PNW BA’S! Sounding off to let you all know who F.O.B. is what our mission is. I have a minute while the only thing on my plate today is to wait for my beer lines and equipment to show up, then it’s off to Emerald Downs with the family to watch things go boom in celebration of this great country of ours. Our website has some of the basic information but needs to be dialed in a little bit to reflect what beers will actually be available opening day, when that opening day actually is and what our hours will be. F.O.B. is owned by Jared (Owner/Brewer/Server/Janitor) and Chris (world travelling pilot). My wife and I have pretty much had our hands on or in every aspect of the build out. Electrical has been the only thing we stayed out of. The original goal was to take a bunch of shipping containers and turn them into a brewery but what we wound up with was a warehouse space in DuPont that has been turned into a Forward Operating Base within a warehouse. I started homebrewing back in 2000 and after a rough day in Afghanistan in 2011, I sat down and thought to myself, hell with all this, I’m gonna brew beer!” Then with the help of an Entrepreneurship program for disabled Veterans and Cornell I learned what a business plan was and kept putting one foot in front of the other. Last year a close friend, Chris, reached out and offered to help with some of the financing. In spite of me trying to talk him out of it he wanted to invest and here we are. The goal is to offer the Military community a brewery they can identify with. Hopefully the whole community wants to come and have a beer in what we have built. I have always felt our men and women of the Military deserve better beer than the mass-produced stuff that gets stocked floor to ceiling on Post with American flags covering the 24 packs. The beers will be standard offerings. Not re-inventing the wheel at all just really good, clean, beers made with what I feel are the best possible ingredients. Our base malts all come from Skagit Valley Maltings. Our hops all come from Yakima with the exception of some Hallertau, Northern Brewer and Saphir from Germany. I was stationed in Bamberg, Germany for 4 years and grew to really love well-made lagers. I respect them enough to know not to brew them! There will be some barrel aging and wild beers just to keep me from growing stale but those won’t be the focus of F.O.B. In addition to beer I am partnered with other local Veteran owned companies such as De Espresso Liber (Special Forces Veteran roasted coffees) and our beers are each paired with a specific Veteran charity. Right now, just a couple small hurdles are in our way. Learning real fast how to work with PSE. The space is really cool and has a subtle feel of a Forward Operating Base you might find in Iraq or Afghanistan. I am excited and frustrated and proud and anxious all rolled together. Nothing will make me happier than when I finally get to start serving some beers! Respectfully, Jared
Wow, I can't wait to eventually visit. Sounds like a very cool spot. Big respect and thanks to you for your service to our country.
PSE is a 4 letter word for me right now. We are at their mercy and waiting very impatiently so our new kettles can fire up and brew.
Yeah....PSE, Puget Sound Energy. They were in no hurry to provide a proper sized meter. Fixed now and brewing so news will be coming SOON
