04/03/2025
As Garden Path Fermentation approaches its seventh anniversary this month, we’re facing a tumultuous time in our industry with many changes happening and even more on the horizon. First and foremost, we want to make something clear: Garden Path isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and our commitment to our mission hasn’t changed. We will continue making beer, wine, and cider with hyperlocal ingredients and native yeast in Skagit Valley and will soon be announcing some exciting new collaborative projects.
With that said—and no one ever wants to make this announcement, but here we are—our time at The Great Northern Bottle Shop & Lounge is coming to a close.
We opened The Great Northern almost two years ago with the goal of bringing Bellingham a unique curated selection of beer, natural wine, and cider from small independent producers around the world, most of which you wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished, including hosting Cantillon’s Zwanze Day last year, but, y’all, it’s rough out there right now. Last year was the first in decades that saw more brewery closures than openings, and with constant market changes, including new uncertainties with beer and wine imports and exports, we’ve decided we need to focus all our attention on Garden Path to make sure we can ride out whatever waves are coming.
Our last day of service at The Great Northern will be Saturday, May 3rd. In the meantime, we’ve expanded our hours at our Burlington location, where we’ll continue to maintain an amazing selection of beer, wine, cider, mead, and other fermented beverages, including not only our own products but also those made by small, independent, artisan producers around the world.
We want to thank all of you for your support over the last two years. It’s been a good run, and we hope to see you in the next few weeks to say goodbye.