Standing in the Whitlows’ garage, it’s not unusual for a customer to walk in and ask them to fill ‘er up.
But this is no gas station, it’s a brewery.
What’s up with that?
R.J. and Kristi Whitlow opened 5 Rights Brewing Company July 2 out of the garage of their south Marysville home after getting their licensing paperwork approved months earlier than expected. That means instead of hot rods and lawn mowers, the Whitlows’ garage is filled with brew kettles, a mash tun and a walk-in cooler.
“I don’t do anything halfway. I don’t have many hobbies because this is what happens,” R.J. said, pointing around his garage, which is filled with brewery equipment, including dozens of Cornelius, or Corny, kegs, coolers and a large, stainless-steel sink.
In the exploding craft beer industry, garage breweries are a new beast. In years past, The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) nixed most applications for breweries that were not detached from residential dwellings. But in recent years the TTB has changed how it looks at tax structure and has increased its approval of applications for breweries looking to use attached garages.
That has opened the opportunity for breweries like Marysville’s 5 Rights Brewing and At Large Brewing, which opened out of the Marysville garage of Jim and Karen Weisweaver in late April. For 5 Rights, R.J. said that the key was locks. The Whitlows had to install a lock that locks from inside the garage on the garage door that accesses the house. Also there had to be a lockable “taxable” area inside the garage, so the Whitlows purchased a large walk-in cooler that locks.
“Once it goes in the cooler we are paying federal taxes and once it’s hooked up out here we’re paying Washington state taxes,” R.J. said. “Then when we sell it we pay sales tax.”
The garage is convenient and cheaper than opening up an on-premise site like a taproom, but it does limit what the brewery can do. 5 Rights, like At Large, can only sell beer by the growler or keg; there’s no drinking pints of beer in the garage, though, the brewery can offer small tastings.
R.J., who is the media director at Northshore Christian Church in Everett, started brewing more than 20 years ago after he learned about beer during his world travels as a string bass musician. Playing aboard cruise ships or at hotels for eight years, Whitlow visited six continents and 30 countries and he and his fellow musicians would explore the different beer scenes.
“We’d go into ports and find beers we hadn’t tried,” R.J. said. “We’d try 100 to 150 beers and pick 30 to try for the night. We had a notepad and took notes.
“We tried some really good beer and some really, really bad beer.”
Whitlow still remembers trying Köstritzer Schwarzbier in Macedonia, real Czech pilsners and all the Bavarian hefeweizens that were on tap throughout the Mediterranean ports populated by German tourists. His Nellie’s Nectar is an homage to those Bavarian hefeweizens.
“I didn’t like beer until I tried real European beer,” Whitlow said. “There is just a different craftsmanship; more attention to detail.”
But fatherhood and career derailed Whitlow’s home brewing until a few years ago, when he was encouraged by a friend, Mike Floyd, of Greater Everett Brewer’s League, to get back into it. So Whitlow did. He joined GEBL and started learning from other area home brewers, like Jim Weisweaver, of At Large, and Frank Sandoval, of Sno Town Brewing.
“Since GEBL has such an incredible history of brewing the assets are incredible,” said Whitlow, 45. “There are so many different accomplished brewers you can take it to some real great tasters and find out what’s going on with your beer.”
Soon the Whitlows were discussing opening their own brewery. R.J., who also interns as the “cleaner boy” once a week at Reuben’s Brews in Ballard, began collecting equipment through Craigslist and socking away extra money from side jobs. When he found a reasonably priced sink in Tacoma — “Brewing is 90 percent cleaning, so you need a good sink,” R.J. said — they decided it was time to go for it.
Doctors and nurses will understand the genesis of the name 5 Rights Brewery. Kristi, who is a nurse at the Everett Clinic in Lake Stevens, came up with the name after learning about the 5 rights of medication administration: right patient, right dose, right time, right route and right medication. Soon after, R.J. thought up the tagline “We’ve got your remedy,” and group names for the brewery’s beers: Over-the-Counter beers are the brewery’s regular rotation, RX, or Prescription beer, are the seasonals, and Nurse’s Orders are the high-alcohol offerings.
“Like anyone in the medical field, we want to do right by our customers, which means excellent quality and the best beer on tap,” Kristi said of the name.
The Whitlows are currently looking at properties in the Lake Stevens area to open a brewpub, though there is currently no timetable.
“Lake Stevens is where we’d like to be. It’s ripe for it,” R.J. said. “There’s not really a place (in Lake Stevens) like that right now.”
As Christians, the Whitlows also see opening a brewery as a form of ministry — albeit a unique one.
“Some people may not step foot in a church, but they’ll attend a home group in a brewery,” Kristi said. “We feel like Lake Stevens is where God wants us to do this.”
But they’re in no hurry to leave the garage. Since opening on Fourth of July weekend, customers have stopped by in droves and R.J. said the neighbors have been more than welcoming. On a recent Friday afternoon, a neighbor and a neighbor’s friend stopped by to fill growlers just a few minutes apart.
“We’ve met a lot of our neighbors this way,” Kristi said.
Aaron Swaney: 425-339-3430; aswaney@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @swaney_aaron79. Follow the Hops and Sips blog at www.heraldnet.com/hopsandsips.
5 Rights Brewery
7028 46th St NE, Marysville, 425-334-1026, www.5rightsbrewing.com
Hours: 2 to 8 p.m. Friday, noon to 6 p.m. Saturday
Beers (currently on tap): Gateway Cream Ale, Nellie’s Nectar Bavarian Hefeweizen, Fully Inflated Amber Lager, Mr. Oatis Oatmeal Stout, Mr. Oatis Oatmeal Coffee Stout, OTC IPA, OTC Simcoe Pale, Springish Saison, Boom City FAB IPA, Tax Man Pauper Maker Russian Imperial Stout, Kristi’s Fractured Winter Ale
Carleton Farms Brewfest
The first Carleton Farms Brewfest is noon to 6 p.m. Sept. 26 and 27. There will be a beer and spirits tasting Saturday and a beer and wine tasting Sunday. Both days will feature a beer garden with beers from local breweries like Everett’s Lazy Boy Brewing, and Marysville’s At Large Brewing and 5 Rights Brewing. All proceeds will go to Lake Stevens Food Bank. Tickets are $20 and include six tasting tokens and a tasting glass. For tickets and more information, visit Brewfest at Carleton Farms on Facebook.
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