New Brewery in Eagle – Gem State Brewing
2024 has barely gotten off to a start, and the Treasure Valley has another new brewery. This one is in Eagle and has been a long time coming.
Location Location Location
Gem State Brewing opened its doors officially Jan 6th to a full house and a line nearly out the door. At 293 E. State, two and a half blocks east of Eagle road, it’s strategically placed. While nearby Garden City has gained quite a reputation for breweries, they are all several miles away. The local Eagle folk, I expect, will welcome a beer neighbor like Gem State. They open at 3 during the week and at Noon on the weekends. Closed on Tuesday.
Chris and Kristl McGinnis, run the place. Chris has been involved with at least a couple beer spots locally in recent years, including County Line (now Clairvoyant) which is where I knew him from. As I recall that was about the time CL was making some of their best beer…not coincidentally.
Beer Style Diversity
Well, we all have our favorites, but variety is the spice of life after all. Chris is on record as having a bit of an affinity for dark beers. As you might expect a few of his initial offerings definitely qualify. An Oatmeal Stout is on the tap list, along with an Espresso and Raspberry variant. A quite flavorful “4.5%”Session” IPA, a Pilsner and a few flavored Kettle Sours round out the opening tap list.
I missed, or rather avoided the mayhem of opening day and instead stopped by on a wednesday afternoon, 4 days after the grand opening. I arrived shortly after 4pm and the place was already near capacity. The crowd slowly dissipated over the next couple hours as I tried most of what was offered. The Stouts were smooth and roasty, with the coffee and raspberry, respectively not overwhelming. I thought the IPA was quite good, and was surprised to see it at under 5% ABV.
This new construction building is neat and clean and seems to fit well in the central Eagle commercial zone. I didn’t have any trouble finding nearby parking. Inside, tall ceilings, exposed ductwork and simple but comfortable seating fills out the space for 70 or so. Reports on the plans for the new beer spot have been circulating since as early as May 2019, and in case you forget what WAS in this location before work began, below is the “Before” pic.
The brewing equipment they had installed looks capable of ramping up production as needed. Im looking forward also to plenty of small batch and “one-off” recipes, along with whichever turn out to be their “Flagship” beers. It looks like Gem State Brewing will be a great addition to the area. It will definately be on my shortlist for a cold pint after work in the days ahead.