Page 37 - Flathead Beacon // 12.17.14

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BUSINESS
DECEMBER 17, 2014 | 37
“This has been a long time coming, and a big reason we haven’t opened yet is because this building project has been so time consuming,” said Sandy Johnston, who owns the brewery with her father, Greg Johnston. “There are a lot of hoops we had to go through, but we wanted to get it right.”
Formerly, the site had no storm water infrastruc- ture and potentially contaminated surface run-off was allowed to flush downhill into the lake. The Johnstons are improving the conditions by designing the roof and parking lots so that the vast majority of storm wa- ter will be collected and cleaned as it runs down to the aquifer.
Remodeling the bowling alley has also required intensive demolition work, but the owners have been able to divert waste from the landfill by sorting and re- purposing demolition materials, which were reused in the finished building, including 100 percent of the insulation.
The old windows, doors, ceiling tiles and duct work were donated to Habitat for Humanity, while scrap steel was donated to local groups to sell for fundraising.
Concrete was crushed and offered as clean fill for local projects, while building and interior design ma- terials for the Bigfork facility were selected with pref- erence toward regional and recycled sources. All of the brick was reclaimed from old buildings in Spokane, and the pub entryway was fashioned from a historic bridge that once crossed the nearby Swan River.
All of the lumber was locally sourced, and the fur- niture by the local company Vinoture is made from old wine barrels.
“Instead of this stuff going into landfills we have re- used it,” Johnston said. “All of the wood was dredged out of Montana rivers.”
Four solar collectors on the roof help soak up rays to heat water for the brewery and kitchen, while spent grain is given to local farms where it is used as feed for livestock.
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The brewery and adjacent pub house and restau- rant will operate as separate entities. While the new brewery facility will be responsible for the bulk of pro- duction, the Woods Bay brewery will be used to create new and experimental styles of beer, like sours.
Jacoby, the lead brewer, said the new brewery fa- cility is a dream come true for a craft beer maker. He’s been spending most of his time “flavor matching” the beers at the Woods Bay brewhouse to the beers brewed at the new facility, which uses a unique geothermal sys- tem – instead of heating the beer wort with flame, he uses recycled steam.
The facility borrows clean effluent from the near- by Bigfork Water and Sewer District and uses it to run several water furnace heat pumps, which, among other things, boils the beer wort. The equipment pro- vides heating and cooling for the building and brew- ing processes, and provides yet another renewable source of energy.
As time passes and growth continues, the brewery will continue adding fermenters until it reaches capac- ity. It currently has eight 60-barrel tanks.
“This new location will really open the doors for us as far as style and creativity is concerned. We will now have the space to play, experiment, and brew all of our styles year-round,” Jacoby said.
The brewery is also set to begin canning some of its most popular styles – the Centennial IPA, Bufflehead Brown and Wild Mile Wheat.
“Everything we do here is to conserve energy,” Ja- coby said.
Johnston hopes to open the doors to the pub house’s main floor in mid-January, though a date has not yet been set. The entire facility, which includes a game room with two golf simulators, will open by the fall.
“We’re excited to get this open to the public and show everyone what we’ve been doing,” she said.
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TOP: Ian Crawford, right, with Vinoture, delivers wine barrels from California to David Brendgard and Flathead Lake Brewing Company in Bigfork. The barrels will be used to age sour beers. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
BOTTOM: Tim Jacoby, head brewer at Flathead Lake Brewing Company, shows technology updates at the company’s new brewing facility in Bigfork. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
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