New life & brews from a Shelton landmark

Owners Tom Beben, Monica (Mo) Carvajal-Beben and Drew MacEwen are excited to announce the newest Smokin’ Mo’s adventure, High Steel Beer Co.

A friendship founded on good beer, Tom and head brewer Evan Puckett are taking their common love of the art of craft beer to the next level in a bigger facility.

While Covid shut down a lot of the restaurant industry for most of the last year, the Smoking Mo’s team made good use of the down time by restoring the brewery space that has sat vacant for many years on the corner of 1st and Grove Streets. There you will now find both Smoking Mo’s restaurant and High Steel Beer Co. all under the same roof.

Evan brings his four years of brewing experience after running Keyhole Valley Brewing, a brewery that Evan started out of his garage that eventually grew to serve many local beer establishments.

Evan says, “It’s been a dream of mine to brew full time, and now it’s even better that I get to do it with great people.”

The Shelton restaurant team created this brewery with the heart and soul of the Pacific Northwest in mind. “We truly want to showcase the beauty and magic our slice of heaven here holds with the use of local flavors and ingredients,” says Mo, who is helping as the art designer and merchandise manager for the new business. She adds, “We gather inspiration from the local landscape and folklore.”

This is evident in their beers such as Oakland Bay IPA, Hammersley IPA and Arcadia Amber. One of their most recent brews lovingly called Beastman Porter is a nod to the local legend of John Tornow, a mysterious figure that gathered fame after a 19 month manhunt ended with his death in 1913. Tom and Mo explain, “We believe bbq and history go hand in hand. Starting here as outsiders, it was not only important for us to bring our history to our new community in Shelton when we opened Smoking Mo’s, it was equally important for us to explore and understand the history of this area too. High Steel Beer Co. has served us an opportunity to once again combine our story with the story of our new home.”

While the team has hopes to eventually share their beers throughout Western Washington, for now the beer team is keeping their focus local. You can find their beers on tap at Smoking Mo’s, The Town Pub in Shelton, Hama Hama Oyster Saloon in Lilliwaup, and Oly Taproom in Olympia.

High Steel Beer Co. is located at 233 South 1st Street inside the new Smoking Mo’s building on the corner of 1st and Grove Street.