Growing on Green Bluff

The 238 Brewing Company plans to put up bigger numbers in its second year of operation.

The Green Bluff brewery is preparing to make its beers on a larger, more reliable system, and serve them in a considerably expanded taproom.

First there’s an anniversary party to put on, Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. There will be raffle drawings for door prizes of brewery merchandise, and a snowshoe walk (snow willing) from 1 to 3 p.m.; play games at various stops and collect cards, with prizes for the best and worst hands (there’s a $5 entry fee).

Bring a donation for the Spokane Humane Society – dog or cat food, kitty litter, office supplies – and get your first pint for $3 (plus the approval of the brewery’s resident dachshunds). Offerings will include the latest results of owners Mike and Lisa Beckman’s experiments blending various brews with homemade root beer, shandy-style.

The brewery on the Beckmans’ Christmas tree farm, named after the area’s telephone prefix, was the first in the state to be licensed in 2015.

“We had no idea what to expect the first year,” Mike Beckman says. “Being as busy as we were was a shock. We sold everything we made. I’m proud of the fact that people would actually trek up here just to try our beer.”

Several of his recipes have used produce from Green Bluff neighbors, such as a raspberry wit, peach hefeweizen and apple butter bock. A cucumber kolsch could be on the way next summer.

Beckman struggled at times to keep up on his bare-bones brewing system, which runs two half-barrel Keggle brew kettles in tandem. “It’s real laborious to do it that way,” he says.

But by month’s end, he expects to have all the pieces to begin putting together a more sophisticated three-barrel system.

“I’ll be able to do more things with the beer to improve the quality and the consistency,” Beckman says. “Just getting up on big boy equipment for a change will be nice.”

That will allow for some limited distribution, though the taproom will continue to be top priority – and a growing one.

By the end of summer, the Beckmans hope to complete work on a taproom that will be some 10 times larger than the current space, a 300-foot-square, 100-year-old building that served as a bunkhouse on the original farm.

The smaller structure, which was gradually upgraded during the past year with new, matching furniture and a wood plank floor, will remain open for more intimate gatherings.

“Everybody still loves the quaint little alehouse,” Lisa Beckman says. “People feel like they’re sitting in their living room.”

Indeed, some customers treat it that way, her husband adds – like the one who built them a pallet coffee table for Christmas, with “welcome 238 friends” emblazoned on top.

“A lot of people almost take an ownership in this place,” he says. “It’s amazing the loyalty and camaraderie you get.”