It has been over a year since I introduced you to Bellevue Brewing Company, which promises to be Bellevue’s first locally owned craft brewery. (Read our original story.) The mastermind behind the project, John Robertson, has been moving cautiously and with purposeful resolve. He wants to get it right the first time. He has entertained some tempting opportunities to do it the wrong way, but Robertson knows how he wants the business structured and how he wants his dream to come to life. He has been immensely patient. Now we can report that his resolution is about to pay off.
Bellevue Brewing Company was the top story in today’s Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce (the DJC), one of the area’s most respected sources for business news and information. According to the DJC, Robertson expects to open Bellevue Brewing Company in 2012, perhaps as early as mid-January.
The Big News
For some time now, Robertson has been tight-lipped about the team he is assembling. Many of us have been waiting with bated breath to find out who is involved. Today the DJC reports that three heavyweights from the beer business are part of the Bellevue Brewing Company team.
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The first player is Scott Hansen, the founder of Leavenworth Biers, which is now part of Fish Brewing Company. Hansen is an old friend of Robertson’s and will serve as the Chief Operating Officer. The second player is Al Triplet, a former Brewmaster at Redhook Brewery who now chairs the Bellevue Brewing Company advisory board.
Hansen and Triplet are good people for a brewery to have involved in any capacity, but what about the brewer? Robertson tells the DJC that he has secured the services of Todd Malloy, formerly a Staff Brewmaster at Firestone Walker Brewing Company, to serve as the head brewer.
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It’s About Time
I am a native of Bellevue. I grew up in the often-misunderstood city and for many years lived there as an adult. I’ve watched it transform and reinvent itself over the years. Although the landscape, the cityscape, and the demographics have changed vastly, one thing has not: it is still a great city full of great people.
I know what Bellevue needs to move forward. It needs personality and character. It needs less big corporate stores and more mom-n-pop stores. Nothing against Rock Bottom, but Bellevue needs a brewery to call its own. More specifically, it needs a 6,000-square-foot, 20-barrel brewhouse and a 5,000-square-foot, family-friendly taproom.
Cheers to John Robertson and his team at Bellevue Brewing Company.
Read our previous story to learn more about Robertson’s background and his vision for Bellevue Brewing Company.
