OAK HARBOR — In a small brewery attached to his Fleet Street house, Stephen Chavez put a glass to the nozzle of his fermenter, pouring in the golden, hazy color of his Believer IPA, a flavorful beer made with actual Douglas fir tips, pine, spices and Chinook hops.
“No one makes cookies like Grandma does,” he said, “and no one’s gonna make beer like we do.”
Chavez’s 28 years in the Army, with two decades in the special forces, rubs off on Crossed Arrows Brewery — the logo itself shows the crossed arrows of the special forces branch insignia crowned with hops.
Beer taps inside Crossed Arrows Brewery are curated by Stephen Chavez in Oak Harbor. (Photo by Caitlyn Anderson)
The pine flavor of the India Pale Ale was inspired by Chavez’s time in survival school, he said, where he learned tea can be made from pine needles and water in a dire situation.
Chavez considers himself a perfectionist, at least when it comes to beer. He’s right where he needs to be, with a relatively small setup and no taproom, putting the craft in craft beer.
“There’s a lot of great breweries out there,” he said, “but I’m not sure they’re able to sit there and zest huge oranges and then juice them and throw them into the fermenter.”
Chavez makes the beers he and his wife like to drink, taking the advice of a winemaker who told him that, in the end, he could be the only one who drinks it. The result is a lot of fun flavors — root beer, creamsicle, jalapeño, grapefruit, dark chocolate, coffee, ginger snap.
Chavez is originally from northwest Ohio, home of “Pabst Blue Ribbon, Old Milwaukee, like the worst beers on Earth,” he said. His time in the Army moved him all over the country with constant deployments to the Middle East, North Africa, South America and more. In 2014, during his last tour to Afghanistan, he told his generals he was retiring.
“They’re like, ‘What are you going to do?’” he said. “I’m like, ‘I don’t know. I guess I want to go make beer.’”
It started with a regular, simple beer kit, and the system grew to what it is today. Crossed Arrows brews can be found in bars and restaurants across Oak Harbor.
Crossed Arrows Brewery fermenters hold unique flavors. (Photo by Caitlyn Anderson)
The bigger breweries push out beers in two weeks, Chavez said, often not allowing the yeast to fully eat the sugars. With pressure fermenting, Crossed Arrows retains carbon dioxide, benefitting the flavor and increasing the shelf life.
The next beer on the Crossed Arrows docket is a peach blonde, kicking off the summer beers. While Chavez plans on growing to increase brewing and distribution tasks, the vision will remain a small, homestyle brewery.
He likes the concept of keeping it local, allowing people to see the process and chat with the brewer.
“If you can taste off the fermenter, it’s a huge difference on what it will taste like from taps or cans or whatever the case may be,” he said. “Here I control every aspect of the environment.”
The public can try for themselves during the brewery’s Growler Fill Fridays, from noon to 7 p.m. at 1091 SW Fleet St. in Oak Harbor. Appointments can be made through the brewery’s Facebook page.
Sam Fletcher; sam.fletcher@whidbeynewsgroup.com.
This story originally appeared in the Whidbey News-Times, a sibling publication to The Herald.
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