Category: BrewPubs

Loose Screw Beer Co. – Meridian Expansion

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Modest Beginnings

The Loose Screw journey started late 2014 in Garden City at 4340 W Chinden as “Haff Brewing”. A location now occupied by craft brew newcomer Ruckus Brewing.  Not coincidentally the subject of a recent article posted a few weeks back right here by yours truly.  The modest 7 barrel system at this original site has produced beers for Haff Brewing from December 2014 until early 2016, which at that time sold and became Bella Brewing.  During the “Bella era” Marcos Moss came on as brewer and owners Bethany and Chris Hughes rebranded Bella as “Loose Screw Beer Company” in early 2020.

From their Bella beginning, the Hughes’ had plans brewing to expand in to Meridian. In February 2021 the time was right and their new location opened in North Meridian at 1511 W. McMillen.  A big new space, more taps, more seating capacity, a large outdoor shared patio , even pizza and ice cream.   Production was a bit of a challenge for a while as there was no equipment at this new location.   Still, they managed to have plenty of their own taps available as well as a few guests.

New Owners and Continued Growth

About a year later, in the spring of 2022 Mike and Pam Garcia purchased Loose Screw as the popular beer spot continued to gain a West Boise/Meridian following.  The latest expansion was announced in the spring of 2023, set to take over a former funeral home.  I’m thinking there’s got to be some clever beer names in the works soon calling back to the former tenants. The “Loose Screw Coming Soon” sign had been on the building for quite a while, and in mid November, construction/remodeling was finally finished.  Loose Screw joins Heritage Hophaus a few blocks south and other Meridian newcomer Voodoo Brewing out of Pennsylvania. The area is becoming a real hot spot for evening beers and snacks.

Family Friendly

Head Brewer, Marcos is still here, now joined by Jake McCann and we toured production facility the other day. I was impressed with how compact the brewing space is while allowing for the increased capacity.  Premiere Stainless Systems was brought in for the design and construction of the custom set-up based on Marcos’ Mike’s vision. Some very nice equipment affords the team plenty of flexibility and style options. A couple of horizontal fermentation tanks are included in the system to better simulate traditional lagering.

The dining area has an assortment of seating options. The main bar with cushy personalized seats. (Presumably named for early donors/partners), classic heavy picnic tables, long high-top tables and ever a few 4-tops with tall chairs.  Perfect for keeping those elbows at 90* for those of us hammering away at a new blog post. The place is dog and kid friendly with non-alcohol beverages and water bowls, not necessarily respectively….   Local food truck outfit  “Big Beantz Taco Co.” has a permanent association with Loose Screw and is part of scene on-site.

Loose Screw has been growing into a major player in the area’s craft beer scene and their new location right near down town Meridian looks to be a fixture for a long time.  It’s already one of my favorite spots.

-Cheers

 

 

Garden City’s Brown Beard is growing

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Bryce at Brown Beard Brewing has been open and serving beer for a little over a year now, in west Garden City. Over that time he has gathered and maintained a loyal local following. The spot has become a popular after-work or weekend afternoon hangout for quite a few locals.  Myself included. Most of the taps are selections you’d not be surprised to see.  Also, too are usually a few taps that show off his creativity. I appreciate the variety and am always checking on what is new on the times I stop by.

 

Early Growth

From day one, literally, just keeping up with demand for his popular brews was a challenge. So much so that he nearly sold completely out on opening day. Being equipped with a 1 Barrel system means long and/or frequent brewdays, just to keep taps flowing.  After closing up shop for a couple extra days there in the beginning to catch up, he was back in business. Even with the addition of some equipment several months later and the expansion of his walk-in cooler, it has been a lot of work to maintain levels.  Some guest taps and other beverage options help with this as well. 

Kristen Anderson, Bryce Tuttle (baby Nader), Cortni Nader, Matt Nader

Idawild Brewing at 5720 W Chinden, just a mile away, had been open since the Summer of 2022.  As of last week, owners Cortni and Matt decided to permanently close up shop and instead, dedicate more of their time to family. A new baby will tend to do that. We wish them the best of course and enjoyed the beers they made for the couple of years they were there.

So, one of the worst kept secrets among the Brown Beard regulars, was announced. Bryce would be moving in to Idawild’s location, more specifically, expanding into it.  The additional location should work well for a couple of reasons. There are plans to remodel the original location a bit and expand its music venue facilities.  The new space and it’s bigger brewing system will help boost production and that site will stay more of a classic taproom.  New offerings perhaps, but surely, bigger batches can mean fewer brewdays when keep up with popular beers.

Music Venue

Live music is a passion for Bryce. He has had many artists on his modest stage and on a warm day with the garage door up the tunes fill the surrounding parking lots. Visiting artists include local musicians, Andrew Chappell, Landonius Monk, and the Talbot Brothers as well have made a couple of appearances. Bryce himself has occasionally picked up a guitar and joined in on some of these music nights. I’ve been there for many of these and they’re a ton of fun.

This new space has a little history many of us will recall. Barbarian Brewing, an early arrival to the area craft beer scene, got started in that space. They were there for several years until March of 2022, a few months before Idawild moved in. Barbarian has since opened a downtown taproom as well as a new location on E 32nd at the east end of Garden City.

Bryce and Kristen have a lot of fans in the Garden City area.  All of us Brown Beard regulars are looking forward to the changes he has in store and to the increased availability of the great beers has been making this past year or so.  Let the Brown Beard keep growin’ !

New Brewery in Eagle – Gem State Brewing

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2024 has barely gotten off to a start, and the Treasure Valley has another new brewery. This one is in Eagle and has been a long time coming.

Location Location Location

Gem State Brewing opened its doors officially Jan 6th to a full house and a line nearly out the door. At 293 E. State, two and a half blocks east of Eagle road, it’s strategically placed. While nearby Garden City has gained quite a reputation for breweries, they are all several miles away. The local Eagle folk, I expect, will welcome a beer neighbor like Gem State. They open at 3 during the week and at Noon on the weekends. Closed on Tuesday.

Chris and Kristl McGinnis, run the place. Chris has been involved with at least a couple beer spots locally in recent years, including County Line (now Clairvoyant) which is where I knew him from. As I recall that was about the time CL was making some of their best beer…not coincidentally.

Beer Style Diversity

Well, we all have our favorites, but variety is the spice of life after all. Chris is on record as having a bit of an affinity for dark beers. As you might expect a few of his initial offerings definitely qualify. An Oatmeal Stout is on the tap list, along with an Espresso and Raspberry variant. A quite flavorful “4.5%”Session” IPA, a Pilsner and a few flavored Kettle Sours round out the opening tap list.

I missed, or rather avoided the mayhem of opening day and instead stopped by on a wednesday afternoon, 4 days after the grand opening. I arrived shortly after 4pm and the place was already near capacity. The crowd slowly dissipated over the next couple hours as I tried most of what was offered. The Stouts were smooth and roasty, with the coffee and raspberry, respectively not overwhelming. I thought the IPA was quite good, and was surprised to see it at under 5% ABV.

This new construction building is neat and clean and seems to fit well in the central Eagle commercial zone. I didn’t have any trouble finding nearby parking. Inside, tall ceilings, exposed ductwork and simple but comfortable seating fills out the space for 70 or so. Reports on the plans for the new beer spot have been circulating since as early as May 2019, and in case you forget what WAS in this location before work began, below is the “Before” pic.

The brewing equipment they had installed looks capable of ramping up production as needed. Im looking forward also to plenty of small batch and “one-off” recipes, along with whichever turn out to be their “Flagship” beers. It looks like Gem State Brewing will be a great addition to the area. It will definately be on my shortlist for a cold pint after work in the days ahead.

Bert’s Brewing to open its doors

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Boise, for a long time had been home to 3 or 4 breweries/Brewpubs and in the mid 2000s everything craft beer sort of took off. Garden City seemed to be the epicenter of that explosion, partly due to the favorable utilities rates offered to commercial tenants. Payette, Crooked Fence, Kilted Dragon, and Barbarian were the early ones. A bit later, County LIne, Powderhaus, Western Collective, Twisted District and most recently Ida Wild, and Brown Beard came in. All setting up shop on the 3 mile stretch of Chinden, from I-184 to just past Glenwood.

A few of those establishments, sadly are no longer with us, but this year a couple more have popped up. The newest, “Bert’s Brewing” on Brown st near the Orchard down ramp is poised to open its doors. Its public opening is set for next week but myself and a few other “family and friends” were there this evening to check out the place. I have to say it will likely be one of my favorites going forward.

A modern but comfortable facility, plenty of natural light, small tables and comfy chairs for a couple dozen. Room for 8 or so at the bar. Garage doors for sunny days and/or warm evenings, and an outdoor patio. All tucked in up against the mini-connector carrying commuters down Orchard to Chinden from Fairview above. At first I thought that the hustle and the bustle of the nearby commute traffic would be a bit “present” but it actually feels like you are up under most of it. The natural landscaping and geography, sort of shields you from it all and somehow feels not so near.

I immediately ordered a flight of their current offerings, and thought all their beers were well done. Clean, light and tasty and just “professional”. I thought the West Coast IPA was fresh, hoppy , though not particularly aggressive. Balanced, fresh and easy to get along with. The Porter I had was smooth, lightly roasty and just a very nice pint. They are staggering their prices with the light Mexican lager a meer 5$. Up to a couple dollars more are charged for the bigger hoppier beers. Definitely a welcome price point, especially for a new venue in these times and this area.

I got to chat with Sidney, one of the owners and she told me their story. It could not have been more charming. A young couple, Robert and herself, each with several years of beer industry experience. Robert in the production, packaging side and recently completing brewing training in Chicago and Germany. Sidney on the restaurant and commercial side managing restaurants and tending bar. They met at a brewpub in Orange, CA and must have quicky sensed that the universe was speaking to them. In short order, they agreed, the best plan was to get married, combine their experience, move to Boise and open a brewery. Now, a year or two later, I for one am glad they did.

The tradition of Garden City’s “Brewer’s Row” has thus increased its craft beer presence, and in a very good way. West bound commuters on Chinden , will pass no less than 8 or 9 craft beer establishments on their way home. Ill be one of them, and will be stopping my Bert’s on a regular basis.

-Cheers

How clean is your beer glass ?

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When we order a pint of our favorite beer we like it to come in a clean glass. A good barkeep will even take a second and hold it up to the light, looking for any specks or dishwater marks before he/she fills it. There is another part to this, however. While we want the inside of the glass clean… the out seid e of it is important as well.

Sometimes an aggressive pour will cause a bit of a “foam-over” and sometimes this is OK. That’s what coasters are for. Other times we want this cleaned off so we don’t get beer on our hands. The question is HOW do they clean the beer off of the glass after a bit of a “cup-runneth-over” event.

Wipers and Squirters

In my experience and observations, there are two main methods. The squirter, and the wiper.

The former, usually involves a plastic squeeze bottle with a fine tip. They will hose down the outside of the glass with a little (presumably clean) water after the pour. When the glass is delivered, is still wet, but at least it is only water. Sometimes it is a little kitchen-sink style push button sprayer. I suppose the advantage with this is that there is no bottle to refill every 20 min on a busy night.

The latter, simply is that after pouring the beer, the server will pick up a dish rag, sometimes called a “bar mop” and wipe down the glass. I have a couple problems with this.

One is that unless, and there is very little chance of this, that is the FIRST use of this towel, the beer is just more evenly spread out all over the glass. Thus there are no remaining dry spots left on it. Secondly, I likely did not actually witness that towel being deployed to this service. I then have no way of knowing how long its been since they swapped it out. Who knows what may be growing on that beer damp towel. It likely smells like a medley of stale beer and the colonies of bacteria that have been feeding on it.

Maybe the place is a bit more conscientious and they have the towel is in some sanitizer solution. Slightly less obnoxious, maybe. But now my pale ale just smells like clorox every time I take a drink.

I have a preference here, obviously. Perhaps the best way to illustrate my point, when I see a wiper, is to ask the server it they are willing to lick that towel.

-Cheers

2C or not 2C

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At the risk of burring the lead, the answer is sadly, the latter.

2C Family Brewing is no longer with us as of April 4th. The brewery, along with a couple other spots made “downtown” Nampa a fun and interesting hub of Food and Beer destinations. 2C Occupied the historic 115-some-odd year old Dewy Scales building at 1215 1st Ave. It was adjacent to Mesa Tacos, Paddles up Poke and across from Holy Cow, Messenger Pizza and the last remaining PreFunk beer bar.

Mark Shiebout and Alvin Mullins, long time homebrewing buddies, opened their doors in late June, 2019. 2C seemed from the beginning to specialize in continental European beers, German lagers, Bocks, Belgians and Saisons etc. In August 2021 Tyler Vanden Heuvel came on board as head brewer and tweaked the beer lineup a bit. He had been at Meriwether Cider and Mother Earth before, bringing considerable experience with him.

From then on there were more offerings and typically a few more North American traditional styles included in the mix. Overall that last year and a half or so saw an improvement in the better selection, and quality, frankly. The more recent “Hop Projekt” IPAs and hazy pales were particularly good. Tyler should land somewhere else hopefully soon as I hope to keep drinking beer he makes.

There wasn’t a food menu at 2C, but you could always of course bring in your own. Sometimes there was a grill going with hotdogs and what-not, for a couple bucks. There was frequently live music on the weekends as well. The rustic long tables and original hardwood floor and high ceiling contributed to the casual friendly “beer-hall” atmosphere.

For whatever reason, after nearly four years, it just didn’t work out and the first weekend in April, they closed they’re doors for good. Its a shame, 2C really added to a vibrant and fun city center and was the beginning of a little resurrection of downtown Nampa. Such as it is.

Unknown at this time, what will become of that site, or who will take it’s place. I doubt it will be as fun and tasty as 2C was for the nearly 4 years they were there. There is some local chatter that suggests nearby Crescent Brewing is purchasing much of 2C’s 10-Barrel capacity brewing equipment.

It’s always sad to witness the sunset of craft beer destination. Nampa only has a few, Mother Earth, has its major production facility a mile North with a nice tap room. Crescent Brewing is about 3 blocks west. But that is about it as far as “brew-on-premise” craft beer sources in the immediate area.

We are all sad to see them go.

-Cheers

My Favorite Boise Beerspots #001 – Woodland Empire

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As I’ve mentioned before, Boise is a pretty good beer town. There are a few dozen breweries, taprooms, growler stations and dedicated beer-bars in the Treasure Valley and I’l be featuring one every so often. Not so much a review per se’ just my thoughts and observations on whichever location I find myself at that day.  Some key characteristics, my likes and maybe not lo likes and some details that make it unique. Every spot has a niche, or rather the good ones usually do and Ill focus a bit on that for each.

Today I’m at Woodland Empire. A Brew-On-Premise site that opened nearly 10 years ago in early 2014. I posted about that at that time, and you can read it here. It was a great time interviewing owner/brewers Keely and Rob Landerman.

Since the beginning, WE has had a sort of an irreverent, Bohemian, “Portlandia”, laid back vibe that I imagine would fit in well somewhere in Greenwich Village, maybe across from the record store between the body art shop and the funky coffee joint.

Coming up on a year ago now, Woodland was sold to Boise area group with local restaurateur Dave Krick and a few others including Lost Grove Brewing owner Jacob Black. You can read that story here, on BoiseDev. I’ve been in several times since that change-over and I can tell you the place still feels the same and the promised intent of staying loyal to what the Landerman’s had envisioned, seems to hold true. While my gut doesn’t necessarily love, fewer people owning more craft beer spots, the deal, as mentioned in the article on BoiseDev just seemed to make sense. The right thing at the right time for both parties involved.

Woodland, not long ago, sacrificed some of their parking (not that there was much to begin with) for a patio seating area. While hearing the rushing of home-bound commuters flooring it to catch that last light before the connector is not ideal, it is still a nice option.

There are barley 12 taps here, including a couple guest taps: ciders and Kombucha. There are always a few odd balls that are fun to try and typically few regulars that everyone knows. Namely the Big Sticky, and City of Trees, a couple of IPAs that were here from day one. If you can find a bottle of their Ada County Stout, it is a must have. A real local gem. A couple of coolers are here as well for some of their packaged offerings to go. While you are having a beer, there are even a few old-school machines here if you fancy yourself a bit of a pin-ball wizard. Check it out.

Woodland Empire is a good Beer-Spot

-Cheers

Run to the Hills !! – Barbarian Invades BoDo

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Today marks the day that Barbarian Brewing expanded in to downtown Boise proper. Having been in Garden City for the last nearly two years and establishing a tight knit fan base, it was apparently evident that they needed to spread out a bit and make their offerings a bit more accessible to their downtown/north end base.

Taplist

A recent Idaho Statesman article quoted co-owner and brewer James Long as describing this addition is not so much an expansion (in production) as it is simply a way for more Boise folks to have access to the same great beers that they have been making since their beginning in late 2015.

The doors officially opened at 3:00 PM today August 18th and while there wasn’t exactly a line waiting outside the door, by 3:20 the place was full. The couple hours I spent trying several of their offerings, (particularly the few that were saved for this event), the place only got fuller. Clearly this was an event that was due for Boise.

Settling within just a few blocks from such craft beer tap choice locations as 10 Barrel and the Taphouse as well as PreFunk and Woodland Empire only a block or two away, Barbarian has given a shot in the arm to an already vibrant and active craft beer epicenter that exploded several years ago.

 

The Barbarian folks had most of the same brews on tap that they recently were pouring at the original Garden City location, but also had several others that they had apparently been hording for the opening of this new location. The Watermelon Sour was particularly good, a departure from the all-too-common and what I expected to be an ultra light melon infused wheat ale, but was instead a malty rich amber concoction with full melon rind flavors and a big smooth tartness. Don’t expect kool-aid or jolly rancher sugary red melon on these things. The Bluetooth was also a good barrel aged blend with a little of the blueberry coming though.

 

Barbarian has sort of been a little funky hole-in-the-wall place that carved out a niche for itself in the Boise beer scene as a company that was not afraid to make off-beat, sour, creative, barrel aged beers, and this expansion/event has shown that Boise is ready for more of what they have to offer. You can’t swing a dead cat around here without hitting someplace that makes a Pale Ale or an East Coast IPA, or a Brown, but if you are interested in “embracing the funk” and “getting you’re Brett on” by trying a Mint Lime Gose or a Belgian Dubbel with peaches or a Rhubarb Strawberry Sour Quad…you’re going to have to drive down to Garden City…or no…wait, just right down on Main st. next to the cigar shop to get your freak on.

Just glad to see a niche artisan brewer do its thing…and do it well.

Cheers

Woodland Empire opens it’s doors

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Another landmark event in the Treasure Valley’s craft beer explosion.  Woodland Empire Ale Craft opened it’s doors yesterday afternoon and began pouring the first four of what promises to be an interesting and eclectic gamut of craft beer for Boise area folks. I was there an hour after they opened their doors for the first time, officially and got to try everything they had.

An open, relaxed and somewhat spartan tasting room, with nice picnic table style seating and high small tables.  A few cushy chairs at one end and the whole space still slightly smelling of fresh paint.  It was already half full at 4pm with people continuing to trickle in as the after work crowd started to show up.  By 5 o’clock it was pretty much packed.  Rusty, one of the owners spotted my computer and made sure I had the wifi password as I staked out a corner table.

Their 4 “regulars” were on tap.  “City of Trees IPA”, “In the Morning Mild”, “Gold Days Tripel”, and “Rabbit Fighter ESB” (there’s got to be a story behind that name).  All of them were good, particularly the Mild.  Kind of a light brown ale made with coffee from Doma Coffee of Post Falls, ID.  All of them were very sessionable, though the Tripel was approximately %9.  No “in your face” obnoxious experimental triple IPA bitter bombs or 17% Imperial Stouts, but more a line up of beers that are great for having (a few of) over relaxing conversations.

There are some more “risky” seasonal recipes coming down the pike for WEAC but these are likely to be the main line up for a while at least.  The 4 sampler “flight” was even served in an old muffin tin and the self-serve water cart was stocked with 1 liter flip-tops.  A nice touch.

It was a bit of a who’s who there with brewers from multiple local breweries and representatives from several local publications.  It’s fair to say that Rob, Rusty, Keely and the rest of the crew were making it happen.  It was a big turnout, a great start to an exciting and welcome addition to the Boise Beer scene.

 

 

From Boeing to Beer

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Tonight, Mike Francis of Payette Brewing talked to the small crown gathered at the public library on Collister about his transition from Boeing engineer to running a brewery that has become one of the rising stars in the Boise area the past couple of years.

Mike1

As part of the recent and ongoing Boise craftbeer explosion, Payette is setting itself apart with a full on canning line and a lineup of clean professional brews that are really starting to populate an take over cold boxes all over the treasure valley.  Their modest but tidy and modern tap room seats a couple dozen and nearly every seat is in full view of the glorious fermenters lined up in the back like North Dakota missile silos.

It was a 7PM event so I figured I’d start the night off right, hitting Meridian’s Slanted Rock for their red ale and then since Kilted Dragon was on the way to the library…kind of… I stopped by there and tried their new IPA “MoSeMoDo”  Have to keep up on new Boise beer as I have a responsibility to both of my readers.

Mike2

We packed out the Sycamore room in the back of the library with 30-40 beer enthusiasts and listened as Mike told us his story of how he was and is a Idaho guy, but moved to the Seattle area to attend UW for his Industrial Engineering degree.  This got him a job at Boeing right away but he soon tired of watching 737s roll out of the Boeing plant day after day, and finally gave in to his calling of brewing.

The Chicago based Siebel Institute learned him up on this new field and he brought it back to Boise where he finally set up shop in Garden City after a lengthy search for the right space.  Stories about landlords going into foreclosure, main sewer lines in the wrong place, brewing equipment suppliers flaking out, and the advantages of sloped floors were shared, and the importance of a good business plan was also brought up.

As a brewer that has gotten in early and pretty much kicked off the areas transformation, as a significant and relevant beer town, Payette has taken the role of supplier of restaurants and grocery stores with their higher capacity and canning line.  Not really a
“BrewPub”, other places in town will produce more one-offs and experimental esoteric beers.  Mike and his crew seem fine heading in the direction of filling coolers and shelves in the region with their Outlaw IPA, North Fork Lager, Mutton Buster Brown, Payette Pale and possibly others in the future. Distribution is state wide and also as far as Pendleton, OR currently with a growing territory I’m sure on the horizon.

After an hour or so we all moved next door to a new cafe’ and coffee house called Salt Tears, where Mike fielded some more questions and poured tasters of some of Payette’s beer.  I got a chance to ask him if his business/marketing model allowed for enough experimental brewing to satisfy the creativity that most brewers feel the need to exercise.  His monthly “Ales of no Return” series rotation of seem to fill this for him.

It was fun to get to know Mike a little and gain some insight on his early trials getting this thing to fly.  He is still having fun, even though he confesses he doesn’t get to brew much these days and business seems to be going well.  Just a little get-to-know-you and making a connection with the man behind the beer.

-Cheers