More breweries in the mill

Millwood is at the center of the new brewery scene for 2016.

Just before Christmas, the newest name in the mix, V Twin, signed a lease for strip mall space at 2302 N. Argonne Road, just south of Montgomery.

A half-mile to the north, Mill Towne Brewery is starting to take shape in the former Cunningham photo studio at 9005 E. Frederick, just west of Argonne.

They’ll join four-year-old fixture Twelve String (though it plans to move to a new location on Pines south of Sprague) and tiny, more recent Badass Backyard Brewing (now open every Saturday, not just twice a month).

Here’s more on those and the other new breweries in progress:

V TWIN

Motorcycle-themed V Twin (a type of engine) is the project of longtime homebrewer Barry Black and his wife, Kim.

When they were younger, Barry says, they considered opening an espresso stand. “We hemmed and hawed about it, but we didn’t do it,” he says. “We thought it was a fad. We’ve just kept kicking ourselves, if we only would have done it.”

Now, with the brewery, he says, “We kind of went, here’s our second chance, let’s do it.”

It all started when Black took a liqueur-making class at a local homebrew store some 10 years ago. “I went there with no idea of homebrewing, but it just kind of fascinated me,” he says.

Kim got him a beer-making kit that Christmas, and he quickly progressed to all-grain. Black took fourth place at the Battle of the Homebrews last year with his Vanilla Porter, and third this year for his IPA.

After serving for a First Friday event by his employer, Numerica Credit Union, he was invited to pour alongside Orlison and Black Label at the Dental Society’s Pop a Cork for a Cause last February, and will return next month. “I was a little intimidated,” he says of last year, “but it went very well.”

Around the same time, the Blacks started scouting locations for a commercial brewery and finally found a 1,600-square-foot space just north of the McDonald’s on Argonne.

It will house a 3.5-barrel electric brewing system with the capability of producing double batches. Like the brewery, the beers will have motorcycle-related names.

“I’ve got a few people I go and ride with all the time,” Black says. “It’s about riding bikes and having a beer, for the people who work hard, put their blood and sweat into it – it’s something for them.”

Black, who hopes to open sometime this summer, is raising money through GoFundMe as well as a business loan. Other breweries have been supportive of his plans, he says, including Black Label and Budge Brothers.

“I’ve just been going around and checking everybody out,” he says. “Anybody who’s willing to offer help and insight along the way, I’ll eat it up.”

MILL TOWNE

Mill Towne may be an unfamiliar name in local beer circles, but it’s been in the works for a while.

“We started diving into this more than three years ago, but could never find a good enough location,” co-owner Chuck Watkins says.

He and wife Shelley ended up buying the former Cunningham Studio property in November 2014, and were granted a zoning change for the brewery last February.  Now they have architectural plans out for review by contractors for what’s shaping up as a $600,000 to $700,000 project, slated for a September opening.

The 2,000-square-foot space for the brewery and taproom is being completely renovated; another 2,500 square feet for a restaurant could eventually be added in a potential Phase Two, with food trucks planned In the meantime. Two residential structures on the property will be torn down for parking, one in each phase.

Watkins says he’s encouraged by community revitalization plans for the area, including a bicycle path on an abandoned rail line that runs in front of the brewery.

It will feature a 10-barrel brewhouse with four fermenters and a brite tank, turning out a variety of West Coast-style ales. There will be seven standard taps, plus seasonals; brewer Jordan Conley, who’s been homebrewing for several years, is working on recipe development.

“We’re going to take his passion and help make his dream a reality,” Watkins says.

Shelley formerly ran a coffee business, so has that retail experience, he adds: “She doesn’t even drink beer, but she has the front-of-the-house thing nailed down.”

Chuck, an account manager for Cisco Systems computer networking, says he’s intrigued by the social networking aspects. With Irish roots, he’s well aware of the role pubs play as a community gathering place in Ireland and England.

“That’s where the future is going,” he says. “People are going to adopt their local pubs.”

MORE NEWCOMERS

Among the previously announced breweries working toward 2016 openings in Spokane and Kootenai counties:

– Also in the Valley, Sun Mountain is remodeling its space on Greenacres Road north of Sprague and lining up a seven-barrel system with an eye toward an April/May opening.

– Work continues on the downtown brewery incubator in the Luminaria Building at 154 S. Madison, which could open as soon as February. Young Buck and Little Spokane are the first participants in the project, in which up to five fledgling breweries will share a seven-barrel system with an attached taproom pouring those and other beers.

– A February-March opening also is in sight for Post Falls Brewing , on Spokane Street just north of the river. The distribution-focused brewery is aiming big, with a 15-barrel brewhouse and 30-barrel fermenters.

– Bombastic , in the Pandhandle Area Business Council incubator at the Hayden airport, submitted its licensing paperwork Christmas Eve and has been fine-tuning beer styles and labels. Plans call for producing small-batch specialty beers in-house, and contracting with other area breweries for more mainstream offerings.