Cold Deck Brewing
Established in 2009, Cold Deck Brewing was one woman’s attempt to set in motion a hobby for her husband that would slow down his building projects and thus save them time and money. Over the next 19 years this action would prove futile.
From out of one little Mr. Beer Kit bought at a local Kitchen Kaboodle and given as a Christmas gift, Cold Deck Brewing was born. Did someone say upgrade? Surely this was my wife Tonya’s original intent? She knew my brain better than anyone. This process could definitely be improved. Get rid of those small plastic bottles with screw on lids and stop using our indoor stove top. Silly lady, extract is for kids! Let’s go all grain.
Hours, days, months and now years have been spent researching styles, recipes, crushing and mashing grains, tracking efficiency, buying bigger pots, buying in bulk, going electric, and of course stepping up to the plate with SSBrewtech unitanks. Our process has grown from producing small one gallon batches to 15-25 gallon batches, and from one picnic tap on ice to a kegerator with 10 taps. So, have we arrived? Are we in the big leagues? Not yet. We need a name.
Cold Deck Brewing is the name that was settled on in 2009 after many weeks of contemplation. Coming up with this name was surely a cruel reminder for Tonya of how this one little gift went awry in the first place. It was the perfect name for a community built upon the local Northwest Logging Industry. The definition of a cold deck is a pile of logs waiting to be moved. Of course in our new definition it now means a stack of kegs waiting for consumption. This surely must be the end of the story, right. Not quite.
Now that Cold Deck Brewing was born we needed a dedicated space to practice brewing and the time to build a dynasty. Covid may have taken the world by storm and caused many to withdraw into the abyss but it also provided quaranteams like Travis Cave, Chad Clouse, and Mitch Ward time to go to work on their dreams. Thus, the first phase of the taproom was built. It may have been a meager single bay of the garage with a vaulted ceiling but it was made out of a mixture of spruce, cedar, maple and fir that was milled by a long time friend Danny Mueller. Decorated with old logging memorabilia and a life size painting produced by none other than our own Joel Dierickx the taproom was a hit. It served as a gathering place for our closest friends to brew, taste, and socialize in a safe and responsible manner.
Post Covid our small gatherings grew exponentially. The need for a larger space was evident and Tonya offered up the rest of her oversized 3 car garage. We now had room for my brother Yancy to go to work insulating and sheeting the new space. After he trimmed it out in 100 year old clear vertical grain fir we were finally ready. We began hosting events link our annual Hoptoberfest, Ground Hog Day, and our ever popular Cinco De Mayo festival. Cold Deck Brewing is now on the map. It is a homebrew club that is invested in bringing the members of the seaside education association and local community together to experience the finest craft beers we educators can make. It serves as the club house and meeting room for the SEA and has taken on a vibe much like the 1980’s tv sitcom Cheers.
So are we done yet? Nope. Cold Deck Brewing is now a living breathing venue that is so much more than homebrewing. We have a website, a clubhouse and are beginning to acquire the tools needed to make our own merchandise. It is a place we hope will continue to provide great experiences for our current members while forging new relationships with community members wishing to be a part of it.
Stay tuned for more because the one thing we have learned from the old 1960’s soap operas is, “as the world turns so do the days at Cold Deck Brewing”.