Here's some recent press re: them: http://m.inlander.com/spokane/two-for-one/Content?oid=2872129 Just put them into the queue. I remember hearing about them when they first got started, but I've had no occasion to go to Arbor Crest since then.
Was going to try and hit them, but I recall their hours were terrible (close at 5, like in the pm!), as was the pricing ($7 a pint) but we haven't been up this summer.
I expect those prices to change if they distribute kegs, as it sounds like that's something they want to do. Nobody's going to drink a non-"walez, bro" type beer for $7 when good or better beer is being sold at the same place for $4.50-5.00.
They told me at the beginning that they set prices high to maintain a more upscale atmosphere ("We don't want people to come up here and think it's a beer pub"). As for hours, tasting room usually closes at 5 but the beers also are served for Thursday/Sunday concerts and other special events.
Re: their pricing, I get that. I don't agree with that mentality, but I get it. I've seen boorish behavior by wine tourists that would equal anything seen in a well run brewery taproom. If they have any hopes of distributing with those prices, every keg is going to have to be some sort of barrel-aged ambrosia that's been dry hopped with unicorn tears. A standard lineup of pale/amber/IPA/ stout just isn't going to sell at $7 per pint unless you have a captive audience, like their concerts. At this point, unless they do make a serious move to push out into the market, with all that entails, I don't see the brewery as anything more than an adjunct to events at the winery and a whim of the owners of Arbor Crest.
BTW, @Babbo , saw you at River City last week, I'd have said hello, but you were in earnest conversation with Moose Sanders.
Ha ha, yeah I have seen lots of behavior at wineries that would get you tossed from breweries or in fights at bars, so the contradiction is amusing. Wine, the way to get sh!t-faced in half an hour and still claim you aren't a low-life, like them beer drinkers!
