On June 6 Fremont Brewing, the largest and oldest taproom in Seattle, Washington reopened its beer garden under the guidelines set forth by the state’s “Safe Start” reopening plan.

But 10 days later Fremont’s Urban Beer Garden (UBG) was closed again after one of its employees tested positive for COVID-19.

That employee, who was asymptomatic, worked only one shift (July 9^th) at the taproom and the brewery, which took every effort to open in keeping with state guidelines took to social media to announce that it had reclosed the venue over coronavirus concerns…

“Before reopening, we considered what we imagined to be all scenarios and we established protocols,” says Sara Nelson, one of the owners at Fremont Brewing told the Washington Beer Blog……

 “Our decision to reopen wasn’t made lightly and we wanted to do all we could to make sure we were keeping our customers, our employees, and our community as safe as possible. When we found out about that employee’s test result, we immediately closed the UBG and looked at our protocols, which dictated how we would move forward.”

Here is the statement Fremont Brewing released via social media on June 16th…

[box type=”shadow” ]Today, one of our Urban Beer Garden employees tested positive COVID-19. This employee is asymptomatic (e.g., has no symptoms), immediately notified us, and has placed themselves in self-quarantine.

We know our employee’s last shift at the Urban Beer Garden was on Tuesday, June 9th and our employee showed no COVID-19 symptoms, had an acceptable temperature when they reported for their shift and wore PPE including a mask and gloves; and used social distancing and sanitation best practices while working their shift.

 

While it is impossible to know when our employee contracted COVID-19, out of an abundance of caution for our community and employees, we are taking immediate action and closing both the Urban Beer Garden and our production facility to allow for immediate testing of all Fremont Brewing employees and for a full sanitation of all Fremont Brewing facilities.

We are actively seeking medical counsel to make sure we’re taking the strongest measures possible to ensure the safety of our customers and employees. We’ll re-open when it is deemed completely safe and prudent to do so. Please check our website and stay-tuned to social media for updates and news regarding re-opening.

We appreciate your patience. [/box]

It is not clear when the Urban Beer Garden will reopen. And all Fremont employees have been instructed to get tested.

This is the brave new world that the craft beer industry is returning to…