Running a brewery isn’t just waving a magic wand at grain and water and hops until beer appears; it’s dealing with dangerous gases, caustic chemicals, scalding water and a dozens of other things that can harm or even kill you. It’s not flipping a switch and you’re in business; it’s assembling a complicated, resource-hungry manufacturing system at the same time you’re building a neighborhood bar. Prepare to deal with bureaucracy at many different levels, and a mountain of ensuing paperwork to follow.
Opening a brewery open is often hell. You have to be hell-bent to follow your dream.
Today, four individuals who were hell-bent to open a brewery introduced their Hellbent Brewing Company to Seattle’s Lake City neighborhood. They were all smiles after their 608-beer-served soft opening Wednesday.
At noon, Brian Young, Chris Giles, Randy Embernate and Jack Guinn unlocked the doors to their 20-barrel brewery and expansive tasting room at 13035 Lake City Way NE, directly across the street from Fred Meyer, and just a few blocks north of Elliott Bay Public House and Brewery. Head brewer Young (Redhook, Gordon Biersch, and Rock Bottom) tapped his four new beers — First Born IPA, Olympic Hills Spring Ale, Funky Red Patina Red Ale and Jasmine Wheat — as well as invited breweries such as Bale Breaker, Black Raven Brewing, Backwoods Brewing and others. Eventually, 20 beers will flow from the taps fronting the glass window showcasing the brewing room.
“Basically, our IPA was our first beer, so thus the name,” says Embernate. “I’m certain we’ll brew variations of it and tag them with new names. We grew up on hip-hop, so that’s the reason behind the Our Funky Red Patina Red Ale name.”
Hellbent’s space was a former earthquake retrofitting metal shop. Today, it’s a handsome space with reclaimed wood and steel fixtures, a main floor with high-tops, tables, couches and an L-shape-ish bar made of milled madrone trees, a spacious upstairs lounge complete with pool table, darts, arcade golf, sport hunting and several wide-screen televisions. During warm weather, like today, the adjacent beer garden offers couches, comfy chairs, tables and food trucks.
I was hell-bent to make the brewery’s opening day. Check out a few photos I snapped.
