New kid on the block
Top, looking from the brewery space under construction at the new Iron Goat toward what will be the taproom, with the bar in the middle; bottom, co-brewers/owners Paul Edminster and Greg Brandt on the other side of the bar, behind the metal coating they created with beer, linseed oil and a torch.
In about a month, the new Iron Goat will make its debut downtown.
The former Jones Automotive Engines building at 1302 W. Second is a buzz of construction activity in preparation for the move in late March. That’s when the Goat needs to be out of its current taproom at 2204 E. Mallon, which has been sold and will be converted into a recording studio.
Both are brick buildings around 100 years old, but the new location is more than twice as large – 10,000 square feet, compared to 4,000 – allowing for an expanded brewing operation and a bigger taproom with food service.
“We’re taking it back the way it was,” co-brewer/owner Paul Edminster says of the new location, which will be on the national, state and local historic registers. “We’re able to save an old building downtown instead of having it turned into a parking lot.”
Adds co-brewer/owner Greg Brandt: “Before, we took an old building and made it into something special. We’re doing the same thing here.”
While the new space isn’t as intimate, the Goat crew hopes to bring the same homey vibe. Some walls will be painted in the rust color familiar from the current taproom, and again, there won’t be any TVs.
“We want people to talk to each other,” Brandt says. “At the old place, a lot of friendships were born because people talked to each other.”
They’ll be able to talk over more beverages than before – with 26 taps, compared to the current 10, including a cask handle – and a dozen-item menu centering around sandwiches and pizza. You’ll order at the bar, and pick up your food at a window.
Beth McRae, former Flying Goat general manager and more recently a sales representative with Iron Goat’s distributor, Click, will oversee the kitchen operation as well as outside sales. The taproom will be open seven days a week, from lunch until around 11 p.m.
There will be couches in the corners and some long, common tables in the middle, with a restored terrazzo floor and space for a music stage. Edminster and Brandt are building the tables and the bar, both topped with reclaimed wood; the base of the bar is covered in metal that they coated with linseed oil and beer and torched, creating unique, swirling patterns.
The brewery operation will be visible through glass above and on either side of the bar, with tanks lined up along the large windows on Adams Street. Barrels of aging beer will occupy the opposite brick wall, with a quarantined space on the other side for wild and sour beers; at least one of those is expected to be on tap for the opening, a sour aged for two years with brettanomyces, lactobacillus and pediococcus.
Along with room for more fermenters and eventually a new brewhouse, the brewery space will include such amenities as an office, lab and showers. “We won’t be stumbling over each other anymore,” Brandt says, referring to their current, cramped quarters.
The increased production capacity will allow for more consistent distribution of both bottled and draft beers in the local market, and eventual expansion into Western Washington.