Tag Archives: beer

Western Red Brewing approved in Poulsbo

13692467_492195667657390_684730540229642233_nA craft brewery planned for downtown Poulsbo received approval Tuesday from the city.

Western Red Brewing will open sometime next year at 19168 Jensen Way NE, near the post office.

It’s set to become the city’s fifth brewery, joining Rainy Daze, Slippery Pig, Sound and Valhöll.

Plans for Western Red include a 4,702-square-foot brewery and 1,552-square-foot tasting room, with room for about 97 occupants, according to a city notice.

In a recent interview, co-owner Marianna Smyth said Western Red will launch with a 15-barrel brewing system, which would place it among West Sound’s largest breweries in terms of production capacity.

I wrote more about the Smyths’ plans in this October story.

Travelocity names Kitsap a top 10 destination for beer tourism

brew2_21667175_ver1-0_640_480Kitsap County ranks among of the best destinations in the country for a “beercation,” according to one major travel website.

Travelocity recently released a beer tourism index to assess what areas of the nation are best suited for beer-centric travel.

The index ranks metro areas based on the number of breweries in the area, the availability of rideshare services, air accessibility and the cost of lodging.

Kitsap County (listed as Bremerton-Silverdale) landed at No. 10 on Travelocity’s list of top beer destinations in the small metro area category:

beerdestinations

It’s not a big surprise Kitsap would make this list, considering more than a dozen craft breweries are in business across the county.

Groups like Visit Kitsap Peninsula are already marketing West Sound as a “hops-lover’s heaven.”

New owner plans relaunch for popular Suquamish pizzeria

bella.luna.sunrise (1)
Sunrise from a table at Bella Luna

A new owner plans to relaunch Suquamish’s Bella Luna Pizzeria this month, rebranding the waterfront restaurant as Scratch Kitchen.

Lisa Hunt Ledbetter, who served as manager of Bella Luna for a year and a half, bought the business from former owners Bob and Kari Rowden in June.

In a farewell post on Facebook, the Rowdens thanked patrons for their support over 17 years, adding that “it’s been one hell of a ride.”

103_34621-300x277Hunt Ledbetter said she hopes to broaden the appeal of the restaurant, but her Scratch Kitchen won’t start entirely from scratch.

Fans of Bella Luna’s pizza will be comforted to know the pizza recipes will remain intact.

Scratch Kitchen will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. The eatery will have an Internet café vibe in the morning, with coffee, fresh baked goods, Wi-Fi, and perhaps a new seating area in the back room.

Hunt Ledbetter plans to expand the breakfast and lunch menus with more pasta recipes. Scratch Kitchen, as the name suggests, will emphasize locally-sourced produce and dishes made from whole ingredients, complemented by a selection of local beers (and kombucha.)

Hunt Ledbetter said she is a little nervous making changes to a restaurant that already has a strong following, but she believes Suquamish will embrace a fresh concept.

“I feel like in smaller communities, like the one we live in, people love something new,” she said.  “… I’m only going to expand on what Bob had, and keep it going.”

Work on a light remodel will begin this weekend. Hunt Ledbetter said the makeover will include new floors, new paint inside and out, and a revamp of the back room used for trivia nights and live music.

The restaurant should remain open throughout the project. Scratch Kitchen is tentatively scheduled to debut Sept. 12.

Check out the Bella Luna page on Facebook for updates.

New brewery planned in West Bremerton

badbulldogsThe former Grainger building across from Safeway could soon be home to Bremerton’s fifth brewery.

Silverdale residents Dave and Dawn Dodge (pictured) bought the Callow Avenue building last year and have applied for licenses to begin brewing in a portion of the 11,000-square-foot space. They hope to launch their Bad Bulldog’s Brewery as early as December.

Dave is a retired Arizona police officer who home brews beer and now works at Sound Brewery in Poulsbo.

“It was a blessing,” Dave said of landing his job at Sound, which has familiarized him with brewing on a commercial scale. “They’ve been really inviting to me.”

14034912_1412432445437392_2110010914126635088_nThe Dodges plan to build out their Bremerton brewery in stages. They’ll start by installing a 3.5-barrel brewing system in the lower level of the building and open a simple tasting room with a patio for outdoor seating.

Later the couple will add a full-scale tasting room one of the building’s street-level storefronts. A bar built around an opening in the floor will allow patrons to sip beers while watching brewers at work below.

Eventually the Dodges hope to transform the entire building into a beer-centric hub. The structure encompasses four separate commercial spaces with individual addresses, giving them plenty of room to experiment. They envision hosting a home brewers collective and perhaps a bottle shop.

It’s an ambitious vision, but Dawn is confident they can pull it off.

“When Dave decides to do something, he does it right,” she said.

Marijuana, not beer, was the Dodges’ initial plan for the building. They owned Emerald Coast Collective on Wheaton Way before it shut down at the end of June along with other medical marijuana dispensaries.

The couple applied for a license to place a recreational marijuana shop in the Grainger building, but were never approved. They joined a class action lawsuit against the Liquor and Cannabis Board with the hope of still landing a license.

If they prevail, Bad Bulldog’s Brewery could share the building with a marijuana store.

New owner, new name for Bremerton’s Wobbly Hopps Brewery

bremertonbreweries01_27506929_ver1.0_640_480One of Kitsap County’s newest breweries is set for a relaunch.

Wobbly Hopps Brewery, which opened on Fourth Street in Bremerton last fall, will change hands at the end of August and be rebranded as Dog Days Brewing sometime in the next few months.

Wobbly Hopps owners Jon and Sheree Jankowski are selling the business to fellow brewing enthusiast Jeffery Scott of Port Orchard. Scott takes the helm Sept. 1, just in time for Blackberry Festival.

The Jankowskis originally planned to hire a professional brewer to oversee operations at Wobbly Hopps, but that never came to pass. Jon said the couple has too many other interests and obligations, including full-time jobs, to carry on running the brewery.

“I haven’t mowed my lawn in a year,” he said.

Jon believes Scott will preserve the friendly atmosphere and unorthodox brews customers enjoy at Wobbly Hopps.

“I waited until someone came along who I could trust to take it over,” Jon said.

FullSizeRender
Jeff Scott brewing at Wobbly Hopps

Scott said he’s been homebrewing for five years and worked an apprenticeship at Sound Brewery in Poulsbo.

He was considering opening another brewery in downtown Bremerton before striking a deal with the Jankowskis.

Scott will take over a five-barrel brewing system and a lively taproom with an outdoor seating area. He’ll continue serving Wobbly Hopps’ beers at first, while gradually adding his own recipes to the mix.

Scott’s first beer, a “Dog With No Name IPA” is already brewing for the Sept. 1 opening.

“I can’t wait to serve some beer to the neighborhood,” Scott said.

Check the Wobbly Hopps and Dog Days Brewing Facebook pages for updates. And keep an eye on this blog for more Bremerton brewery news coming soon.

Bainbridge pizzeria featured on Forbes

B0012876307--549344Forbes.com contributor Micah Solomon interviewed a Bainbridge Island pizzeria owner for an in-depth look at customer service in the pizza business.

That’s A Some Pizza owner Will Grant told Solomon about the importance of maintaining quality service in a fast-paced environment, and how Yelp reviews used to keep him up at night.

Grant also recalled the time his Winslow Way shop received a barrage of prank phone calls from Green Bay Packers fans, all ordering cheese pizzas.

You can read the full interview here. 

Sadly, they don’t discuss That’s A Some Pizza’s recent rollout of a beer delivery service.

Poulsbo has a lot of breweries, but it’s not quite ‘Brew City USA’

blog.valhollPoulsbo is about to get a fourth brewery.

As we reported last week, Silverdale’s Rainy Daze Brewing will move north late this summer to take over Sound Brewery‘s original tasting room on Bovela Lane. (Sound is moving its tasting room to the current Campana’s Italian Restaurant building on Viking Avenue.)

B0013216035--291405Rainy Daze will join Sound, Slippery Pig Brewery and Valholl Brewing in Little Norway.

With four breweries in a city of less than 10,000 residents, Poulsbo will certainly have an embarrassment of malty riches. So it’s fun to wonder where Poulsbo rates among craft beer crazy towns.

There are all kinds of ways to rank cities and states based on beer. Which has the most breweries? The most breweries relative to population? What city produces the most barrels or consumes the most beer? And which has the “best” breweries?

When it comes to breweries per capita at least, Poulsbo isn’t ready to claim the title of “Brew City USA,” as it was recently dubbed in the North Kitsap Herald.

There are a number of cities here in Washington with higher ratios of breweries to people. After all, we live in a state with more than 300 licensed breweries and a lot of very small cities.

Using a database of licensed breweries from 2015 provided by the Liquor and Cannabis Board, and the state’s official population estimates, I put together a quick list of Washington cities blessed with high brewery-to-population ratios. I ignored breweries that didn’t report any production in 2015 and stuck with incorporated cities.

Poulsbo
Population: 9,950
Breweries: 4 (once Rainy Daze opens)
Ratio: 1 brewery per 2,488 residents

Westport
Population: 2,110
Breweries: 3
Ratio: 1 brewery per 703 residents

Stevenson
Population: 1,530
Breweries: 2
Ratio: 1 brewery per 765 residents

Roslyn
Population: 890
Breweries: 1
Ratio: 1 brewery per 890 residents

La Conner
Population: 895
Breweries: 1
Ratio: 1 brewery per 895 residents

White Salmon
Population: 2,420
Breweries: 1
Ratio: 1 brewery per 2,420 residents.

Based on a quick scan, it does appear Poulsbo could become the smallest city in the state with four or more breweries. That by itself would be an accolade worth toasting.

Poulsbo’s Portside Pub to become ‘Brass Kraken’

The former Portside, a beloved waterfront bar in Poulsbo, will reemerge from the dusty depths of renovation as the Brass Kraken Pub, according to posts on Facebook.

New business owners have a long list of improvements planned, including fresh flooring (that green carpet was getting long in the tooth):

Posted by The Brass Kraken Pub on Monday, February 1, 2016

Look for the Brass Kraken to open in late February or early March.

Posted by The Brass Kraken Pub on Monday, January 18, 2016

Valhöll Brewing celebrates 5 years

imgresPoulsbo’s Valhöll Brewing has come a long way in five years. 

Founder and head brewer Jeff Holcomb started the microbrewery in 2010. Since then, Valhöll has expanded, garnered awards, built a loyal following at its tap room and become a staple at local bars. 

The Norse-themed brewery is throwing is throwing itself a birthday bash starting at noon Saturday.

The party will include BBQ and a special beer release. Musical guests Mike Hererra and Branden Daniel & The Chics will perform at 2 p.m. 

Valhöll isn’t the only Kitsap brewery marking five years in 2015. Poulbo’s Slippery Pig Brewery and Bremerton’s Der Blokken were also born in 2010.

See the brewery’s Facebook page for details.