Fade in to Black Label
Black Label Brewing really is all about the green.
No, not money – though owners Dan Dvorak and Steve Wells wouldn’t mind making some of that. The four-barrel brewery, which opens Saturday in downtown Spokane, is committed to sustainability, from the ingredients it uses to its energy practices.
So it’s fitting that after losing its originally planned location two years ago, Black Label has finally found a home in the new Saranac Commons complex, the latest project by the ecologically minded owners of the neighboring Saranac and Community buildings on Main Avenue east of Division.
“There isn’t a better situation we could have been in to start up,” says Wells, who has known Dvorak since junior high and been brewing with him since 2007.
“It’s going to be fun. Just the energy of all these different businesses in here is going to be surreal.”
Common Crumb Artisan Bakery, by another old pal, Santé restaurant owner Jeremy Hansen, opened Wednesday. He’s looking into using some spent brewing grain, while Wells and Dvorak would like to try kilning specialty malts in his oven.
Still to come are a Mediterranean eatery, an espresso bar and Sun People Bed & Bath (relocated from the former Spokane Public Market).
The layout is open, with common seating areas beneath a high wooden ceiling dotted with skylights. Black Label’s space is done up in repurposed brick; the central focus is a large wooden spool refashioned into a table, while Wells and Dvorak made the bar top from a cedar post along with fir, redwood and Peruvian maple. A stained-glass Black Label logo, done by Dvorak’s mother, hangs to one side.
As for the rather generic-sounding name, Dvorak says, “It’s kind of a joke between us. With all the marketing schemes out there, we wanted the focus to be on the beer.”
While Black Label will offer the requisite IPA, offerings for the most part will be more malt-forward, and toward the sessionable side strength-wise. “We try to find that balance, so you’re not overwhelmed,” Wells says.
The signature, Irish-style Rees’ Red (6.4 percent alcohol by volume, 54 International Bitterness Units) – named after Wells’ young son, who liked to hang out during brew days – has deep flavors from darker caramel malt and roasted barley, and an earthy, spicy-floral hop character from Nugget, Kent Golding and Mount Hood.
A brown ale (5.3, 18) is mild but rich-tasting with a finishing accent from molasses-maple syrup. The espresso stout (6.2, 40), smooth from flaked oats, gets its well-integrated flavor from cold-pressed Evans Brothers coffee out of Sandpoint.
On the lighter side, an easy-drinking honey blonde (5.1, 22) uses both honey malt and actual honey. The first batch was made from hives at the brewery farm in Garden Springs, while future batches will use other locally sourced honey.
Wells and Dvorak also grow hops, nine varieties and counting. There wasn’t enough yield to do much with this year because of downy mildew issues, though an upcoming single-malt, single-hop pale has homegrown Chinook along with Maris Otter.
Most of the malts they buy are organic, though organic hops are harder to come by, Dvorak says.
Along with their own beers, several of Black Label’s 20 taps (including two nitro) will be filled with guest offerings. “We want to showcase the Ale Trail, what other breweries are doing around here,” says Dvorak.
The grand opening is Saturday at 1 p.m. Regular hours will be Monday-Thursday from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. and Friday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., with Sundays a possibility.