Birth of a partnership
The Inland Northwest’s leading brewery is teaming up with the region’s original brewery.
No-Li has begun brewing and canning its flagship Born & Raised IPA at Hale’s Ales in Seattle for distribution to Western Washington and Oregon. That both saves on shipping costs and frees up brewing capacity in Spokane, which is stretched to the limit, owner John Bryant says.
Born & Raised cans for Eastern Washington and Idaho distribution will continue to be packaged at No-Li using a mobile canner, along with all of the canned Big Juicy IPA and Red, White & No-Li Pale.
The brewery’s canned beers previously were produced at Orlison’s facility in Airway Heights, but that arrangement has ended.
No-Li is on track to produce 11,200 barrels of beer this year, Bryant says, close to its practical limit of 12,000 barrels. He continues to search for sites for an expanded brewery, preferably in the city of Spokane, though outlying locations like the Spokane Valley and West Plains haven’t been ruled out.
“We haven’t given up,” Bryant says. “But it’s not easy to find a 25,000-square-foot warehouse with 25-foot ceilings and loading docks.”
In the meantime, the Hale’s agreement buys some breathing room, and brings some regional brewing history full circle. Hale’s, which was the state’s third craft brewery following Redhook and Grant’s, launched in Colville in 1983 and moved to Spokane in 1992 before consolidating its operations in Seattle.
“It’s kind of an honor to work with a guy like that,” Bryant says of Hale’s founder Mike Hale. “We get to surround ourselves with really talented people, and our cultures are similar. We’re pouring Hale’s beers here now, and they always have Born & Raised on tap.”
No-Li’s activities at Hale’s are overseen by another industry veteran, Al Triplett, who worked at Redhook for 24 years before becoming a brewery consultant in 2008. He’s played a significant role behind the scenes as No-Li’s “life coach” for the past three and a half years, Bryant says.
Along with extensive laboratory testing, blind tasting panels are used to make sure the Born & Raised brewed in Seattle is consistent with what’s produced in Spokane. “We don’t just want it to be good on paper,” Triplett says.
In other No-Li news:
– This year’s bottled barrel-aged release, Tandem imperial red aged in bourbon barrels, will be out in time for No-Li’s Frost Fest small-batch festival on Dec. 10 (which is sold out). Bottles will be available there, and later at select accounts around the area.
– A limited run of Frost Fest amber ale in 22-ounce bottles is close to sold out at local stores. It will be followed before year’s end by a limited-release coconut porter.
– Red, White & No-Li will continue as a seasonal 22-ounce bottle through March, and will be available year-round in 12-ounce cans.