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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Columbia rolls on back

Rick Bonino

A big name in the beer distribution business is getting back into the Spokane market.

Columbia Distributing, the West Coast’s largest beverage distributor, resumed operations here this month for the first time since 2004.

“We always had the intention of eventually coming back,” says CEO Gregg Christiansen, who lived in Spokane during the company’s previous run here.

“We feel Spokane is one of the fastest-growing craft markets, one with a lot of potential. … Our intent is to expand that craft category, expand the selection.”

For now, Portland-based Columbia is working with breweries it represents elsewhere in Washington and in Oregon that already have had beer available here, but some new names could be on the way eventually.

At his new establishment, The Blackbird – which officially opens Tuesday – Manito Tap House owner Patrick McPherson will be pouring the regular and imperial IPAs from Bend’s acclaimed Crux Fermentation Project.

“It’s going to give us access to a few beers that we haven’t had access to,” he says of Columbia’s presence.

Columbia, which was launched in Portland in 1993, came to Spokane in 1998 when it acquired the Miller distributorship here.  Then it bought the Miller rights in Seattle and decided to focus its resources on Western Washington, Christiansen says, selling the Spokane operation to Odom.

While it’s known as a Miller/Coors/Heineken house, he says, close to 40 percent of Columbia’s beer business is in the craft category.

Along with Crux, its portfolio includes such well-respected names as Oregon’s Cascade Lakes, San Francisco’s Almanac and Denver’s Crooked Stave. (Columbia also represents Russian River, but that much-hyped California brewery doesn’t distribute anywhere in Washington, so don’t get your Pliny hopes up.)

Christiansen won’t hazard a guess as to which new breweries might be coming into Spokane.

“A lot of it is a supply issue,” he says. “Some of them can only handle Seattle and Portland right now. As their capacity increases, they’ll start expanding markets.”

And, he adds, “A lot of our suppliers want to see how we set up the operation here. As we mature in Spokane, you’ll start to see some new brands.”

In the meantime, he says, local beer buyers can expect wider availability and more variety from familiar names like Rogue, Georgetown, Ballast Point and Two Beers, which are among Columbia’s initial suppliers here.

“What the consumer is going to see is more choice, with another distributor competing in the market,” Christiansen says. “The way the craft category continues to grow, it opens the door to more than the traditional two or three distributors in town.”

Along with Odom, other craft distributors already operating here include Click, Great Micros and King’s KBI Craft.