Local pride. It's a contagious thing. We Treasure Valley residents all want to support local but haven't really had the chance to champion a beer in a bottle we can call our own.
Sure, we have four excellent brewpubs in town where we can take-out growlers, and the guys at Sockeye occasionally take the time to painstakingly bottle their barley malt libations for home use.
But as they can tell you, bottling is both cost-prohibitive and a logistical pain. I think the lack of a recognized Treasure Valley brand in a bottle - a home town brew - is the only thing keeping us from being a world-class beer town.
Pete Ricks of Beer Valley Brewing wants to fill that gap. OK - Beer Valley is in Ontario, so it's the loosely-defined Treasure Valley. But Ricks is from Meridian (class of 1982) and is moving back to the area from sunny Arizona for one purpose - to make killer craft beer. To represent.
"We kind of consider ourselves the Treasure Valley microbrewery," Ricks said last week. "That is what we want to be here, even though we are in Oregon. I love beer, and started this company to test myself."
"I still ask myself sometimes why I am doing this - I had a pretty easy lifestyle in Arizona. It's shorts weather down there.
"But this is what I want to do, although I don't know if the timing could be worse," Ricks said, laughing, as he referred to a hop and barley shortage afflicting the beer industry that will cause the price of your favorite sixer to raise over the next year.
Astute beer consumers may have noticed the 22-ounce bottles of Beer Valley's Pigskin pale ale, Owyhee Amber Ale, Highway to Ale barleywine (Bon Scott era AC/DC is the only way to go) and Black Flag imperial stout that began showing up in local beer stores such as the Boise Co-op this fall.
These are all perfectly acceptable Pacific Northwest style craft beers and do a good job of representing local beer culture. Both the pale ale and amber are good session beers, nicely balanced and tasteful, easy drinking. Wait a minute - that's not an Eagles song, is it? I hope not.
Anyway, it's the Black Flag Imperial Stout (brewed "thick and nasty with hops" Ricks said) and the Highway to Ale barleywine that are an indication of Beer Valley's brewing philosophy and a preview of beers to come, such as the as yet unnamed Imperial IPA coming to life in brewing tanks at the southeast 12th Street brewing facility in Ontario. There currently is no tasting room, and no tours of the facility are being given.
You have to dig a brewery that makes an imperial stout - not the easiest style to drink, especially for people just discovering craft beer - their flagship product.
Bold, strong, and full of alcohol, the Black Flag and Highway to Ale beers are not for the faint of palate and reflect Ricks' love of Southern California's brewing scene - the big extreme beer culture he grew to love as both a homebrewer and beer enthusiast in nearby Arizona.
"I just love beer that is sick with hops. The San Diego scene, with Stone Brewing, Pizza Port, Alpine Brewing, to me that's the cutting edge right now and it was a big influence on me as a home brewer," Ricks said. "I love how they keep pushing the envelope with hops. I share the same philosophy."
A personal breakthrough for Ricks came when venerable Rogue Brewmaster John Maier - another hop freak - sampled the Black Flag at a homebrew contest and gave him a thumbs up.
"That's a pretty good feeling for a homebrewer," he said. "I was a pretty avid homebrewer. I bet I did 200 batches over ten years. When people ask where I learned, I tell them I graduated from the back patio brewing academy."
So why would a Meridian native with a desire to come home set up shop in Oregon? Because the taxes are lower and Oregon in general is more brewer friendly than Idaho, Ricks said.
Operating in the Beaver State also allows Beer Valley to be associated with ground zero of the modern craft brew movement and the numerous world-class brewing operations there, which include Rogue, Widmer, Full Sail, and Deschutes to name a few. Our neighbor prizes its homegrown suds so much that the industry is promoted by the nonprofit Oregon Brewers Guild.
"There's a reason there are so many microbreweries in Oregon," Ricks said. "Conversely, however, it's a much more regulated state than Idaho. We've been inspected a million times."
The beer has only been available for the last several months, but Beer Valley brews are being sold in Oregon, Southern Idaho, and some limited parts of California. One thing you probably won't see anytime soon: six-packs. Beer Valley is staying with the 22-ounce bottles for the time being.
That's OK with me, especially with the strong beers like the Black Flag, which are best consumed in limited doses. The double deuce is a great size to split with dinner or to savor over an hour or two.
Patrick Orr: 373-6619
