Tag Archives: kitsap on tap

New brewery planned in West Bremerton

badbulldogs The 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_n The 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

Tad Sooter

bremertonbreweries01_27506929_ver1.0_640_480 One 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.

Kitsap’s Year in Beer 2015
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Poulsbo has a lot of breweries, but it’s not quite ‘Brew City USA’

Tad Sooter

blog.valholl Poulsbo 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--291405 Rainy 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’

Tad Sooter

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

Graphic: Beer production soars in Kitsap

Tad Sooter

Kitsap’s Year in Beer 2015
Create your own infographics

Of course, Kitsap breweries represent just a tiny portion of Washington’s ballooning craft beer industry.

Here’s an interactive map showing licensed breweries and production across the state:

Kitsap brewers medal at Washington Beer Awards

Tad Sooter

Poulsbo’s Sound Brewery and Silverdale’s Rainy Daze Brewing claimed gold at the Washington Beer Awards this month.

Overall, four Kitsap-based breweries — Sound, Rainy Daze, Silver City Brewery and Bainbridge Brewing — combined for 13 medals.

Kitsap breweries made an especially strong showing in Belgian- and Abbey-inspired categories, where Sound picked up three golds.

Rainy Daze won the American-style pale ale category with its Stash Box III.

Here’s the full list of Kitsap medalists:

Other Wheat and Rye Beers

Bronze: Rainy Daze Brewing Co. – Rainy Rye IPA

English Ales

Bronze: Rainy Daze Brewing Co. – English Pale Continue reading →

Hale’s Ales bringing tasting room to Bremerton

Tad Sooter

Hale’s Ales left the Kitsap Mall but it’s not leaving Kitsap.

The Seattle-based brewery hopes to open a tasting room in West Bremerton, across the street from Hi-Lo’s 15th Street Cafe. Hale’s applied for a state liquor license Monday at 1509 Wycoff Ave.

Mike Hale said the brewery already had plans for a satellite distribution and storage warehouse in Bremerton. While setting up the warehouse, Hale and his partners decided they might as well open a “simple tasting room” on the corner.

The taproom could open as early as September.

“It’s a pretty fun building, a pretty fun spot,” Hale said Tuesday.

Hale’s will join Hi-Lo’s at the corner of Wycoff Avenue and 15th Street. An Irish restaurant called Bualadh Bos could also open soon near the intersection.

Hale said the mix of businesses should make for a busy, “beer-centric” hub.

Hale’s Ales closed its Silverdale alehouse in September, after failing to draw enough customers at the mall. Mike and Kathleen Hale, who’ve lived in Kitsap County since 1986, said they wouldn’t rule out another Hale’s location on the peninsula.

Now Silverdale’s loss will be Bremerton’s gain.

Kitsap brewer takes action to defend brand

Tad Sooter

With hundreds of Washington microbreweries producing countless varieties of beer, some trademark conflicts are inevitable.

Kendall Jones of the informative Washington Beer Blog posted this week about one such brand kerfuffle involving a popular Kitsap brewery.

According to Jones, Three Magnets Brewing Co. of Olympia renamed its Rainy Day IPA after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Rainy Daze Brewing Co. of Silverdale.

Rainy Daze owner Mike Montoney told Jones he didn’t want to take legal action against another brewery, but felt it necessary to protect the brand he’s worked to build.

For its part, Three Magnets said the IPA in question was named in honor of Rainy Day Record Co., an iconic store in Olympia. The beer has been renamed 3Mag Rain IPA.

Read the full story on the Washington Beer Blog.

In happier beer news, Rainy Daze just won the Favorite Brew Award at the Gig Harbor Beer Festival for the second year in a row.

Cidery gives fresh spin to Kitsap craft brew scene

Tad Sooter

In a county bursting with microbreweries and distilleries, a cidery was only a matter of time.

Homebrewers Joel Atteberry and Melissa Kittrell have stepped up to fill that fresh niche in the local craft beverage market. They recently founded the Bushel & Barrel Ciderhouse, a small cider making operation just north of Poulsbo.

While still in its “infancy,” Bushel & Barrel’s hard cider is starting to pop up in stores and drinking establishments around the county.

Kittrell said starting the cidery was a way of becoming more involved in the community. Sales of specialty ciders will benefit local charities.

Their business motto is “Micro cidery… macro cause.”

“I have always wanted to find a way to give back to the community that I love so much,” Kittrell said in an email. “The ciderhouse seemed to be a fun way that also added to the growing craft brewing culture that Poulsbo is embracing.”

Bushel & Barrel is making cider in a traditional style.

“I am striving to create a cider that is similar to and English style cider in craft, but exhibits an off dry and tart flavor from an abundance of granny smith apples,” Kittrell said.

Farmhouse Apple Cider is the cidery’s flagship variety. Kittrell is also producing limited specialty batches, including a hopped cider, and an oak and ginger cider.

Bushel & Barrel doesn’t have a tasting room yet, but you can find the cider on tap at Hare and Hounds Public House and Slippery Pig Brewery in Poulsbo; the Wig Wam Pub in Gorst; and Slaughter County Brewing and the Central Docks in Port in Port Orchard.

Marina Market in Poulsbo carries 22 oz. bottles.

Check the cidery’s page on Facebook for information and updates.

Courtesy images.

Silver City announces major expansion

Tad Sooter

Silver City Brewery, already the county’s largest beer maker, is tripling the size of its brewing system, according to a Wednesday news release.

The Bremerton brewery plans to add a new 35-barrel brew house in May to replace the 10-barrel system it’s used since 1996. AAA Metal Fabrication of The Dalles, Oregon, is manufacturing the hardware.

“They do quality work and we can’t wait to employ the new system and continue making great beer for our fans,” Silver City owner Scott Houmes said in the release.

Silver City already installed larger fermentation tanks and bright beer tanks (tanks where beer matures after fermentation) to keep pace with increased output.

The brewery produced about 8,600 barrels (267,000 gallons) last year. The new system could allow Silver City to eventually brew 20,000 barrels annually, said Kurt Larson, director of sales and marketing.

While Silver City has grown, Larson said the brewery is still focused on serving the same Western Washington market.

“The number one goal isn’t to sell more beer,” he said. “The number one goal is to sell beer fresh.”

Silver City is rolling out new branding and packaging this year. Larson said the new logos are intended to give the brewery’s offering a “clean and crisp look” that’s easier for customers to find on busy supermarket shelves.

Four Silver City beers — Ridgetop Red Ale, Cold One Pilsner, Ziggy Zoggy Summer Lager and a Sieben Braü, set for release next month — will be offered in 12-ounce cans.

The Sieben Braü is being brewed specially for Seattle Beer Week. Silver City is the first brewery outside Seattle to be invited to brew the official beer for the event, which runs May 7-17.