Beer of Historic Proportion

Microbreweries seem to be popping up throughout the Northwest these days, but there is a long history of brewing beer in Wallace.

Sunset Brewing,
Wallace 1902

At the time the main brewery was the Sunset Brewery, which had burned down, but their beer kept the fire fighters going. The local water was polluted with Typhoid which prevented people and firefighters from being able to drink water.


After the 1910 fires

The new Wallace Brewing Company isn’t hoping for any big fires, but they do encourage everyone to drink their beer. Here’s a list of breweries in Wallace over the years:

Carl Mallon Brewery 1889 – 1902, at the corner of Bank & King Streets.

Sunset Brewing 1902 – 1915, this is Idaho’s most photographed brewery
Sunset Mercantile Co. Inc. 1934 – 1937
Sunset Brewing Co. 1934 – 1937

Gem State Brewery 1939 – 1941
Sunset Mercantile Co. 1941 – 1946
Deluxe Brewing Co. 1946 – 1948
Wallace Brewing Company 2008 – present


Wallace Brewing Company started on January 4th, 2007 when Dean Cooper and Chase Sanborn sat down for their first meeting. By summer Herb, Tony & the Zanetti Family had come on board and a location was found. The Jergensen Brewery had just gone out of business in southern California and we purchased the whole operation. Rick Magnuson joined the ownership team with marketing and business expertise.

The next year was spent re-modeling & moving the brewery into the historic Coeur d’Alene Hardware building in downtown Wallace. January 1st, 2009 the Wallace brewery and Orehouse Tasting Room opens to the public, Dirty Blond Pale Ale is the only beer served.