Getting in the flow

The Spokane Valley is on the verge of getting a growler-fill operation of its own.

Ashton and Cassie Preston hope to open Steady Flow Growler House in a former nail salon at 328 N. Sullivan Road (behind Shari’s Restaurant) by the end of August.

Along with at least 36 taps, the business will have 15 seats and serve beer on-premise in pints, half-pints and taster flights.

“When you pour beer in those little (plastic) taster cups, it tastes different,” Cassie Preston says. “We want to be able to serve it in the proper glassware so you can experience it fully before you take it home and enjoy it.”

The Prestons, who met while stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base in the mid-2000s, caught the craft beer bug in Japan, of all places.

“There was a little craft beer bar down the street from our house (in Okinawa) that opened our eyes to fresh local beer,” says Cassie, a Colville-area native.

They later transferred to Colorado Springs, amid that state's booming beer culture, and decided to return to Spokane after leaving the service last year and open a business.

Steady Flow will join the two Growler Guys locations in North and South Spokane and the The Filling Station on 5th in Coeur d’Alene among local growler specialty shops. It will focus on local and regional beers and ciders along with some national selections, Cassie says.

“We love going to the different breweries around town, and we wanted to have all of that variety in one place,” she says.

“We’re going to focus on the quality of the beers, the growlers that the beer goes home in, and the experience the customer has.”

Rising Sun Mountain: Steady Flow isn’t the only new beer venture planned for the Valley.

Brothers Todd and Chad Solberg and their dad, David, this week filed for a state liquor license for Sun Mountain Brewing Company in the former Pro Cut Saw & Tool space at 202 N. Greenacres Road. (Solberg means “sun mountain” in Norwegian.)

They hope to have what’s shaping up as a seven-barrel brewery open sometime this fall.