Function expands into Idaho with Western Collective taproom partnership

Function is planting its next taproom inside an existing room instead of trying to build one from nothing, and that makes its Idaho move feel less like a leap than a carefully staged handoff. The rotating taproom concept will open June 2 at Western Collective’s Garden City space at 111 W 33rd St., giving Function an established Boise-area address, a patio, indoor seating, and an audience that already knows the site for beer, slushes, seltzers, and a night out.

For owner Casey Armstrong, the move also marks a personal shift. Armstrong relocated with his family from Portland to Boise, then chose to expand Function through partnership rather than a standard new-location launch. That matters in a market like Garden City, where the Boise River Greenbelt has helped turn the riverfront into a corridor for drinking and dining stops. The 25-mile path links more than 850 acres of parks and natural areas along the Boise River and connects downtown Boise to Garden City, making it the kind of foot-traffic engine that suits a rotating taproom built around repeat visits and a constantly changing slate.

The first guest partner will be Fort George Brewery of Astoria, Oregon, a name that brings instant familiarity to Northwest beer drinkers. Function’s model depends on making the room feel curated and event-driven, and Fort George fits that brief. Its own footprint has grown from a single brewpub into a full city block of restaurants, tasting rooms, breweries, community spaces, and music venues, which gives the launch a useful second layer of credibility: the guest brewery knows how to operate as a destination, not just a production house.

That shared audience is the real point of the arrangement. Western Collective keeps its own local taproom identity while lending Function a ready-made home base in Garden City. Function gets market access without shouldering the full burden of a ground-up opening, and Western Collective gets a fresh reason for regulars to return. The setup also gives both brands room to test how Boise-area drinkers respond to rotating taps, visiting breweries, and event-heavy programming before Function’s planned ground-up Garden City hospitality campus arrives in spring and summer 2027.

The timing places the project in a corridor that is already shifting. Garden City has drawn multiple new restaurant and bar concepts along the riverfront and The Boardwalk on the Greenbelt, suggesting that the area is becoming a cluster rather than a one-off address. Function’s original Northwest Portland taproom closed at the end of March 2026, but the Idaho opening shows how the brand is choosing to grow now: through collaboration, not isolation, and with a room that can start working on day one.