Welcome to Bothell: For a beer or a lifetime
Published 1:30 am Friday, October 14, 2016
The fire that ripped through more than a dozen businesses in historic downtown Bothell in late July devastated a group of small business owners that were in the midst of revitalizing the area. It was a big blow.
But leave it to another burgeoning group of small business owners to come to the rescue.
Organized by Eric Shaffer, owner of The Hop and Hound, a Bothell taproom and bottleshop, and the owners of Alexa’s Cafe, a fundraiser got a big boost from some local brewers. In less than a week’s time, nine breweries and a cidery donated kegs to the fundraiser party that raised $60,000 for local businesses affected by the fire.
“We had local brewers calling offering to help in any way they can,” said Schaffer, who bought all first-responders a beer on the day after the fire. “The mayor shut down the street out front and we set up a beer garden in the street. It was amazing and it wouldn’t have happened without the help from the brewers.”
A few years ago most of those breweries didn’t exist. When Schaffer opened in 2014, there was only one brewery in Bothell, Foggy Noggin, which is actually in a residential neighborhood in unincorporated Snohomish County, and another, 192 Brewing, down the road in Kenmore. Since that time, eight breweries have opened in the Bothell and Kenmore area.
“When I opened there were only a couple of breweries around here and it was a real gut-check moment of, ‘Are there really enough people around to support this?’ ” Schaffer said. “But it’s been amazing from the beginning. We were unrolling the sign on our first day and people were honking and getting in line. We filled a niche.”
Another sign of the growth of craft beer in Bothell has been the explosive growth of the Bothell Beer Festival, slated for Saturday in downtown Bothell in the Bothell City Hall parking garage. Started in 2014, the original festival sold out with 600 tickets and a handful of local breweries. This year, more than 1,500 people are expected to crowd the streets of downtown Bothell to drink beers from 23 breweries, including recently opened Bothell breweries Watts Brewing and Decibel Brewing.
“I’m really happy to see it,” Schaffer said of the growth of the beer festival, which he helped start with Bothell Assistant City Manager Peter Troedsson. “It shows just how far the craft beer culture has come. We can have these crazy one-off beers and people are eager to try them. We can put on sour beers, funky saisons and weird German gypsy beers and know people are going to drink them.”
Evan Watts, owner and head brewer at Watts Brewing, said he’s noticed that people in Bothell love drinking good beer.
“Since we’ve gotten started here in Bothell, I think the most remarkable thing has been the quality of the beer drinkers,” said Watts, who recently unveiled his beers at a kickoff event at The Hop and Hound. “What’s really blown us away has been the enthusiasm from the rest of the community. They’re excited to see great beer being brewed right here in Bothell.”
Another new member to that community is Corey Cook and his two partners. After originally planning to open their brewery in Snohomish, the trio decided to open Decibel Brewing along Bothell-Everett Highway in September and never looked back. Cook, who also works in the music industry, said he’s been pleasantly surprised by the community of beer lovers in the Bothell area.
“Beer is like music in that there is a real community aspect to both,” Cook said. “You can feel that here.”
Jim Jamison opened Foggy Noggin out of his home in 2010, with the brewery in a 200-square-foot shed in his backyard and the taproom occupying his 400-square-foot garage. When the City of Bothell re-zoned an area near East Riverside Drive light industrial to make it friendly for brewers, Jamison was lined up to move his brewery to one of the buildings. But the deal fell apart and Jamison is still working out of his garage, open one day a week but still churning out some of the best English-style beers on the West Coast.
Not that it’s kept him from still having an affect on the local economy.
“We’ve had people stop by and visit the brewery after going to an open house in one of the neighborhoods near here,” Jamison said, “and they’re like, ‘There’s a brewery in the neighborhood? We’re buying!’ ”
If you go
Bothell Beer Festival
Celebrate all things Bothell beer at the third annual Bothell Beer Festival from noon to 6 p.m. Oct. 15 in downtown Bothell at the Bothell City Hall parking garage. There will be more than 20 breweries pouring beer, live music and food trucks. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit bothellchamber.com or call 425-485-4353.
‘Welcome to Bothell’ sign fund
Foggy Noggin Brewing is helping raise money to bring back the “Welcome to Bothell” sign by selling T-shirts and beer. Proceeds from the sale of the T-shirt and beer will be donated to the fund. The T-shirt is $20 and can be purchased at the Foggy Noggin tasting room and at the Bothell Beer Festival. The beer, For A Beer or A Lifetime, an amber ale, will be sold at the taproom and will also be available at the Bothell Beer Festival.
