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

Reuben’s arrives in Spokane

Rick Bonino

One of Seattle’s most buzzed-about breweries has officially launched in Spokane.

Reuben’s Brews kicks off its entry into the local market – the first time the beers have been regularly distributed beyond Seattle – with events today at 6 p.m. at The Lantern Tap House and The Blackbird, and on Friday at 5 at Pints Alehouse and at 6 at Nectar Wine and Beer.

“It was always in our plan, but we never had any beer (to sell outside Seattle),” says Reuben’s founder Adam Robbings.

That started to change with a brewery addition in 2015 that doubled production from 2,800 barrels then to 5,700 last year. Further expansion has increased capacity to around 12,000 barrels per year (about the size of Spokane’s largest brewery, No-Li).

Now Rueben’s has the ability to begin selling beer here, and in Portland in June – which Robbings says is just right.

“We want to be a Northwest brewery that doesn’t have any illusions of grandeur of being anything bigger than that,” he says. “But we want to be doing things the right way so that we’re known nationally and internationally.”  

Reuben’s has earned a reputation from more than 100 awards in regional, national and international competitions over its almost five years of existence, the most of any Washington brewery during that time.

Those have come for beers ranging from sours to stouts, pilsners to IPAs. All are carefully crafted, with more than half a dozen yeast varieties at work in the brewery at any one time and a separate water chemistry profile for each beer.

“I think a lot of our strength is in our diversity,” Robbings says. “We don’t think, what’s our house yeast strain, what’s our house base malt? We think, how do we want this beer to taste? That makes all of our beers uniquely different.”

While the Crikey IPA (the name a nod to Robbings’ British heritage) accounts for more than 40 percent of production, Reuben’s has been attracting attention for its Gose, a tart, German-style wheat beer that won gold medals at the Great American Beer Festival the past two years.

That was originally brewed for Reuben’s third anniversary in 2015. “We had never done any kettle souring, so it was a project I could totally get immersed in,” Robbings says. “My mind works well doing new things. We want to be doing new things all the time and challenging ourselves.”

To that end, he recently bought a warehouse that will be devoted to the production of longer-range barrel-aged sours.

Along with the Crikey and Gose, those attending the various Spokane events today and tomorrow will be treated to the likes of Kentucky Common (a dark rye sour), Pilsner, sessionable Daily Pale, Robust Porter and Bourbon Barrel Breakfast Stout, along with several other IPAs: the seasonal Summer, single-hop Azacca, New England-style Mosaic Crush and imperial Expat.