Focused on craft, conversation

A couple of Fairchild Air Force Base veterans who discovered craft beer in Japan are bringing their passion to the Spokane Valley.

Cassie and Ashton Preston last weekend opened Steady Flow Growler House in a strip mall at 328 N. Sullivan Road, behind Shari’s restaurant.

“It went really, really well,” Cassie Preston said. “We had a line outside the door before we opened.”

The celebration continues Saturday with free unfilled glass growlers given away to the first 200 customers, a live remote radio broadcast from 2 to 5 p.m. and five beers from Green Bluff’s Big Barn on tap, with a brewery representative on hand.

About half of Steady Flow’s 30 beer taps have been occupied by offerings from regional breweries on the Inland Northwest Ale Trail. There also are five ciders (including local One Tree), River City root beer, red and white wines, and cold-brewed local coffee from Beautiful Grounds.

“We thought it would be cool for people to be able to try a bunch of different craft beverages in one place,” Ashton Preston said.

The Prestons met while stationed at Fairchild in the mid-2000s before transferring to Japan. “There was a little craft beer bar down the street from our house (in Okinawa) that opened our eyes to fresh local beer,” said Cassie Preston, a Colville-area native.

They moved on to Colorado Springs – amid that state’s booming beer culture – then decided to return to Spokane to open a business after leaving the service last year. Visits to Portland growler shops during April’s Craft Brewers Conference helped firm up their plans.

Their state-of-the-art DigitalPour system includes an icon on the electronic display showing how much beer is left in each keg. The board also is set to display Untappd check-ins by customers as they’re posted.

While the focus is on fills, Steady Flow also offers seating for 22 people at blue pine slab tables and a side bar, with beers available in full and half pints, and taster flights.

The rustic/industrial space, done in gray and black with a concrete floor, has plenty of personality. The bar is topped with white fir and lined with barn wood on the front. Large hanging lights were salvaged from Camp Chevrolet, while the walls are covered with canvas prints of photos the Prestons took at local breweries.

The music is kept low and there are no TVs. “We want to create a nice, quiet environment where people can sit down and have a pint and actually talk to each other,” Ashton Preston said.

“And we can hear them talking about the beer – not that we’re going to eavesdrop, but we can get some feedback,” added Cassie Preston.

Their attention to detail includes a variety of glassware for serving different beer styles (and cider). Those are explained on their informative website, which also includes sections on growler care and history.

Glass growlers are available in 16- and 32-ounce sizes, as well as full 64-ounce (which also come in stainless steel and plastic). You can buy a branded carrier along with glasses and T-shirts.

Admittance is 21 and older, though the Prestons, parents of two young children, are looking at a license change to become family-friendly.

Discounts include Military Monday for active and veteran service personnel, police and firefighters, Thirsty Thursday for everyone, happy hour specials daily from 3 to 6 p.m., and kill-the-keg nights. There’s also a rewards program for frequent customers.

Outside food is allowed, and they’re experimenting with food trucks on Saturdays.

Brewery watch

• Coeur d’Alene’s Paragon Brewing pub and restaurant has released its first house beer, a Northwest-style Hiawatha Pale (5.6 percent alcohol by volume, 40 International Bitterness Units) that gets papaya and pear notes from a combination of Warrior, Equinox and Calypso hops. Paragon beers are being brewed at MickDuff’s in Sandpoint while planning continues for an onsite brewery.

• The Steam Plant today taps its annual Oktoberfest (6, 9), full of Munich malt and noble hops.

• Upcoming seasonal releases in 22-ounce bottles and draft include the reddish Arc Flash India Session Ale (4.1, 37) on Monday from Pullman’s Paradise Creek, and No-Li’s new Copper Donkey (8, 20) on Sept. 22, brewed with fresh ginger and citrusy hops to mimic a Moscow Mule cocktail.

• Bellwether Brewing has set a tentative opening date of Sept. 22 at 2019 N. Monroe St. The one-barrel nanobrewery will produce Old World styles using herbs and honey as well as more modern recipes.

• A state microbrewery license has been filed for Kendall Yards Brewing, planned as part of a theater complex expected to open a year from now at the Spokane riverfront development.

Save the date

• The Lantern Tap House presents its annual sour festival today through Sunday in conjunction with the Perry Street Shakedown music festival.

• Iron Goat’s yearly Spo Hop hop picking party starts Saturday at 11 a.m. at the brewery. Bring your homegrown hops, or just come and pick them off the vines; a fresh hop beer will be brewed with them that same day, and all who participate will get half-price pints once it’s released.

• Hopped Up’s third annual Art, Music and Beer festival, originally scheduled for Aug. 22 but postponed because of air quality issues, returns on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

• Perry Street Brewing’s second annual Oktoberfest on Sept. 24 will include Kolsch, Oktoberfest and Doppelbock beers (32-ounce souvenir steins available for advance purchase) along with German-style food.