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

Boys and the bubbles

Rick Bonino

Four-Eyed Guys' Alex Rausch and Bellwether's Thomas Croskrey deliver their Simon & Gruitfunkel beer to the Spokane Arena's Antwone Whaley before Friday night's Paul Simon concert.

When Bellwether’s Thomas Croskrey brewed a beer called Simon & Gruitfunkel, he never expected to be sending some to Paul Simon himself.

But that’s exactly what happened Friday night before Simon’s show at the Spokane Arena.

Croskrey and Four-Eyed Guys’ Alex Rausch collaborated on the recipe for Spokane Craft Beer Week. It combined one of Rausch’s specialties, gose (tart wheat beer), and one of Croskrey’s, gruit (herbed ale), flavored with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (hence the name).

The Arena crew, who are presenting their second annual Spokane Brewers Festival in August, heard about it and asked Croskrey if he could bring some for Simon’s backstage spread – like they did in February for Blake Shelton, who had taken a liking to No-Li beer during a previous stop.

So Croskrey and Rausch showed up with two growlers of Simon & Gruitfunkel and one of Bellwether’s Fernweh Baltic porter, which won a gold medal in last weekend’s Washington Beer Awards.

Croskrey, who was celebrating his birthday, stayed for the show with a longtime friend. “He and I grew up listening to Simon and Garfunkel,” he says.

“The concert was awesome,” Croskrey continues. “He did a half-dozen of the old Simon and Garfunkel songs.”  

He hasn’t heard how his offering went over with Simon. “He didn’t say anything during the show,” Croskrey says.

And no, he didn’t play “Scarborough Fair.”