, with a preview list that includes a Washington Old Fashioned made with Copperworks Peatsmith and smoked cherry, and a Gochujang Plum Gin that pairs the distillery's plum gin with lime and Squirt soda.
As of a Washington Beer Blog report published September 13, the Tavern is close enough to opening that Copperworks has launched a Founders Club, inviting supporters to buy in for a rare single-cask whiskey release, a gift card, and an invitation to the soft opening before the space opens to the general public. Parker has framed the last three years at Copperworks Kenmore as a slow build toward this moment:
"For the past three years, we have watched Copperworks Kenmore grow into a community gathering place, becoming a hub filled with weekly events, pop-up markets, live music, dance nights, an annual Plum Festival, Oktoberfest festivities, farm-to-table fare, special chef dinners, Copperworks cocktails and spirits, and much more."
That list matters, because it means the Tavern isn't launching into a quiet corner. It's launching into a spot that already had a built-in audience from the events Copperworks has hosted on the property for years, including the one that just ended.
The Same Block Just Spent Nine Days as a Beer Garden
The third annual Kenmore Oktoberfest ran September 12 through 20, drawing more than 3,000 people to what organizers describe as a city-wide celebration blending Bavarian tradition with Pacific Northwest character. The lineup ran from the Oktoberfest Fly Away 5K and 10K to a ceremonial firkin tapping, Bavarian sing-alongs, and the Wiener Dog Races, now in their own third year, staged with a marked course launching on the Burke-Gilman Trail and heading east toward Bothell before looping back. Organizers describe it as a collaboration among local businesses, community nonprofits, the Bothell Kenmore Chamber of Commerce, the City of Kenmore, and residents, with no single business running the show.
But the beer garden itself sat on Copperworks property, poured by Copperworks and fed by an Oktoberfest menu from De La Soil, including a collaboration beer brewed with Postdoc. That's the detail that connects the festival to the construction next door. The same team that just spent nine days running a temporary beer garden for the whole city is now finishing a permanent version of that same idea, four concepts deep, on the same footprint. Oktoberfest didn't happen near the Tavern build-out. It happened as a preview of it, using the existing Barrel House and kitchen while the Tavern space next door had its final coat of paint drying.
The Market Emptied Out, the Calendar Didn't
A few blocks away, Town Square just lost its other seasonal anchor. The Kenmore Farmers Market runs weekly Wednesdays from 3 to 7 p.m., June through September, and by the city's own description it's built around local growers, artisans, food trucks, and rotating musicians on the plaza next to The Hangar. That's the kind of low-key, recurring fixture that shapes a neighborhood's sense of its own rhythm more than any single big event does. As of this week, the tables are gone for the year.
If the pattern held to a typical shoulder season, this is where things would go quiet. They don't. On September 26, Heidelfest takes over the lawn at St. Edward State Park for its 17th consecutive year, hosted jointly by Trinity Church Woodinville and Emmanuel Church Bothell. It's free, family-friendly, and built around the same basic formula Kenmore keeps returning to all year: food, drink, games, and people showing up outdoors together. The state park sits at the opposite end of the neighborhood from the Burke-Gilman corridor where Oktoberfest and the Copperworks expansion are playing out, but it's proof that the market closing for the season and the Tavern still curing paint aren't a lull. They're a handoff.
That's the pattern worth understanding if you spend any real time in Kenmore. The neighborhood doesn't have one big annual weekend that everything else orbits, and it doesn't really go dormant between seasons either. It has a rotating set of addresses, Town Square, the Burke-Gilman corridor, St. Edward State Park, that trade off hosting duties throughout the year, often literally handing the same crowd from one event to the next before anyone notices the transition happened. The Tavern opening into a space that already has three years of built-in foot traffic from Copperworks events isn't luck. It's how this particular stretch of the Eastside has worked for a while now.
If you're watching Kenmore for reasons that go beyond the next long weekend, whether that's a move that's still a few seasons out or just curiosity about how a neighborhood like this holds its value, Milaina West group knows this corridor well enough to talk through what a market like this actually rewards. Book a free consultation to start the conversation.
