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

Millwood Brewing: Back to the future

Rick Bonino

Millwood Brewing Company becomes the newest local brewery when it opens Friday, but walking inside is like taking a step back in time.

The former Cunningham photo studio at 9013 E. Frederick (a half-block west of Argonne) is full of beer and neighborhood memorabilia along with assorted antiques – from railroad crossing signs to historical photos to a functioning stoplight.

“There’s nothing like it in Spokane,” says co-owner Shelly Watkins, who grew up in the surrounding West Valley area. “Millwood is so excited about it. I think we’re going to be crazy busy.”

Adds her husband, Chuck Watkins: “It’s comfortable. Once you get here, you won’t want to go anywhere else.”

A glass garage door opens onto the patio, which fronts railroad tracks including an abandoned right-of-way that’s being developed into a recreational trail.

Edison bulbs hang in vintage fixtures, with two big windmill fans on the ceiling. The brick-walled bathrooms have sliding barn-style doors.

The bartop was fashioned from a 16-foot pine slab with a winding cutout filled with rocks from the Pend Oreille River, where the Watkins have a cabin. In one cozy corner, a stone fireplace is surrounded by a leather couch and chairs and adorned with a massive moose head (that’s Morty).

A mezzanine seating area looks down into the brewery, its walls covered with some 70 old beer signs from the collection of Shelly Watkins’ late father, Jerry Eslick, a longtime salesman for the former Joey August distributorship (look around for his “J-Slick” license plates).

The sizable 10-barrel brewing system came from Hayden’s acclaimed LaBreck Stainless Works. Brewer Jordan Conley is starting with half-batches while he adapts the homebrew recipes he’s been working on the past eight or nine years.

“Going from 5 gallons to 155 is a big jump,” he says. “It’s a homebrewer’s dream.”