Atwood Farm Brewery to close
Blaine’s farmhouse brewery, Atwood Farm Brewery (also known as Atwood Ales), is closing after a seven-year run. The brewery will continue to sell its barrel-aged beers, but is no longer producing new brews.
When I first visited brewer-owner Josh Smith’s family farm in 2017, we sipped saison and tasted nasturtium flowers from the garden. We discussed rhubarb and buckwheat in the hop field, while Smith’s father, Stephen, buzzed about the property with a weed whacker. It was unlike any brewery tour I’d ever experienced. Brewing in a 100-year-old barn on a small scale, Atwood’s approach was unique in Whatcom County and Washington state.
Much has changed since then.
“The world has changed, the industry has changed and I have changed,” Smith said in a news release. “Running a small brewery is hard, running a niche farmhouse brewery is hard, and surviving a pandemic in our industry is hard. This has been my full-time job for five of the last seven years and while we have achieved modest success, I have also grown tired of brewing beer and even more tired of being a business owner.”
Smith made many adaptations over the years to keep up with the ever-changing beer market. But the pandemic increased costs and decreased shelf space and more breweries began to package and distribute during shutdowns.
Understandably, Smith views the additional changes needed to accommodate brewery growth and long-term financial sustainability as “too risky, too expensive or too complicated — and not in the spirit of what I set out to create seven years ago.”
Atwood Farm Brewery will have a “soft closing” sometime in 2023 or 2024. For now, the brewery is open by appointment only. Schedule your visit online to pick up bottles from the farm, including Atwood’s barrel-aged seventh-anniversary ale, Redundancy Measures.
“We have over 30 barrels worth of beer at various stages of barrel aging … imperial stouts, fruited sours, mixed-culture saisons and spontaneous beers,” Smith said in the release.
He plans to package and release these beers — the “Swan Songs Bottle Series” — as they mature over the next one to two years. Check Atwood Farm Brewery’s website for info on how to purchase these limited releases.
Bellingham Beer Week returns
Bellingham Beer Week is returning in full force this month after a three-year pandemic hiatus. The 10-day “week” (Friday, April 21 to Sunday, April 30) celebrates Bellingham’s vibrant beer scene, with numerous events at breweries and tap houses around town.
“2020 made it impossible for our beer community to hold events in person, and the uncertainty of COVID the following years gave us some reason to pause, wait things out, then come back big,” organizer Brian Seales said in an interview. “Being the first year back after a break, breweries and tap houses are still putting some of the finishing touches on their plans and we should see some new things pop up daily.”
Keep an eye on the developing calendar on Bellingham Beer Week’s website for updates. Some of the biggest returning events this year are Kulshan’s Beer Olympics and the April Brews Day festival.
Beer Week kicks off Friday, April 21 with the fifth annual Beer Olympics at Kulshan Brewery’s Roosevelt Beer Garden (K2). This event is always a hoot, with 22 teams of four people competing in eight games. Beer Olympics is a spectator sport — complete with team names and costumes. Head down to K2 to enjoy a brew and watch the fun unfold.
April Brews Day, Bellingham’s biggest annual beer festival, will be Saturday, April 29. The fest features more than 65 Pacific Northwest craft breweries/cideries, attracting approximately 4,000 attendees. This year’s event will take place at the downtown waterfront, near Waypoint Park and Kulshan’s Trackside beer garden. As always, all proceeds from April Brews Day are donated to Max Higbee Center.
Brews news
• Cardinal Craft Brewing reopened in March. Closed since August 2022, the Skagit Valley College Brewing Academy taproom is now open Thursday through Saturday. Cardinal is experimenting with new hours “based on our staffing capabilities.” Check its website and social media for the latest updates.
• Structures Brewing opened its Old Town location at 601 W. Holly St. in March. The former Chuckanut Brewery space is almost unrecognizable after a remodel, with Structures’ trademark taxidermy and tunes setting the vibe. The new restaurant is family-friendly, offering drive-in-style burgers alongside Structures’ excellent beer.
• The Corner Taphouse is now open in Fairhaven. Located in the Orca Building at 1125 Finnegan Way, the bar offers a dozen rotating taps including beer, cider, hard seltzer and wine. Open daily, The Corner Taphouse is a 21+ establishment.
• The annual Sunnyland Garden Party returns Thursday, April 13 through Sunday, April 16. Seven breweries will participate in the pub crawl-style event this year. Participants receive a stamp at each brewery, and full punch cards are entered into a raffle for prizes. Don your finest garden gear, from floral patterns to big hats, overalls or anything you would wear while gardening.
• Kulshan Brewing’s Trackside location will reopen for the season on Friday, May 5. Hello, summer!
Brandon Fralic’s Drink Cascadia column runs the second week of every month. Reach him at drinkcascadia@gmail.com.
