Backyard passion fuels venture

Badass Backyard Brewing isn’t your typical local brewery.

For starters, despite the macho-sounding name and logo, it’s actually run by a woman – one with a hot pink automated brew stand, no less.

And the tiny 20-gallon operation in a detached shop at Charlene Honcik’s Millwood home is only open on selected Saturdays (growlers are filled by appointment at other times). Next up is Saturday from 2 to 8 p.m., following a grand opening Aug. 1.

“It went really well,” Honcik said. “We were pretty steadily busy the whole six hours.”

The same six beers will again be on tap: a blonde, raspberry wheat, brown (both regular and conditioned over hickory chips), black and, of course, an IPA.

“The raspberry and IPA were definitely the favorites, the raspberry with the ladies and the IPA with the guys,” Honcik said.

She and her roommate and Spokane County co-worker, Kendra Wiiest, have converted the space into a bare-bones taproom, relying on donated and salvaged materials. The bar top was fashioned from a handrail from the old floating dock in Coeur d’Alene, while the metal along the front was scrap from a siding job.

“I wasn’t really looking for a house with a shop when I moved here,” Honcik said. “It just kind of all happened, like it was meant to be.”

And after receiving a warm reception from other brewers around the area, she said, “When I found out the brotherhood that exists, I thought, this is the place for me.”

The Hayden-born Honcik, who just turned 30, started homebrewing about five years ago when she was bartending in Coeur d’Alene and some customers invited her over to check out their setup. She got into all-grain brewing through a friend after moving to Millwood three years ago.

Brewing and hanging out with friends became a stress reliever from their jobs as 911 emergency operators, Honcik and Wiiest said. Along the way, Honcik said, people started telling her, “You really need to start selling this somehow.”

So she went through the licensing process with the help of English Setter’s Jeff Bendio, who also started with a garage operation before opening his Valley brewpub. She originally planned on only selling growlers and kegs to go, but learned that her shop was zoned commercial, allowing for a taproom.

The brewery name is a nod to Honcik herself, who grew up camping and fishing with her father and riding motorcycles. “One of my buddies said, ‘You’re such a badass,’ ” she explained. “I thought, ‘That’s it.’ ”

While the brewery is a sideline for now, Honcik is taking it seriously. She attended April’s national Craft Brewers Conference in Portland, is joining the area’s Ale Trail and has signed up to pour at the Inland Northwest Craft Beer Festival at Avista Stadium in October.

She’s pricing microscopes to set up a lab for quality control. “I’m all about quality – not quantity, obviously,” she quipped.

Honcik hopes to upgrade to a two-barrel (60-gallon) system (there’s a fundraising campaign through Rally.org), and dreams of a 10-barrel operation with an offsite pub.

In the meantime, she said, “All I want it to do is support itself, and I’ll be happy.”

Brewery watch

• Orlison is scheduled to open its downtown Spokane taproom today in the space formerly occupied by Luxe Coffee House at 1017 W. First Ave.

• Spokane winery Arbor Crest has received final licensing approval and is pouring house-brewed Square Wheel beers at its Cliff House tasting room for Thursday and Sunday concerts.

• No-Li will welcome seven visiting breweries to The ’KAN JamBEERee on Aug. 22: Seattle-area Black Raven and Schooner Exact, Portland’s Alameda and Base Camp, Eugene’s Oakshire, Boise’s Payette, and California’s Firestone Walker. There also will be food trucks and live music; admission is $20, which includes five drink tokens.

Freshly tapped

• Recently opened Bennidito’s Brewpub has added a pair of easy-drinkers to its lineup: Sigrid’s Kolsch (5.2 percent alcohol by volume, 24 International Bitterness Units) and HHH Hefeweizen. Also look for the return next week of the sessionable, Irish-style Old Man Bill’s stout (4.4, 35).

• Twelve String’s experimental Sound Check IPA (6.1, 70) uses liquid hop extract along with Centennial, Cascade and Galena.

• The summery Ginger Blonde (4.9, 25) at Trickster’s in Coeur d’Alene is brewed with fresh ginger and orange peel for subtle orange and more pronounced ginger flavors.

• The Mt. Hope IPA at Zythum in Fairfield is made exclusively with Columbus hops grown in that nearby area for citrusy, piney notes and a clean finish. (Look for happy hour prices all day today in honor of brewer/owner Shawn Carney’s birthday.)

Save the date

• Sixteen local and regional brewers are participating in the third annual Ales For the Trail festival Saturday from 2 to 8 p.m. at McEuen Park in Coeur d’Alene, with live music and food. Admission is $30, which includes six 5-ounce pours; proceeds support the Centennial Trail.

• The Silver Mountain Brewsfest, starting at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Kellogg ski area, will feature 40 regional beers and ciders accompanied by live music from Clumsy Lovers, Civilized Animal and The Dog House Boyz. Tickets are $29.95 in advance, $34.95 at the gate.

• Tickets go on sale Monday for this year’s Inland Northwest Craft Beer Festival, Oct. 2-3 at Avista Stadium. Cost is $20 in advance, $25 at the gate, including six 5-ounce samples.

• The third-annual Hopped Up on Art, Music and Beer festival, Aug. 22 from 2 to 9 p.m. at the Spokane Valley brewery, includes art displays, craft vendors, live music, food trucks and a special small-batch sour or two.

• Budgefest returns to the parking lot of Budge Brothers on Aug. 22 from 2 to 9 p.m. with a Sonnenberg’s sausage barbecue, DJ music, beer specials and prizes. 

• Sandpoint-area Laughing Dog celebrates its 10th anniversary Aug. 22 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. with live music and a barrel-aged imperial rye ale.