Aficionados of locally brewed beer are finding more venues in the Wood River Valley to tempt their taste buds.
In November, the Trail Creek Pub opened in the old Ketchum Korral motel office at the southern entrance to Ketchum.
Chris Harding is in the seventh year of operating River Bend Brewing Co., a one-man brewing operation north of Hailey. Harding produces about 14 kegs every two weeks, which he distributes to local restaurants. His most well-known product is his Round the Bend pale ale.
The Sun Valley Brewing Co., operating in Hailey since 1986, continues to produce its popular line of beers and is expanding its sales into Boise.
"It's a very sophisticated beer drinking market here," said Trail Creek Pub co-owner Matt Pernichele. "I think there's plenty of room for a new brew pub."
The opening of local brew pubs is part of a nationwide trend. According to the Brewers Association, an organization of small-scale commercial brewers, the local brewery and brewpub industry is growing at about 7 percent a year. Perhaps, industry analysts speculate, the country might return to its early 20th-century state when every good-sized town had its local brewery. Meanwhile, sales of the major breweries are declining.
"I think it's insane to ship beer all over the planet," Harding said. "It should be a local product."
He said his production must operate at maximum capacity during the summer.
However, Harding admitted, the local offerings here, as everywhere, are still soundly outsold by the mass-produced brands put out by the major breweries.
"We're aiming to change that and enlighten people's palates," he said of himself and his fellow local brewers. "It's a lifelong mission that we all have."
The Trail Creek Pub is in a rustic, log-sided building. It has a bar and tables and, at one end, a cozy fireplace flanked by armchairs. The food menu offers panini and fajita sandwiches, burgers, salads and kabobs.
"We thought that Ketchum needed a place that was a little more casual than the fine dining places," Pernichele said.
The establishment brews its five offerings of lagers and ales in Twin Falls, where it also has a pub, near the town's old downtown. The brewery puts out about 20 kegs a week.
"Our original plan was to brew up here, but we couldn't find the large space we needed," Pernichele said.
So he and his two partners, Scott Featherstone and Eric Beuhner, bought the old Muggers brewery, located in what was originally a flour warehouse.
Beuhner had previously been brewmaster at the Bohemian Brewpub in Salt Lake City. Pernichele had owned a cinema pub there.
Business, Pernichele said, has been good, and those 20 kegs are not enough to keep up with demand.
"In a small town, people talk," he said, "and I think people have been saying mostly positive things so far."
The largest local brewer, Sun Valley Brewing Co., began its operations in Hailey in 1986. Since then, the brewery and restaurant has sold its products mainly in the Wood River Valley. However, the company recently entered the Boise market with sales of its White Cloud Ale at 24 Albertsons supermarkets there.
"We want to get into all the Albertsons in Idaho," brewmaster Sean Flynn said.
Flynn said WinCo grocery stores in Boise will also soon be selling the ale.
Flynn said the company's sales have been improved by a two-year-old arrangement with Sun Valley Co. to feature its products at the resort's stores and restaurants. In return, the brewery renamed two of its products Gretchen's Gold and Roundhouse India Pale Ale. Gretchen's Gold is named after former Sun Valley ski racer Gretchen Fraser, who won a gold medal in slalom in the 1948 Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Roundhouse IPA is named after the Roundhouse restaurant, built on Bald Mountain in 1939 and an icon of early American skiing.
"The name attached to a local brewery definitely helps sales," Sun Valley Co. beverage manager Brian Alley said. "People want to try it."
The new names coincided with a Sun Valley Co. ad campaign emphasizing the resort's skiing history.
In November, Sun Valley Brewing Co. introduced a new product—Cabin Fever Ale. Flynn said the brew is a Scottish brown ale, made with the same roasted barley used in Scotch whiskey, and has a "burnt, smoky peat flavor."
Flynn said ales are generally heavier and darker than lager beers—making them a more satisfying winter beverage.
He said the company usually has seven types of beers in production at one time, with the mainstays of its line being White Cloud Ale, Gretchen's Gold and Sun Valley Blonde, a light Pilsner.
The River Bend Brewing Co. also puts out a winter beverage, called Powder Pig Large Ale. Harding said the ale has a sweeter, more roasted flavor than his Round the Bend pale ale.
Harding, 44, said he produces his beers in "extremely small, ship-like" quarters at his house near Hidden Hollow. He said he honed his craft through about 12 years of home brewing before he went commercial.
He said he and other local brewers begin their operations with 100 percent barley. The large breweries, he said, add corn and rice, which is cheaper, but, he claims, results in a less flavorful product. He said he imports his malted barley from the United Kingdom. "Malted" means the barley has been allowed to germinate, making it susceptible to being broken down into fermentable sugars.
That process begins when Harding mixes the barley with hot water, creating a sort of porridge. The mixture is heated in a large tank for about an hour and a half.
The sugar solution, called "wort," is strained out, put into a boiler and mixed with hops. The female, flowering cones of the hop plant add a bitter taste to the brew.
The hot liquid is then cooled and mixed with yeast to begin a nine-day fermentation process. After being fermented, the beer is aged for five more days before being put into kegs.
Then, Harding's one-man distribution operation brings the beverage to thirsty Wood River Valley residents and visitors.
"Drink local!" he advises.
Scott Featherstone, one of three co-owners of the new Trail Creek Pub in Ketchum, draws a glass of ale produced by its brewery in Twin Falls. Photo by Willy Cook
