I will be moving to WA May 1st, I know about Whidbey Beer Works, and I've also done quite a bit of searching for local breweries, some sound really awesome. Are there any BA's on here from they Whidbey area or North WA?
I'm up in Bellingham. Whidbey Beer Works is a nice little store, I always stop in when I'm down there. I'm a huge fan of Flyers in Oak Harbor. I'm an equally big fan of Anacortes Brewing/Rockfish Grill in A-town. You'll be not too far from Mt. Vernon, which has Farmstrong, who in addition to brewing their own brews, also brew the beers for Skagit River. There's a couple neat bars in MV as well, I recommend the Porter House. North Sound Brewing just outside of MV is solid, but sometimes iffy. If you go south a bit, catch the ferry over to Port Townsend. Port Townsend Brewing and Propolis Brewing are both good stops. I recommend the food at Sirens in PT. The Pour House is another good beer choice over there. And then, Bellingham is only 45 minutes-hour drive north. Be happy to show you around if ya come up for a visit. Going to be stationed at NASWI?
Awesome. Thanks for the recommendations. Yes I'll be stationed at NASWI. It will be my last 2 years before retirement. I definitely plan on going to Bellingham, I'll hit you up when I get there.
Not sure of the origin, so here's what I know: the owner of Skagit wanted to focus on more of the restaurant side of things, yet still keep his brewery license. So, he's going to install a small system, and brew occasionally. The head brewer at Skagit, Mike Armstrong, took Skagits system, moved it a mile or so away, and opened Farmstrong. He's still brewing Skagits beers, and some of his own now as well. With me so far? Now, he's brewing some of Skagits beers, with the same names, but under the Farmstrong name; for example, I had several Cold Beer Pilseners a couple weeks ago, a beer that was a Skagit beer, but is now a Farmstrong beer. Got it? Not sure I do either. Farmstrong is putting out some nice brews though, so we got that going for us, which is nice.
I was also confused by the Cold Beer thing. My initial assumption was that Farmstrong was going to be Skagit's attempt at a farmhouse/wild brewery. I was wrong.
Yeah, that's what I was lead to believe at first as well. He is doing some stuff that hadn't been done at Skagit, so maybe with time we'll see something along those lines. They did a collab Saison with Boundary Bay for Belgianfest that turned out pretty nice.
So, is Farmstrong now doing Flyer's beers in place of Skagit River, or are they now brewing their own, or is Skagit River still brewing them? Dammit, N.Washington's beer scene is starting to need a scorecard!
I haven't talked to Tony at Flyers in a while, so what follows (except for the obvious facts) is pure conjecture on my part. They do brew at the Oak Harbor Flyers, but not the new Skagit airport location. AFAIK, Tony was only brewing the Flyers bottled product (Pacemaker Porter and Afterburner IPA) at Skagit River. 10-12 (or more) years ago, Tony was a brewer at Skagit, then went to Snipes Mountain, before returning to open Flyers. Again AFAIK, Mike and Tony are still on great terms, and I don't see a reason why the deal wouldn't continue, unless, Mike is just so focused on getting Farmstrong beers out into the system that it's not a realistic option at the moment. Again, the disclaimer: all this is just my speculation, many grains of salt should be taken.
