A Civic Effort
To help galvanize the group of new brewers, Bryant and the other local owners have recently created the Inland Northwest Ale Trail — an informational guide and map featuring 16 craft breweries in Spokane and Western Idaho.
That guide and map also features another important part of growing the association between the area and its brewers: Visit Spokane, the city’s primary programmatic arm for tourism promotion, contributed $13,000 of grant funding for the development of the Ale Trail.
“The craft breweries are something of an asset that we feel is promotable,” said Tim Robinson, the director of communication for Visit Spokane. “The scene has matured and there is something going on here that we want to share.”
Craft’s growth hasn’t gone unnoticed by Spokane’s mayor, David Condon.
“We are having this resurgence in our neighborhood business districts,” he said of the influx of new breweries. “As a mayor, you want to create identity in your neighborhoods. I think it [craft] is a great opportunity for us. Typically, craft brewers are very involved in the community and it can bring back that excitement.”
But to bring the excitement, you’ve got to spread the word, which is where another joint effort between Bryant and Visit Spokane has come into play: they teamed up in late summer to invite beer journalists — like us at Brewbound, as well as freelancers like Kendall Jones, who covers the growing Washington beer industry — to visit Spokane and look at the developing beer culture.
While there is plenty of evidence to suggest that that culture is brewing in Spokane, Jones said it still lags behind some of the country’s more developed beer metropolises.
“I’d say it is catching up,” Jones said. “Right now, Spokane might be a little bit behind the curve and I think that some have some work to do. Ultimately, I think craft beer needs to be established as part of the reason why people come to Spokane. There are reasons why people visit Bend or Hood River and craft beer is a part of that. Spokane needs to embrace the brewery business and have it become part of its identity.”
But it’s going to take more money, more knowledge, and even more effort.
“I notice it a lot in the brewing industry and everywhere I go,” Jones said. “Some of the brewers in Seattle have done a fantastic job of getting the funding they need to grow, but in other places it’s been problematic.”
In Spokane, Jones added, “Some of the businesses were underfunded. But there are people in Spokane, like John Bryant, who know what it takes to grow a business. Hopefully he passes on some of his knowledge to other breweries in the area.”
Papazian, who visits many communities across the country and samples beer from small brewers said he was impressed with the quality of beer coming from the Spokane area during his own recent visit.
“When I visit breweries, I am tasting beer as fresh as it could possibly be,” he said. “Everything I tried was pretty good, but making good beer and serving it at the brewery is one thing. Making sure it can survive all of the conditions between you and the customer will be the challenge of technology.”
Still, he said, there’s precedent — and inspiration — that can be drawn from the towns that have pulled it off.
“I would say that towns like Grand Rapids or Asheville or Portland, Maine, in last 5-to-7 years have all come from nowhere to being some place,” in the beer world, said Papazian. “Spokane can do it as well.”
“I would guess that Spokane isn’t roaring back from the economic depression but it is coming back slowly,” he added. “If there was a thriving beer scene, it wouldn’t surprise me to see it become a beer destination. It is a beautiful place to hang out.”
Editor’s note: This article appeared in the Nov. issue of BevNET Magazine