There are still too many sad stories to tell and we may never get all the way back to what we once considered normal, but that shouldn’t stop us from taking comfort in this kind of news. Cooper’s Alehouse, which calls itself “Seattle’s original alehouse,” is now all the way open. Full-time. Seven days a week. This, after a closure that lasted well over a year.

Hard to argue with that assertion about being the “original.” If there’s a tavern or alehouse in Seattle that’s been into craft beer longer than Cooper’s, I don’t know about it. Back in 1984, when the alehouse opened with a commitment to serving good beer, you could count the number of breweries in Washington on the fingers of one hand. You could count the number of craft breweries in the entire country on your fingers and toes. Folks called ’em microbreweries back then.

It was a sad day in the spring of 2020 when the windows at Cooper’s were boarded up. The pictures that showed up on Facebook were horrifying (below). It was a sinking feeling and not just from a beer perspective; this closure seemed emblematic of something much bigger and darker than itself alone. Thinking back to that time in the spring of 2020, when good news was hard to find, everything seemed dire and foreboding.

Cooper’s sat cold, empty, and silent for over a year. It was in October of 2021 that Cooper’s Alehouse reopened. Not fully open, and with limited hours of operation, but open nonetheless.

Yesterday Cooper’s Alehouse announced that it has reopened full-time. Now open seven days a week. Like the closing, the full-time reopening of this iconic, venerable Seattle beer hall seems emblematic of something bigger than itself. We all talked about coming back out into the light. We all dreamed about the before times, and this news from Cooper’s Alehouse is just too good not to share.

“We are happy to announce we are reopened all 7 days a week again, featuring a fresh new food menu,” said the announcement on Instagram. “Still serving 22 of the Northwest finest on tap and more in bottles and cans. Current Tap list is available on the Untappd app. Pool table and four steel-tip dart boards available (Ping Pong upon request). So come on in and check out a Kraken game or the Sunday NFL package on our 8 screens and enjoy some of the best the PNW has to offer.”

Welcome back to the surface, Cooper’s Alehouse. So good to see you again old friend.