The New Kid in Town
John Bryant has a resume that reeks of craft: he had previously worked at relatively big operations as the president of Oskar Blues, as well as the COO of Odell Brewing in Fort Collins, Colo. and VP sales and marketing at Deschutes Brewery.
Early last year, however, Bryant moved his family to Spokane in an attempt to rebrand the tiny Northern Lights Brewing Company, a business founded in 1993 by his current partner, Mark Irvin. In the last 18 months, he’s rebranded the company to No-Li Brewhouse, received federal approval to label beers made with local ingredients with the phrase “Spokane-Style” and helped No-Li become the first Spokane beer company selling beer in something other than a keg.
“Until we introduced bottles, 100 percent of the beer sold in Spokane, that was packaged, was brought in from another city,” Bryant said. “We have great craft beer brands here like New Belgium or Sierra Nevada. So craft beer is being sold, it’s just not local.”
So to create a beer scene, there has to be local beer — and that’s something that Bryant has tried to change. Indeed, since he has moved to Spokane, 15 new breweries have sprouted up within a 40-mile radius of the city.
“Spokane has wanted this to happen,” said Greg Brandt, the co-founder of Iron Goat Brewing, which opened in 2012. “When John Bryant came to town, it got people excited and it opened the door for a lot of us to step in and start brewing professionally,” he said. “Now, I think people are finally starting to take pride in local craft beer.”
Around town, there are signs that both on and off-premise retailers are investing behind the continued growth of the craft segment. Gary Gill, the owner of JB’s Bottleworks, recently added 30 feet of cooler space and a growler filling station with 20 draft lines.
“There is a high demand for craft beer,” he said. “I carry about 3,000 different beers now, and it’s almost 45 percent of my total sales.”
In the downtown area, the Post Street Ale House has changed its menu to accommodate more local products.
“Four years ago, there were a lot of domestic brands on tap,” said Lloyd Keehner, the restaurant’s general manager “Since then, we have changed what we carry. Our vision was always to be an ale house with local craft beers. Now we can focus on having those types of beers on draft.”
Keehner said that overall beer sales represent about 38 percent of the restaurant’s business, of which about 75 percent comes from craft.