Brews News
Coming soon to State Street: Time and Materials (T&M) Taphouse. Located in a handsome brick building at the corner of State Street and Laurel Street, the business will offer 20 beer taps, eight handpicked wines and a food menu. In an email, Director of Operations Jacquie Goddard told me Time and Materials plans to open Feb. 26.
Time and Materials will join a beeline of bars located up and down State Street, from Structures Brewing to Redlight and Flatstick Pub. T&M’s taproom space alone looks unique enough to set them apart. They are in the process of custom-designing and building out the interior and working with neighboring trade shops on construction. Keep an eye on Time and Materials via Instagram for updates.
Hours for the Grand Opening will be noon to 11 p.m., with tunes by DJ Kraymer GDOT from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Regular hours will be noon to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and noon to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Shawn O’Donnell’s Opens at the Skagit Valley Farmhouse
At the end of January, Shawn O’Donnell’s restaurant group announced its purchase of the Skagit Valley Farmhouse Restaurant in Mount Vernon. According to the press release, “Shawn plans to complete a soft renovation, adding Irish touches, while preserving the mementos displayed in the restaurant honoring the rich history of the Skagit Valley.” Current staff members are keeping their jobs, and daily operations have not been impacted by the transition. As of last weekend, they’d updated the menu and added a few traditional Irish dishes, but hadn’t yet made any significant changes in decor.
If, like me, you hadn’t heard of the Washington-based chain until 2022, here’s a brief history: Shawn O’Donnell (yes, that’s really the owner’s name) bought a struggling Everett restaurant in 1987, renovating and eventually renaming it Shawn O’Donnell’s in 1996. Today five O’Donnell’s locations are found across the state, from Seattle to Spokane. They serve Irish-inspired favorites like corned beef and cabbage, shepherd’s pie and fish and chips.
Of particular interest to readers of this column, “happy hour is available every day from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. with a wide variety of drink and food specials. The bar will be custom-built in the current space of the lunch counter, representing a traditional Irish Public House feel. The bar will offer an impressive whiskey and beer selection.”
Having sat in the Highway 20-to-La Conner lefthand turn lane many times — my car shuddering as Anacortes-bound vehicles blaze by at 60 miles per hour — I’ve had a minute or two to ponder the Farmhouse’s fate. It’s a classic Skagit Valley restaurant, one that seems untouched by time since its opening some 40 years ago. But the place has always felt dated to me, so a “soft renovation” sounds promising. Welcome to the valley, Shawn!
Spirits Scene
If you find yourself traveling Highway 20 on the weekend, consider visiting a little-known small-batch distillery. You won’t find Wheelhouse Distillery on Google Maps. It’s located about 4 miles west of the Skagit Valley Farmhouse in the big red building at Highway 20 and Reservation Road. They offer vodka, gin, moonshine, bourbon, and rye whiskey made from Skagit Valley grains and other local ingredients. Stop by for an informative tasting and tour from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday.
Recent Releases
And now for something completely different. Aslan Brewing — Bellingham’s purveyor of organic beer — has released its first non-alcoholic sparkling hop water. This bubbly blend uses whole-cone Chinook and Cascade hops for flavor. So it’s kind of like beer, minus the malt, yeast and alcohol. Sounds refreshing. Decide for yourself — you can try hop water on tap at the Aslan Brewpub and Aslan Depot in Bellingham.
The first time I heard the term “hop water” was years ago at a travel industry conference. A rep for Yakima Valley Tourism presented a glass of water, dropped some fresh hops in it, and said something along the lines of, “This is how we make beer in Yakima — where 75% of the nation’s hops are grown.” It was a joke at the time, but now it seems we’ve come full circle.
Hop water is a real thing.
Speaking of the Palm Springs of Washington, Single Hill Brewing (Yakima) has collaborated with Bellingham’s Stemma Brewing on a beer called NDA IPA. Brewed in Bellingham, this West Coast IPA uses “experimental Cryo Hops” from Yakima Chief Hops (YCH). They’re all having way too much fun with the can art and marketing, with Stemma claiming “yes, we actually signed an NDA form.” Try some on draft at Stemma, or pick up a four-pack to go.
Chuckanut Brewery has re-released its acclaimed Grodziskie Polish Lager. Pronounced “grow-JEES-kee-uh,” this 3% alcohol-by-volume beer is also known as “Polish champagne” due to its light body and tiny bubbles. According to the press release, “This light colored, slightly smoky effervescent lager is very unusual and rarely brewed in America. The style uses oak-smoked wheat malt, giving it a very light color, soft body and a dry finish.” You can find Grodziskie on tap and in cans at Chuckanut’s South Nut location in Burlington.
