Edmonds-based brewery interested in former Olympia Brewery site

EDMONDS — Northwest Investment Group LLC announced last week that it intends to bring beer back to the former Olympia Brewery location in Tumwater.

As for who will be doing the brewing, that might turn out to be a local brewery.

American Brewing Company, which is based in Edmonds, has expressed interest in moving to the site as well as operating the contract brewery at the location just off Custer Way.

“We are excited by the vision and concept presented by (NW Investment Group partners) Doug (Gray) and Ken (Brogan) and look forward to continued discussions,” American Brewing Company CEO Neil Fallon said in a press release.

Troy Dana, who has been managing the site since late 2008 and will be working with NW Investment Group to secure tenants, confirmed that he is in talks with American Brewing.

“We really like Neil,” Dana said. “It’s a real opportunity for American Brewing to work with us down here. We’re working hard at trying to get them down here.”

It’s undetermined if American Brewing would pull up stakes in Edmonds or leave a small pilot brewery and taproom. “That’s an unknown at this point,” Fallon said.

According to the Washington State Liquor Control Board, American Brewing brewed 3,119 barrels of beer in 2013, 20th in the state behind the top brewer Red Hook (149,028 barrels). Fallon said that in its current configuration the main brewhouse could produce 1 million to 1.5 million barrels per year.

It’s been an eventful year for American Brewing. In January, Fallon announced a million-dollar expansion project of the Edmonds brewhouse that would install a 30-barrel, three-vessel system, quadrupling its barrel capacity.

American Brewing made two big moves seven months later. The first was becoming the first local brewery since the 1990s to go public. American’s current shareholders sold shares in an initial public offering of stock and was listed on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board on Aug. 7. On the same day, they announced that food celebrity chef and author Simon Majumdar was elected to the company’s board of directors.

“By listing to the OTCBB, we are aiming to further increase our visibility, as well as enhance our access to capital, so that we can continue to fuel our growth and most importantly, better reward our shareholders,” Fallon said then.

A week later Fallon talked to American Craft Beer about why American Brewing went public, including possible acquisitions or mergers involving other breweries.

“I believe in creating a place where other breweries can come and flourish while maintaining their own identity,” Fallon said.

“If I can create a vehicle where other breweries can merge and share their beers,” Fallon continued, “techniques, and ideas, then we can ‘cross- pollinate’ our beers into their markets and introduce their beers into our markets and both become stronger in the process.”

In May, The Olympian reported that several entities, including the Thurston Economic Development Council, committed to a project that would “revamp the site into what would potentially serve as an ‘incubator’ for small craft brewers and distillers.”

Founded in 2010, American Brewing has a sales network that stretches from Washington to New Jersey as well as Canada and Japan. American Brewing’s head brewer is Skip Madsen, who came to American after stints with iconic Northwest microbreweries like Pike Brewery, Big Time and Boundary Bay.

Last year, American Brewing teamed up with Majumdar to brew Fed, White and Brew ESB in honor of Majumdar’s American culinary adventure cookbook “Fed, White and Brew.” The beer went on to win a Bronze Medal at the 2013 Great American Beer Festival.

“I am ecstatic to join the Board of American Brewing and to keep working with this outstanding team,” said Majumdar in August. “Helping them make Fed, White and Brew ESB was a wonderful experience for me and now as a member of the board, I look forward to continuing to share my knowledge and insights with the company regarding its future direction and growth.”

The former Olympia Brewery has been vacant since 2003 when it was closed by Miller, which later put a deed restriction on the property, preventing alcohol from being produced. The restriction was lifted last year.

Possible tenants for the redeveloped site include craft breweries, craft distillers, a brewpub, a restaurant and retail shops. Another opportunity would be a possible collaboration between brewers and a college to create an “educational platform for brewing, distilling and culinary arts.”

“The community is going to love what is envisioned here,” Dana said.