Updating causes Drush error Drupal::setContainer()

Problem/Motivation

Upon upgrading to 2.2.3
drush throws errors on any command.

In Drupal.php line 169:
                                                                                                             
  \Drupal::$container is not initialized yet. \Drupal::setContainer() must be called with a real container.  

Reverting to the previous version 2.1 the error goes away.