Why so many Garden City breweries and wineries? Why ask why, here comes another one

Garden City is known as a place for gettin’ your local drink on.

For a city with a population that would fit inside a concert arena, the number of breweries and winery tasting rooms is borderline staggering. (Sort of like meandering down Chinden Boulevard after last call?)

Bert’s Brewing is the latest challenger planning to open. It’s “coming soon,” according to its Instagram page — at 3577 N. Brown St.

That’s the good news, if you’re an insatiable beer monger.

The not-so-good news, if you’re Bert?

Competition is gonna be stiff.

Housed in an industrial building, naturally, Bert’s isn’t quite within keg-tossing distance of any rivals. But it’s only three short blocks — straight down Brown Street — to well-established Western Collective (and that brewery’s fun, newly expanded outdoor patio). Local favorite Barbarian Brewing beckons a few blocks from the Boise River. And friendly neighborhood hangout Twisted District is nearby on Chinden.

Heading farther west, other breweries on Chinden include Powderhaus, Clairvoyant, Brown Beard and Idawild.

Why is it that Garden City, Boise’s buzzed little brother, is home to so many alcohol producers?

That question brings to mind a ridiculous Anheuser-Busch ad campaign from the 1990s: “Why ask why?”

There is good news for Bert: Without even trying, Garden City’s newest brewery almost certainly will make beer that tastes better than Bud Dry.