Screw it! Garden City brewery changes name, owner, beers — plans big new Meridian space

In the beer-soaked Treasure Valley, launching a new brewery might sound a little nuts.

Chris and Bethany Hughes are cool with that.

Raising pints with “Cheers to the crazy ones” printed on the side, the married couple recently debuted Loose Screw Beer Co. at 4340 W. Chinden Blvd. in Garden City.

Loose Screw replaced Bella Brewing in a spot nestled behind Cobby’s sandwich shop. It’s the fourth controlling ownership for the seven-barrel brewing operation, which opened in 2014 as Haff Brewing.

“Basically, everything from the past is no longer,” Chris Hughes says. “We kind of came in and bought their assets. As much as it is a brewery changing hands, it’s a whole new ballgame now.”

Loose Screw’s game plan involves rebranding the dog-friendly taproom with fresh, quirky attitude. Former Bella head brewer Marcos Moss — now a Loose Screw co-owner — is creating nine new year-round beers, in addition to seasonals and one-offs. Try a pint of newly released Screw You, Amber! ale.

The new ballgame also means swinging for the fence — in Meridian.

The Hugheses, who live in Eagle, plan to open a second, larger Loose Screw brewery at The Shops at Sawtooth Village, a retail community being built near the corner of Linder and McMillan roads.

The goal is to make the expansion brewery a family-friendly social destination, Chris Hughes says — with yard games, live music and food trucks: “A place for people to hang and chill and have different things to do.”

Boise’s brewery scene might already feel densely populated, but Loose Screw’s co-owners see potential in booming west Ada County.

“We just feel like that location, in the middle of that many homes within walking and biking distance, with people that actually have money — you can give them an environment where they want to hang out for a couple of hours,” Hughes says.

As part of the expansion, brewing equipment from the Garden City building would be moved to Meridian. “We’ll be looking at putting a 20-barrel system in the Meridian location,” Hughes says.

If everything goes as planned, Loose Screw in Meridian would be 3,500-4,500 square feet indoors, Hughes says, and have 2,500-3,500 square feet of outdoor space. “It’s not 100-percent dialed in yet,” he says, “but that’s the direction we’re going.”

The Hughes hope to open a temporary location at Sawtooth Village this summer before moving into a permanent, freestanding building in 2021, Hughes says. Loose Screw won’t have a kitchen, but along with food trucks, service from a neighboring restaurant probably would be available, he says.

Loose Screw plans to distribute its beers to restaurants and bars, he says, plus eventually sell canned beer at grocery stores and gas stations. A high-profile Meridian location would help promote packaged beers, he says.

Loose Screw plans to remain in its Garden City spot for at least another year, Hughes adds. After that, things could change. Loose Screw might stay put. Or move to another Garden City location. He and his wife have even tossed around the idea of Indian Creek Plaza in Caldwell.

With growth in Canyon County, it doesn’t sound so crazy.

“We’ll always have two (locations),” Hughes says. “Garden City’s just going to be up in the air. We’ll see how it goes.”

Online: loosescrew.beer.

This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 5:00 AM.