Washington Beer by Michael F. Rizzo

Author:Michael F. Rizzo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2016-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

2000–2003

A New Century

As the new millennium rolled in, the world prepared for Y2K and the end of the world as we knew it. Nothing happened, and life went on. By this time, the Internet was starting to become a powerful tool. America Online was still a profitable business, but in Washington, several breweries were closing their doors and others opening them.

Bart Traubeck grew up in Germany, and after serving in the army, he studied brewing. He sold brewing equipment and then was a brewery startup consultant. He sold Redhook Ale Brewery its first sixty-barrel system and helped owner Paul Shipman and plumber Rick Buchanan to get the system ready. When Buchanan started Buchanan Brewing Company in Oroville in 1995, Traubeck helped him and was given shares in the company. It failed in 1997, and in 2000, Traubeck bought it back from the bank. He reopened the brewery as Alpine Brewing Company on September 1, 2001. Unfortunately, Canadian tourism slowed down, and he closed the restaurant after two years. Traubeck brews true German-style beers while living two hundred miles away, traveling back and forth to keep the beer flowing.

James Gimurtu opened Birkebeiner Brewing Company in Spokane in 1994. Although brewing 3,300 barrels per year, he struggled to make the brewery work for six years and finally closed the doors on December 30, 2000.

Bob Craig was a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1979 when he “found out you could make your own beer and make it cheaply.” That set him on the path of many brewers, starting Walking Man Brewing in 1999 in Stevenson, which opened in 2000. The brewery has been a breeding ground for brewers, including Jacob Leonard (recipient of the 2007 Glen Hay Falconer Foundation scholarship to Siebel Institute of Technology) and Dan Munch, both of whom went on to Widmer Brothers Brewing. Then there was former Portland Rock Bottom Inc. brewer Bolton “Bolt” Minister and, in April 2013, James Landers. The brewery has a 17-barrel system, producing about 1,200 barrels per year.

After outgrowing his brewery in Leavenworth, owner Scott Hansen merged Leavenworth Brewery with Fish Brewing Company in Olympia in 2001. He sold more than three thousand barrels of beer in 2001. The Leavenworth brewery was closed in November 2001, and the equipment sold. Hansen became vice-president of Fish Brewing Company after the merger, and all brewery operations moved to Olympia.

Celtic Bayou and Farwest Ireland Brewing Company opened in Redmond in September 2001. Tom Mazur was its first brewmaster, staying for six years. In about 2004, the brewery was renamed Far West Brewing Company. Robert “Beaux” Bowman was lead brewer until 2006, when it closed the brewery. Celtic Bayou is still open though not as a brewery.

Fort Spokane Brewery Inc. in Spokane had been successful in getting its beer into local stores. Demand grew, but the brewery didn’t. The brewhouse was located in the basement, and it was damp and crumbling. “It turned into a situation very rapidly where we couldn’t make enough beer,” said manager Ryan Hopkins.

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