BELLINGHAM – Dave Morales has a mission: He wants to spread “the gospel of beer.”
“I think beer is a lot more complex than wine. There’s so much variety,” Morales, 35, said. “One of my main missions is education.”
And so Morales opened The Bottle Shoppe in Bellingham to provide beer connoisseurs with even more selection in a state known for its microbrew industry.
The Bottle Shoppe carries about 200 different beers with a changing inventory based on seasonal beers, special editions and Morales’ mood.
“I try to find more hard-to-find things and try and pick up where Haggen leaves off, although they have a good selection,” Morales said.
Paul Gatza, director of the nationwide Brewers Association, said craft beer accounts for 3 percent of all beer consumed in America and 9 percent of the beer consumed in Washington state.
“It’s just the history of how craft brewing grew up,” Gatza said. “Washington state is one of the areas where it really started.”
The brewery culture in Washington, Gatza said, creates a market for international beers as well because consumers have a taste for something unique.
Robert Arzoo, owner of North Corner Brewing Supply in Bellingham, agrees that the “novelty of the microbrewery” has led consumers to try more obscure beers, even though they are often more expensive.
“The knowledge that people have of beer compared to 10 years ago is totally night and day,” Arzoo said.
Retailers from gas stations to grocery stores have responded by stocking more than the usual suspects, which means The Bottle Shoppe has a lot of competition.
“The only thing that he can bring to the market is unique sourcing,” Arzoo said. “Somebody like Dave can find a small distributor that specializes in imports that can sell … three cases and can get it out to the market when Dickerson (Distributing) won’t.”
A large distributor may not get into the business of supplying a little known brand, but because The Bottle Shoppe is a small outlet, Morales can take that risk.
“I thought Bellingham needed something like this,” Morales said. “I thought about it four years ago … and I just didn’t think the disposable income was in Bellingham back then.”
He left Bellingham for a job in Michigan and returned last May.
“Downtown seemed to be booming and I thought, well, now is the time,” Morales said.
Morales turned to the Small Business Development Center at Western Washington University, wrote a business plan, took out a home-equity loan and opened The Bottle Shoppe on Oct. 15.
“I’m not making a profit, but I’ve been breaking even since day one,” Morales said. “I haven’t taken any money home, but sales just keep increasing.”
Morales said he relies on “guerrilla-type advertising” – he sells T-shirts and sweat shirts with the company name on the front and “Drink global, think local” on the back.
Morales also has monthly tastings for customers on his e-mail list. Because the shop is small, Morales doesn’t have room to leave the tastings open.
“To get to know it, you have to drink it and experiment,” Morales said. “That’s why I have the tastings and that’s why I carry so many beers and sell them individually.”
Once or twice a week, Morales drives to Seattle to get stock of obscure beers not usually available in Bellingham.
“He gets some things from Europe that are pretty shocking,” said Eric Schuster of Bellingham. “They may use rinds of fruit or different grains … or something that’s off the wall that you wouldn’t normally think would be in a beer.”
Schuster, a regular at The Bottle Shoppe, said he goes to monthly tastings and relies on Morales’ expertise to constantly pick up something he hasn’t tried before. “I’m not going to drink the same thing all the time,” Schuster said. “I’m kind of adventurous like that.”
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