Beer lovers and brewers rejoice! There is now a welcoming location in Olympia where you can sip a craft beer, shop for homebrew supplies, swap brewing tips and recipes, brew your own beer, and even learn to brew.
Welcome to Cascadia Homebrew. Chris Emerson is owner, operator, founder, brewmaster, teacher, and bartender. “We offer everything craft beer. I brew it, you brew it, we all brew it, you drink it. I want people to know this is a full brewery. You can come down and have a pint or fill a growler.”
Chris, who is from Seattle, and attended college in Ellensburg, moved to Olympia about one year ago, after often visiting his sister here. “Olympia always just jumped out at me as a great place,” he says in response to why he decided to start a business here.
He jumped at the chance to renovate the former site of Last Word Books on Fourth Avenue. “As soon as I stepped inside I was like yes, this is it, this is the spot. I remember looking around and saying I can do this, I can make this nice.” He renovated the space himself and built shelving out of reclaimed wood. “This building is over 100 years old, and I wanted to showcase some of that,” he says.
Chris started brewing 14 years ago. “My older brother started brewing, and I always looked up to him, so I’d help him with his brewing. I eventually started brewing more on my own, once a month, then twice a month, then every single weekend,” Chris says. “I come from a scientific mindset. In college, I studied biology and chemistry. I just find it fascinating – breaking down all the different pieces and controlling each factor, to me it seems very science based. But then at the same time it has kind of this art, craft side to it where there’s so much creativity.”
“I brew some very traditional beers, but other things I like to throw a twist on it – like the red I have right now,” Chris explains. “I call it the winterized red because it’s a darker red. I have a chocolate lavender porter right now, because my fiancé wanted something with lavender. I’ve done really old school style beers called gruits, those are beers without hops, sometimes using yarrow, nettle, or chanterelle, so that you get that fun twist to it.
“I have a root gruit kegging right now,” he continues. “This is a root beer, for adults, made with sarsaparilla, sassafras, and licorice. I think people of Olympia, and the greater area, want to try some new things. I do some saisons, some Belgians, dark beers, light beers, everything in between.”
“I’m only at the shop 60-70 hours a week,” Chris says, with zero irony. This is a man who seriously loves what he does. “But I’m always thinking about the next recipe, different ingredients, it’s non-stop.”
“I’m trying to avoid a flagship beer,” Chris adds. “I want to cycle through all the styles, colors, and flavors. I haven’t repeated a single recipe yet. That’s probably my favorite part – developing the recipe. There’s so many different styles, so many different kind of beers that can be made.”
One of Chris’s motivations to open Cascadia Homebrew was that he could never find the brew shop experience he was seeking. “I’d be shopping for brewing supplies and think ‘why am I not drinking a beer right now?’ and I thought ‘if no one else is doing this I guess I’m going to have to,’” he recalls.
“I really like doing the supplies and talking to other home brewers and seeing what people are creating. My goal is to source small, locally, and organic whenever I can. The majority of the grains are from Great Western Malting, they’re grown and malted in Washington state. I’m also going to start working with Skagit Valley Malting. A lot of the malts are organic, some are gluten free. All my hops come from Yakima Valley Hops and the local Parsons Family Farm.” Chris explains that buying local is important to him because it invests back into the community and state, instead of a large, unknown company. “If I can support other local businesses, that’s my business plan!”
Chris also loves teaching brewing classes. “It’s up there as one of my favorite parts of the business. It’s a small group, and the students are doing the brewing, stirring the pot, adding the ingredients, checking the temperatures, but I’m telling you what to do, what not to do, and what you can do at home,” says Chris. “We sample a bunch of grains and talk about the difference between, barely, wheat, rye, spelt.”
“This is a great time to be a brewer – from 5 gallons to 500 gallons. This is a beautiful time, especially in the northwest. There’s such a community with brewing,” Chris says. “I think the Olympia area could support 8-10 breweries. It would be so cool if someone comes back years later and they have opened up a brewery after starting by taking one of my classes!”
Cascadia Homebrew brewing classes are three hours and cost $50 per person including supplies. To find the next scheduled classes, call 360-943-BEER. For hours and additional information visit CascadiaHomebrew.com. On the first Thursday of every month, Cascadia Homebrew hosts a BrewGrass bluegrass concert in partnership with KAOS.
