Winston Churchill said, “Most people hate the taste of beer to begin with. It is, however, a prejudice.”

With breweries and the craft-beer market growing, it’s safe to say Washingtonians have become prejudicial about their fondness for beer.

According to the Washington Beer Commission, there are 308 breweries in the state of Washington, up from 281 in 2014. Of those 308, 14 are situated in Kitsap County.

“I would love to see more in Port Orchard,” said Scott Kirvan, owner of Slaughter County Brewing in Port Orchard. “It wouldn’t hurt to build a beer culture here.”

Overlooking Sinclair Inlet in Port Orchard, Slaughter County Brewery used to be a restaurant and lounge called the Beachcomber that thrived in the 1970s. Kirvan said he likes the history of the location and even named the brewery after the county’s original name.

In the 1880s, Kitsap County was Slaughter County, named after Lt. William Alloway Slaughter, a local man killed in 1855 in the Yakima War. However, it soon became apparent that people didn’t want to live in an area called “Slaughter.” Two years later, in the county’s first election, several names were optioned, none of which were “Slaughter.” The name Kitsap eventually won, but the history hasn’t been lost on Kirvan.

“A friend told me, ‘Breweries do a lot of land claiming.’ They get named after the neighborhood they’re in, or landmarks,” he said. “That’s why we have our Blackjack Brown, named after Blackjack Creek right there.”

Kirvan, like other brewers in the area, believes that in today’s society beer is closely tied to culture, and its development is a fascinating history.

“A big thing for me is beer education,” Kirvan said. “I want people to think differently about craft beer and what it means to be drinking fresh-brewed beer.”

Kirvan said it’s a brewer’s job to find a beer for everyone.

“We vary base malts, yeast, fruit, some have sour, so there is a lot of variety,” he said of Slaughter County’s brews. “They all taste vastly different, so we can hit a lot of people’s taste. Find a beer for everybody: that’s our job.”

Kirvan said he has been brewing for about 35 years. He used to live in Minneapolis, working with a software company when he and a friend pooled money to buy a home-brew system.

After working in Los Angeles and then moving to Seattle for a few years, Kirvan bought property on this side of the water and established Slaughter County Brewing in 2011.

“We opened in August 2012 but established it in 2011 because it takes a while for a brewery to come together and happen,” he said.

Kirvan describes his brewery as an “Irish pub overrun by pirates.” With decor looking as if it was Jack Sparrow-approved, it’s an apt description.

Slaughter County isn’t the only brewery in the area with unique ambiance and history.

In Bainbridge Island Brewery’s flagship line: the Kommuter Kolsch, Eagle Harbor IPA, Bainbridge Island Single Hop Pale Ale, Arrow Point Amber, and Battle Point Stout.

Silver City Brewery has a tap room in Bremerton and flagship restaurant in Silverdale. It is named for “Silver City,” the convergence point right before you jump off into the wilderness of the Olympic National Forest on your way to the Pacific Ocean. Unlike most breweries, which usually are dark and metallic, the flagship restaurant is flooded with light from its large windows that show off a wilderness scene that’s reminiscent of a century ago.

Valhöll Brewery in Poulsbo has a Nordic theme inside, with reclaimed wood and metal from the area used throughout. The brewery is named after the great hall of Odin, where warriors who die as heroes in battle dwell eternally. Another interesting fact: a library that was pro-Prohibition was once located on the site.

Valhöll’s owner Jeff Holcomb used to visit the library and laughs about how he now brews in the corner he used to read in as a boy.

Newcomers to the area, Wobbly Hopps and LoveCraft, recently opened in downtown Bremerton on Fourth and Fifth streets, respectively.

Wobbly Hopps has a white rabbit theme, with brewed-beer varieties called Hopping Mad, IPA, Hopalong Banana and Belgian Dubble.

LoveCraft, just opening this month, gives customers a front-row seat with a bar facing the gleaming three-barrel brewing system to watch beer being made.

Sound Brewing in Poulsbo serves Belgian-style brews and, like Slaughter County, Der Blokken Brewery in Bremerton and Slippery Pig Brewery in Poulsbo also serve a full menu.

Although all 14 breweries are in the same business, Kirvan said there is no competition among brewers. In fact, they all drink at each other’s establishments.

“The brewing community is awesome. [The other local breweries] were all super-supportive when we opened,” Kirvan said. “I could drive across the country and feel at home with other breweries. It’s pretty cool.”

With the diversity of brewing just in Kitsap County, Kirvan has stepped outside the realm of brewing just a simple pale ale.

“We have a really good handle on fruit,” he said. “In the summer, we brew a blackberry Belgian white with black pepper and blackberries called Luna Negro.”

Luna Negro is a play on the popular West Coast beer Blue Moon, also a Belgian White-style beer. Kirvan likes word play when it comes time to name beers. For example, he originally objected to making a pilsner until he brewed his Gorst and, eventually, Gorst Light (named after the unincorporated community on Sinclair Inlet, neighboring Bremerton).

A group from Seattle came and asked why he didn’t have Pabst Blue Ribbon.

“I said, ‘I’m not serving PBR. I’d rather make a crappy beer for you,’ ” Kirvan said. “The funny thing is, it turned out really good and it’s cheap.”

And he was able to make a “Gorst Light” shirt with a logo that resembled that of Coors Light.

One of his favorite things about brewing is the engineering behind it all.

“I like to know how things work, and beer is one of those things,” Kirvan said. “The amount of influence beer has had on our culture and society fascinates me.”

The culture of Slaughter County Brewing has grown. In the past year, it hit 200 barrels of production and was in the top third most-brewed in the state. They had a booth at the Bremerton Brew Fest in July and were in the top three in the “most-tastes-given” category.

“We also have a lot more wholesale. We’re really taking off in Tacoma,” Kirvan said.

Several local restaurants also rotate Slaughter County beers on tap.

“Every community should support their brewers,” Kirvan said. “The closer to the beers home, the better the beer tastes. It helps the local economy and the community. We want this to be a community spot. That was our goal to begin with.

“We want to turn people into craft beer people.”

That’s a goal Winston Churchill would second.