While driving down Meridian Street recently, a sign caught my eye. “Fountain Brewing is open,” the Zeeks Pizza reader board proclaimed. Curious, I made a mental note to reach out to Zeeks for more information.
I’ve never seen a new brewery pop up in Bellingham unannounced. Typically, breweries are announced months (or years) in advance, their openings delayed by the permitting process, construction, brewing, hiring and Murphy’s law. It’s unprecedented for a local brewery to open with zero marketing, but that’s exactly what Fountain Brewing has done.
Spearheaded by Zeeks Pizza Bellingham co-owners Matt Stotts and Brady Scott, Fountain Brewing operates from Zeeks’ Bellingham location but is independent from the franchise. In other words, Fountain Brewing and Zeeks Pizza are two brands under the same roof. When you go to Zeeks’ Bellingham location, you’ll find Fountain Brewing beer on tap alongside offerings from other northwest breweries.
The first two Fountain beers on tap are a hazy pale and saison. I savored both brews during my conversation with Stotts and Scott. Dry-hopped with New Zealand hops, Fountain Hazy Pale is actually hazy (not just juicy) — a very good representation of the popular style. Fountain Saison uses “a wild yeast isolated by Seattle homebrewers,” resulting in a dry and highly drinkable saison that checks all the boxes.
Brewer Brad Church is working on a few more brews to release in the coming months. Watch for a West Coast IPA next, along with a lager and dry-hopped saison. Fountain Brewing is also starting a mixed-culture barrel program.
Church comes to Fountain Brewing with years of professional experience. He studied microbiology at the University of Washington before becoming a lead brewer at Aslan Brewing in 2014. He then spent a few years at Artisanal Brewers Collective in Los Angeles before returning to the Pacific Northwest. Most recently, Church was responsible for brewing, barrel-aging and spontaneous fermentation at sister breweries Standard Brewing and Sovereign Brewing in Seattle.
Impressed with Church’s beer and background, I wanted to understand how this all came together so quietly. Stotts and Scott go way back — they met at Western Washington University and have been friends since the 1990s. Stotts is a longtime home brewer; both are craft beer enthusiasts. When a space became available in the Fountain District during the pandemic, they decided to open a Zeeks Pizza franchise with their partners. In addition to offering pizza, Zeeks is known for its local beer selection.
The building’s previous tenants were breweries — first Melvin Brewing, then 122 West Brewing. When Zeeks came in, the seven-barrel brew system was still in place. Brewing beer was always part of Stotts and Scott’s plan — they just didn’t advertise it.
“We’ve been scheming for over two years now about this whole thing,” Scott said. “We had a plan to hire a team of marketers and spend some real dollars and put some investment in it. But instead of pulling that trigger, we’ve been able to take a little bit of revenue from the pizza, put it into getting set up, hiring Brad to brew good beer, and we haven’t had to take out a big loan to start a brewery. We’ve just been focusing on making good beer.”
Going forward, Fountain Brewing plans to continue growing organically with a focus on quality. Because the business is primarily a restaurant, they can take their time with beer development, brewing small batches to sell onsite rather than dealing with distribution.
If Fountain Brewing does decide to expand, it has a built-in distribution market with Zeeks Pizza franchises. For now, Stotts and Scott are content to sell beer in their own bar.
“We believe in local taprooms being the way forward,” Stotts said. “Hopefully, all of our beer gets sold on tap — that’s our goal. That’s the model that works for us.”
Fountain Brewing’s all-ages brewpub is located inside Zeeks Pizza at 2416 Meridian St. in Bellingham.
Brews and spirits news
• After serving State Street for more than 10 years, Bellingham cocktail bar Redlight has moved to a new downtown location. The business is now located at 109 Grand Ave. — in the former Thousand Acre Ciderhouse space next to Storia Cucina. This puts Redlight on the same block as The Temple Bar, Welcome Road Winery, and Grand Avenue Alehouse. As for the old space? “If you’re worried about 1017 N. State St. not being a place to get delicious drinks and food in a dark, loud bar, served by great people, don’t worry,” Redlight owner Logan McQuaig wrote in a social media post. “We have new plans for it that we’ll share sooner than later.”
• The Great Northern Bottle Shop & Lounge will hold its grand opening Saturday, June 17. Brought to you by the team behind Burlington’s Garden Path Fermentation, The Great Northern is located at 1319 Commercial St. (the former Uisce Irish Pub location) in Bellingham.
• District Brewing plans to open its third location in Lynden this year. The brewery currently operates taprooms in Mount Vernon and Ferndale.
Brandon Fralic’s Drink Cascadia column runs the second week of every month. Reach him at drinkcascadia@gmail.com.
