Six and a half years ago, Moscow was a place left without a brewery, and an individual inspired by beer decided to open up Hunga Dunga Brewery.

Owner Graham Lilly studied microbiology at the University of Idaho and was thinking about continuing on to medical school.

“I got sort of derailed and decided that maybe I should open a brewery,” he said. “Brewing has been a passion of mine for a long time and I decided to follow that when I graduated.” 

Lilly said when opening up a brewery and making a career shift, you kind of have to jump in with both feet. 

His love affair with beer all started when he tried his first IPA and he thought it was the best stuff ever, he said. 

He was attending beer festivals at a young age and began pursuing other good beers, Lilly said. Back in the day, Moscow wasn’t known for getting a lot of variety of good beer, so he started home brewing so he could make beer he enjoyed drinking. 

“[Home brewing] is a trial and error process,” he said. “Brewing is a scientific process so you’re trying to control specific parameters within the process and homebrewing is actually a terrible way to control those parameters.” 

While their start at home brewing went well, he has had to dump a lot of beer down the drain in order to get where he is now, he said. 

Hunga Dunga Brewery is built on the amazing community in the area, he said. They get people from Moscow, Pullman and all over the place that go to check out their facility. 

Allison Martinez, WSU senior broadcast news major, took her dad to Hunga Dunga Brewery over Family Weekend, she said. 

They were hoping to get out of the chaos of Pullman during this busy weekend and so they fell upon Hunga Dunga and thought it was a perfect fit, she said.

“It was honestly above and beyond what I thought it was going to be. We got lucky and there was live music which was so fun and perfect for all of our Dads that were there,” she said. 

Lilly said the nice thing about the brewery is that it gets everyone under the sun. They have young people, students, grad students, members of the community and professors. Hunga Dunga is a dynamic environment but creates a meeting place where anyone can feel welcome. 

The building has 30-foot high ceilings and is a really spacious space, he said. It has a nice environment with lots of wood and stainless steel. While a brewery is naturally an industrial environment, Lilly tries to make it a nice and comfortable place for his customers. 

They have 13 beers on tap, everything from a hazy IPA to a coffee stout. They also have a couple seltzers that were collaborations with Esti Bravo and Pullman that are a twist on classic cocktails, he said. 

Along with beverages, they carry various bar food that pairs wonderfully with beer. They have an elevated version of various burgers and tacos, he said. 

Hunga Dunga also has a lot of specials and events throughout the week to engage their customers. On Saturday they have seltzer specials, Friday six packs to go are just $10, Thursday they have a pitcher deal, Wednesday they have their mug club deal for their popular hazy IPA and Tuesday they have their mug club deal, he said. 

With all the work Lilly has put into Hunga Dunga to make it a place for connection, he really enjoys doing events and throwing parties for the community, he said. 

“It’s been a really rewarding experience being able to provide for the community,” he said. 

Hunga Dunga is located at 333 N Jackson St in Moscow.