Wish you were Beer - An Awesome Nossum Interview with Stoup Brewing

Christian: [0:00] Hello, hello, and welcome to another edition of the Awesome in Seattle podcast. This is your host, Christian Awesome, of the Awesome and Awesome group at Wilson Realty Exchange, Inc. And today we have a very special guest. We are talking about beer. More specifically, we are talking about Stoup Brewing in Ballard and Kenmore, don't forget. And we have co-founder and creative director of Stoup Brewing, Lara Zahaba, on as a guest today. Um, thank you for joining us, Lara.

Lara: [0:30] Thank you so much for having me.

Christian: [0:32] Yeah. She is pretty awesome. Um- … and because of her, and others I'm sure, uh, Stoup has become a cornerstone of Seattle's Ballard, uh, brewery district. It's my favorite brewery in Ballard, partly because we do a lot of classes there, but also because it's just amazing. They have an awesome outdoor space. Um, they have a great event space upstairs. It's just really fun. So, uh, we have Lara on today to talk really about how Stoup got started, what's on tap heading into the summer of 2022 at Stoup, and what's coming up for Stoup in the future. Uh, I'm also hoping that Lara will share some expert insight on the Seattle area and the Washington State craft beer scene. So thank you again, Lara, for joining us.

Lara: [1:19] Yeah, I'm really happy to be here.

Christian: [1:21] Uh, I am also joined by a fellow Seattleite and one of the amazing agents here at the Awesome Nossum Group, Ms. Reed Watson.

Reed: [1:29] That's me. I'm here, too.

Christian: [1:30] Reed is also our resident local beer connoisseur.

Reed: [1:34] Thank you. Wow.

Christian: [1:36] We love

Lara: [1:36] those.

Christian: [1:38] It's a label I just bestowed upon her.

Reed: [1:40] Well, thanks.

Christian: [1:41] Yes. Reed, thanks for joining us.

Reed: [1:43] Yeah, of course. Thank you for having me, as always, Christian. I am also very excited. Stoup's one of my favorite places that we do classes, especially because it's only, oh, probably five or six blocks away from where I live. So I also go there when we don't have classes. And some- I have been known to edit a podcast or two out there when it's, when it's nice outside with a, with a Mixed Tape Beer in my hand, so. There

Christian: [2:09] you go. Awesome. Well, we here at the Awesome Nossum Group are very familiar with Stoup. We're big fans of their beer, obviously. Um, my actual favorite summer beer is from Stoup, and it's the Citra IPA. Stoup refers to that as sunshine in a glass. It's super light and bright in both color and body, and it's absolutely delicious. If you haven't had it yet, definitely try it, especially on a sunny day. But beyond just loving the beer, like I said earlier, we regularly host our Beers and Home Buying class at Stoup in Ballard- Yes in their upstairs event space. We have actually had upwards of 50 people in that space pre-pandemic, obviously. Not everyone was seated. I don't think we could seat that many people the way that we usually have the class set up, but there was definitely, like, standing room, and they have a bunch of, like, stools in the back and stuff like that. So, uh, I love Stoup, especially their event space, because, like, you have your separate bartender up there. You don't have to leave. There's bathrooms right up there. It's just awesome. So if you're ever looking for an event space for, like, a wedding reception or a company party or something like that, like, they're not paying us to say this. I just genuinely love their event space and wanted to share that. So, um, we also love that Stoup is just, like, they're such a part of the community. And as a dad of three kids, I also really appreciate that it is family-friendly, as not all local breweries are. Uh, and I'm sure Reed would chime in and say it's also dog-friendly because- It is there's always dogs there as well. So, um, so yeah, let's get into why we're really here today, not just me bragging about Stoup. But, uh, but let's, let's talk about how Stoup got started. Laura, let's, let's share.

Lara: [3:53] All right. Gosh, it's always so hard for me to decide how to condense this story down because- … I mean- It really is in part a story of, you know, my entire almost 30-year relationship with my husband now.

Christian: [4:07] Wow.

Lara: [4:07] Because he had, you know, craft beer epiphanies in, in college and I feel like I suffered a lot of really bad beer drinking in college. But when Brad and I started dating, he introduced me to a lot of the local craft breweries and I've always described our relationship as being built pint by pint because really all of our dates took place in the local breweries and the beer pubs here in Seattle. And whenever we were traveling, we took that kind of passion for beer on the road and we were always seeking out, uh, local craft beer. So that was a lot of fun. And Brad was home brewing at that time, but he was by, uh, trade and education a forensic chemist. Hmm.

Reed: [4:50] Oh, wow. Um,

Lara: [4:50] yeah, exactly. So he was working in a lab in Ballard. It was my career in wine. I was working, um, as a local wine sales rep when I had the opportunity to move to the East Coast to represent Italian wines out there. And we moved to Hoboken, New Jersey, and, um, I began my career on the marketing and more creative side of things, and worked for that importer for seven years. Um, and Brad came with and maintained an element of his, you know, home career with the, with the lab in Seattle. But it afforded him a lot of free time, um, and so he was doing a lot of home brewing at that time in our teeny-tiny Hoboken apartment. And there were more than one accident, mishap. Um, and long story short is that I booted him out of the apartment. And, and l- as luck would have it, there was this, I don't know, some, some listeners, some music fans might be aware of a, of a bar called Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey. For a long time it was a really famous music venue. A lot of the bands would pass through there and play. But for some reason, at the time that we were living in Hoboken, they were in the process of converting it to a brew pub. Hmm. And it was literally two blocks from our apartment, and so I just shoved Brad down the street and said, you know, "Go see if you can make beer over there." And he was able t- he was able to, and that really launched his professional brewing opportunity because by the time that we came home to Seattle, he had worked for five different breweries in the local New Jersey, New York area.

Christian: [6:34] Wow.

Lara: [6:34] So that's my long-winded way of saying that I like to take credit

Reed: [6:40] Yeah.

Lara: [6:41] Or like, how would Stoop exist if I hadn't shoved Brad out the door?

Christian: [6:45] Uh-huh.

Lara: [6:46] But anyway, when we did come home to Seattle, he did return to the lab full time, and we started our family. As we were starting out with our family and everything, of course we were looking for stability, but the reality of the matter was that at the time we were, when we had these really small children, we were both working for very intense and kind of crazy bosses, and we were kind of miserable- Hmm just doing the slog every day.

Christian: [7:11] Mm-hmm.

Lara: [7:12] And we started asking ourselves why we weren't doing the thing that we both loved so much. So that, for us, was the start of really thinking about the possibilities of brewing as a career. And at the same time, Robin Schumacher, who is the third partner in Stoup Brewing, was kind of going through the same thing in her own career. Robin was a high school biology teacher. She had also had her own craft beer epiphany in college. Hmm. And her wife had gifted her a kegerator, and rather than- Continuing to purchase kegs to fill that kegerator, she decided to start making beer for it. Okay. And kind of that was the beginning of her journey. And as luck would have it, mutual friends put us in touch, or really what they did was put Brad and Robin in touch so that they could, you know, talk about all things beer.

Christian: [8:05] Mm-hmm.

Lara: [8:06] And so that's how that conversation was born, and that's how the idea continued to grow from there until we all were ready to take a leap and make dramatic changes to our lives, and we decided to partner together and, um- That's how it all happened.

Christian: [8:23] Wow. K- What year was it that, that Stoup started?

Lara: [8:26] We signed our lease on April 1st of 2013, and we opened our doors in October.

Christian: [8:33] Wow.

Lara: [8:34] So this fall will be nine years of Stoup Brewing.

Christian: [8:38] That's awesome. Is there gonna be a giant 10-year party?

Lara: [8:41] There will definitely be a giant 10-year party. We haven't done recent parties for many obvious reasons- Yes but 10, 10-year will be something to celebrate, for sure.

Christian: [8:49] That's amazing. Yeah.

Reed: [8:51] Exciting. I actually had my very first real summer job right across the street from Stoup. So when I was there, my, you know, older bosses were like, "Oh, gosh, like, a brewery in Ballard? That's crazy," you know? It's right across the street. What's gonna happen? So I am just sort of curious as to… I, I can't quite recall if you were the first brewery in Ballard proper or just one of the, one of the first, for sure-

Lara: [9:18] Well- … Reed: in this area … we- How did that come about? We are on the early side of this newer proliferation of breweries- Mm-hmm … in Ballard, but definitely not the first. Mm-hmm. So the neighborhood anchors, um, until recently, were Hale's, which- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm … actually is now closed, but Maritime Brewing as well.

Reed: [9:36] Mm, mm-hmm.

Lara: [9:37] And then, let's see, we were preceded in, in our little rectangle on the- Right … east side of 15th, we were preceded by Reuben's- Gotcha … on 14th, and that's when they were in their, you know, the, the small- Yep uh, five-barrel brewery- Yeah … which is up on 50… Is it 53rd or 54th on the other side of 15th? Mm-hmm. And then Popux followed. Yep. But Popux opened at the same time that Peddler opened on the other side of the Ballard Bridge.

Christian: [10:08] Mm-hmm.

Lara: [10:09] And Hillyard's, I think, was already there, right? Hillyard's preceded both of them. And then, and then we… So, and on our rectangle we were number three- Mm-hmm … followed by Lucky Envelope. And then, of course, it has continued to explode from there. Yeah.

Christian: [10:23] Yeah.

Lara: [10:24] So, so yes, early, but not the first.

Reed: [10:27] Gotcha.

Christian: [10:28] How did the neighborhood respond when you guys opened up?

Lara: [10:31] Well, in general, beer drinkers were so thrilled and welcomed us with open arms, but we did have a little bit of a neighborhood mishap because we actually hosted… Before opening our doors to the public, we hosted a birthday party for a good friend of ours.

Reed: [10:50] Mm-hmm.

Lara: [10:51] And that was a l- that party went late into the night, like, later than we ever go, um, as a business- Mm-hmm … at Stoup. So I think a DJ started maybe around 10 or 11 o'clock at night, and- We just didn't even realize, like, how everything reverberates in that hood, right? It's hard surfaces everywhere, so concrete and stainless steel. And so the DJ fires up, and the next thing you know, the whole neighborhood, the block to the east of us was beside themselves. And they were really, really, really upset. And for us, we were like, "Oh my gosh." For us it felt… You know, we wanted to come into the, the, the neighborhood and, and be good neighbors. Right. So we had no intention of being this kind of late night hangout- Mm-hmm … or loud spot. But they didn't know us. Yeah. And so their first introduction to us really created Um, an assumption. And those first few months, like we would go to their neighborhood meetings and really try to explain that it was just a singular event. And ever since then we've been really careful, like if we ever are having live music at the brewery- Mm-hmm … we try to let the neighborhood know. But we also, you know, we close at 10:00 PM every night, so things are wound down nice and early, but- Yeah. Yeah … but that, that was… It's sort of two different things, like beer lovers in Seattle embraced us wholly, but our tiny little neighborhood we had that-

Reed: [12:18] Right

Lara: [12:18] unfortunate misstep. It w- it's funny in retrospect though. Yes.

Christian: [12:22] Yeah. Well, that's definitely one way to put your name on the map.

Lara: [12:25] Exactly. Yeah. Who

Christian: [12:26] are these people? Maybe not the right way, but it's one way. Yeah,

Lara: [12:29] exactly.

Christian: [12:31] Speaking of the map, you guys also have a Kenmore location, which I have only been to once, and I thought it was absolutely awesome. But tell us how and why that came about.

Lara: [12:41] Well, that is really born of our relationship with the Wymat group of restaurants. So your listeners would better know them as the owners of places like Rhein Haus.

Christian: [12:53] Mm.

Reed: [12:53] Sure.

Lara: [12:54] Yeah. Sabine over in Ballard- Mm-hmm … and Paquito's.

Reed: [12:57] Yeah.

Lara: [12:58] And so they were operating a restaurant in Kenmore called Seaplane. Mm-hmm. And at the time that they started Seaplane, the city leaders in Kenmore really wanted a fine dining establishment, and so that's what they did. Chef Jason Stoneburner was lead, was… is one of the owners actually, and of course in charge of the kitchen. And so it was a beautiful restaurant, but Kenmore, Kenmore residents perhaps weren't really ready for… or not that they weren't ready for it, they're certainly ready for it, but it, there, it's not the type of community that can support fine dining seven- Yeah … or even five- Mm-hmm … nights a week, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's, you know, it's a weekend oriented, a special occasion neighborhood still. And so they weren't achieving what they wanted to achieve, but then when the pandemic hit, it of course became incredibly difficult. And so they wanted to recreate the restaurant in that same location. Mm-hmm. And what they observed during the pandemic was that the breweries were still a place of community gathering.

Christian: [14:06] Mm-hmm.

Lara: [14:06] I think because a lot of us, well, we, we had vibrant to-go models, which worked and was easier with packaged products like beer.

Christian: [14:15] Yeah.

Lara: [14:15] But also, so many of us have- a lot of outside space.

Christian: [14:20] Mm-hmm.

Lara: [14:20] And so we were sort of a safe haven for, for a lot of people, and, and the Wymac team kind of observed this and just decided that, um, it would be fun to rebrand as a brewery tap room and kitchen. And we have a great relationship with them as wholesalers. Uh, they have always supporte- supported our beers in all of their locations. So they actually reached out to us about starting this in Denver. Hmm. And they invited us to be part of the project. And as we were considering it, you know, we considered our relationship with them, and then Kenmore is a neighborhood, and one of our founding principles, like when we opened Ballard, it was always our desire to be in a neighborhood serving a really specific community-

Christian: [15:10] Mm-hmm

Lara: [15:10] versus being, say, downtown, where you would be, um, maybe more engaged with tourism-

Christian: [15:16] Yeah. Mm-hmm … Lara: for example. So, you know, Kenmore is a really great community neighborhood, and they were hungry for more things, and it felt like a natural fit for us. And we love everybody involved in WMAC, and, um, so we decided to take the leap even though even though we were in the middle of a pandemic- and had no idea what the future would hold. Yep.

Lara: [15:40] Yeah.

Christian: [15:40] Well, I'd say it panned out. At least it certainly looks like it did. And I mean, going up there, I, I was just up there recently, and all of the outdoor like covered tables and stuff that you guys have was pretty awesome. Like, there's not many places that have that kind of outdoor space. Uh, I thought that was brilliant to, to have all those constructed 'cause it wasn't clearly, obviously, before the pandemic, I'm sure that wasn't all there.

Lara: [16:05] Well, you're right, and I, and I do have to say, like one caveat is that the City of Kenmore was really generous and, and gave us half of the plaza-

Christian: [16:13] Wow … Lara: um, f- during the pandemic while restrictions were still in place. But that they do need to take the plaza back, and they are taking the plaza back. Mm-hmm.

Lara: [16:22] So we do have to contract all of that outdoor seating up in Kenmore to our own patio area.

Christian: [16:28] Mm-hmm.

Lara: [16:28] And we are working… So we have actually already moved one of the sheltered spaces- Mm … closer to the building, and we are in the process of sorting out how to maximize outdoor space at Kenmore to keep that, you know, really appealing vibe-

Christian: [16:42] Yeah up there. 'Cause it is super appealing, especially on a nice summer day or even a spring day like today. Like, it's, it's apparently gonna be sunny today, and it's like, well, it's a great day to go to Stoup and just hang out and-

Lara: [16:52] For sure … Speaker: enjoy the weather, so. For sure. It's, sun brings the beer lovers out. Yeah. We learned that. Mm-hmm.

Christian: [16:58] 100% true. Yes.

Lara: [17:00] Things that might be historically interesting to note, like when you talk about, you know, why Washington became such a distinct craft beer market, a lot of it is, of course, due to those ingredients and proximity to hops, but- Yep. Mm-hmm … it is interesting that, you know, there was, there was a really vibrant home brewing group here. And when Charles Finkel started-

Christian: [17:22] Yeah, Pike.

Lara: [17:23] Well, not Pike, actually. Oh, really? So what happened was he was the marketing director at Chateau Ste. Michelle, and then he started his Merchant Du Vin company- Oh … and he was importing wine. But while he was in Europe discovering wines, he actually discovered European beers- Hmm probably more specifically Belgian beers. Yeah. And so he discovered this whole array of flavors and decided to add beers to the portfolio. And so he is really credited with introducing Washington and even the United States to- such a varying, uh, plethora of beer f- styles and flavors.

Reed: [18:01] Mm-hmm. Wow.

Lara: [18:02] And I think that that spurned a lot of interest as we, as he gave beer lovers access to more, it just created more and more interest. So he actually jumped, he did jump into the brewing game fairly early on, but it was- Mm-hmm … you know, Bert Grant was the first. Not only was Bert Grant the first craft brewpub in Washington, but he was the first post-prohibition brewpub in the United States.

Reed: [18:28] Wow. Oh, wow. So- And what, and what was his, his brewpub?

Lara: [18:31] So he was over in Yakima and it was- Mm-hmm … Bert Grant's.

Reed: [18:34] Okay.

Lara: [18:35] Wow. And so he made this, his Scottish ale, and he also made an IPA. And so he's really the first one in Washington, closely followed by, um, Red Hook and Thomas Kemper. Right. Gotcha. But so there, there are actually… I mean, obviously it could be a whole separate - Reed: Yeah segment, 'cause there's, Mm-hmm … there's deep history. But I do think it's interesting that Washington stands out for, for those reasons. I mean, it, just- Absolutely … having the first prohibition brewpub in the United States.

Reed: [19:03] Gosh, yeah.

Lara: [19:03] I didn't know that. And then Charles Finkel is, is so much more important than even everything he's contributed through Pike Brewing, right? He's, he's amazing. Right. He's amazing. Yeah.

Reed: [19:12] Wow. That's very cool to know. Yeah. I didn't know that we, we had the first-

Christian: [19:16] I didn't know that either

Lara: [19:17] Yeah … Reed: post-prohi- hibition brewpub. Very cool. Okay, well I was- Beer roots run deep. Yeah.

Reed: [19:21] Yeah. Yeah, so one thing I, you know, really love about both Stoup, but also all of the breweries kind of in your little section of Ballard, is that there is a great, um, kind of diversity of different types of beers.

Lara: [19:36] Yeah.

Reed: [19:37] Um, and I know that Stoup particularly does quite a few different IPAs and has some incredible IPAs. And I, I learned very recently actually, that Washington produces a huge quantity of the nation's hops.

Lara: [19:54] Yes.

Reed: [19:54] Um, so I was kind of curious to, to know your thoughts just a bit about the Washington beer scene and the ingredients that, that we get from around the state.

Lara: [20:04] We are so lucky. Yeah. We are so lucky. I mean, number one, water. Breweries need a lot of water.

Reed: [20:11] Sure.

Lara: [20:12] And we have- Wow, I never

Reed: [20:13] thought of that … Lara: yes, so much- Yes … so much water. Mm-hmm.

Lara: [20:16] And not only do we have, um, supply of water, but our water is really pure and clean. Mm-hmm. So if you get deep, um, into brewing conversation with brewers, like there are lots of things that you can do with water. You can adjust the minerality for various beer styles and so forth. But in some regions you would have to adjust, um, just to get back to that baseline pure- Mm-hmm Right … level, right? You're just gonna have certain things in certain city waters that you're gonna have to adjust for. But in Washington we just have really clean, pure water, so that's like the base, right? And then the hop growing region across the mountains, we are so lucky. I mean, really probably considered to be the world's best hops at this point. Mm. I mean, there are certainly important- Wow … varietals that come from other parts of the world that would never be replaced, like the noble varietals from Germany. Mm. But everything that's happening in Yakima, especially with regard to breeding programs and new discoveries, is really exciting. And we can get there in a few hours, so that proximity is really important and it makes fresh hop season even more fun just because- Yeah … Washington brewers are more equipped than anyone else in the country to run over there and make beer from the freshest harvest hops in the fall. Um, but we also have a growing number of local barley growers and maltsters too. So really we have access to all of the key beer ingredients right here in our local arena, so that- Mm-hmm … that is one of the things that certainly makes Washington exciting. And then of course the other thing being that, you know, we just are a community of beer lovers, so- Mm Washington tends to embrace beer and is always excited to try new things. It was interesting when we were starting out, we would often find that if you took a trip down to Portland, Oregon- You really wouldn't see much beyond the local Portland scene.

Reed: [22:14] Mm-hmm.

Lara: [22:14] They were so hyper localized, and they really weren't interested in, um, the beers to the north- Mm or even the south. So you weren't seeing- Right … California. And, you know, it's the same thing, you don't see California wine on Oregon wine lists either. Yeah. True, true. Whereas Washington just tends to embrace all the things, and Washington beer lovers are like, "Sure." They're, you know, we were loving all of the, um, independent craft beer that was being made in Portland, and you would see it on our beer bar lists- Right around town. You still do, yeah. So it's kind of an, it's a different mentality, I think, a real openness. Um, and then you're absolutely right in what you said about the diversity. Like, it's so great. Some people will ask us, I mean, one of the most frequent questions we get is whether they're, we have hit saturation. Every time you hear that a new brewery is opening in Ballard, that's the big question for us, right? Mm-hmm.

Christian: [23:03] Yep.

Lara: [23:04] Like, but it's amazing to me how- How unique we all manage to be. Even if there's a lot of crossover in styles, we all have our own unique personalities and taproom vibes, and people are coming to see us for different reasons, and roaming the hood and experiencing different things at different breweries. And then of course you have the real outliers like, you know, Fair Isle making legitimately- Yeah … different styled beers, and more focused on saisons and wild fermentation. And so that brings another- Mm-hmm … exciting element to the neighborhood too. We just have a lot to offer.

Christian: [23:41] One thing that I've always found fascinating about the whole Ballard brew scene is that it's not… I don't sense any, like, competitiveness or cutthroat-ness or any of that. Like, it's so, like, open and sharing, and like, "Yeah, you like this kind of beer? You should go over there and try their whatever." And like, I've always felt that every time I've gone in there and I, it, and it just kind of blew me away, and it's awesome. It's amazing. Um, it's, yeah. It's- It's quite amazing … Lara: it's true. It's very, very collaborative. Yeah.

Lara: [24:13] And it has always been collaborative. And, you know, one reason for that is that we have one common enemy, right? It's big beer that's trying to wipe out- Mm-hmm … little beer. Mm-hmm. And so we're, we band together and, um, stand strong against that. But, um, it really, the pandemic of course illustrated how collaborative we all are because when I think back to the early days of the shutdown, like more March, April, May 2020- Mm-hmm.

Christian: [24:45] Mm-hmm … Lara: it was incredible how much we were all, you know, communicating with one another. Of course, all of us in Ballard, we established like-minded rules so that the community would know what to, what to expect for us- Right and so that we wouldn't be, you know, we wouldn't be having people try to tell us they could do something in one taproom and not in the other. But more importantly than that was really what was happening inside the breweries when we were all struggling to keep going and struggling to source ingredients. Mm-hmm. And we were sharing equipment. For those of us that weren't canning when shutdown happened- Mm-hmm … you know, our immediate salvation was putting beer into crowlers one at a time. Yeah.

Lara: [25:24] I can't tell you how many crowler machines the neighborhood burned through, but we would all be like- … "Okay, Bad Jimmy's has, you know, Bad Jimmy's needs it for two hours on such and such a day," then it comes back to Stoop and Lagunitas was loaning us their machine. The Flatstick- Oh … Pubs that had to shut down- Right … entirely downtown, they brought the machines in. Sometimes- Wow … we would run out of the can caps or we couldn't source aluminum or what have you. There was just a million things going on, uh, and brewers were in constant contact about ingredients and sharing and how to help and how to band together. So it was, it was an amazing time. But it was just a brighter reflection of the way the Local industry always operates,

Reed: [26:05] actually. Yeah.

Christian: [26:06] That's pretty amazing.

Reed: [26:07] One thing I, I learned when I lived over in Walla Walla, I had a friend who ran a brewery over there, and their wine scene is very well formed, but the brew scene is, brewery scene is still kind of up and coming.

Lara: [26:19] Mm-hmm.

Reed: [26:20] And when a couple more breweries opened up, he just said, "You know, we're all better off when we're all- right? Because it draws more people to the scene." And I think that that's really clear in this, you know, kind of small craft Ballard brewery scene where sure, you have a, a few different, like, quite a few different breweries, but it's become such a destination that pull in so many more people than just one brewery would be capable of doing on their own, right?

Lara: [26:47] It's, it's true. It's

Reed: [26:48] true. And then, and then you get kind of these events, these locals, these regulars such as we were chatting right before the podcast about the, the running groups that come through. Yeah. And I believe they frequent different breweries at different times, right? And, you know, you've got a draw for all of these great food trucks and just kind of events, groups. It, it just, it draws in so many more people than, than a single brewery could do on its own.

Lara: [27:13] For sure. I think one time, um, Adam Robins of Reuben's Brews was quoted as saying, you know, "Rising suds float all breweries," right? Nice. And it is very true that when a brewery hosts a really successful event, the rest of the neighborhood's gonna benefit from that.

Reed: [27:29] Mm-hmm.

Lara: [27:30] You know, Reuben's is going to have their goats. The goats are coming back. And we always know that when the goats are at the Reuben's tap room, we need to brace Yeah … because there's a ton of overflow. Mm-hmm. They are bringing a lot of people to the neighborhood, and we like to think that that, the same thing goes for us where we have live music. You know, people are coming to see that, but they're bouncing around before they head out of the neighborhood entirely. And then there are, of course, the events that we collaborate on together, which hopefully we can, we can bring back this year. You know, the Oktoberfest and the St. Patrick's Day celebrations that we've done in the past- Right and all kinds of fun things. So yeah, there's ample opportunity, and you bring people into the neighborhood to enjoy a myriad of opportunities.

Christian: [28:12] Yeah, it's been, it's been pretty amazing to see how really the breweries have helped to create the community. I mean, the Ballard was already a community, but I feel like it l- added a whole nother layer and elevated the entire community to become that much better, and it's just… So thank you from me to you as someone that has been born and raised in Seattle. Um, thank you for helping in that.

Lara: [28:36] Oh, that's awesome that you feel that way and, um, it feels weird to say you're welcome. It just feels n- natural.

Christian: [28:43] Yeah. It

Lara: [28:44] just feels natural to be, to be able to do what we love in our home neighborhood- Mm-hmm and to, you know, get to know more and more of our neighbors through this venture and be part of something bigger. And the continued positive growth of Ballard and Seattle is It's just really satisfying. It feels really good.

Christian: [29:05] Yeah. Y-

Reed: [29:05] yeah. I always take, I mean, I live close by of course, but I always take visitors on a little tour of, you know, Stoup and Urban Family and- Mm-hmm some of the other breweries around there, just because I want them to check out the Seattle beer scene, and I think it's something that people who aren't from here don't think, they probably go straight to coffee, right? Um- Right, right. But, you know, it's, it's just such a nice way to spend a little bit of time with, you know, an out of town either guest or family member, while also sharing a little piece of Seattle with them. And so- Definitely. It seems- … that's kind of always my go-to activity

Lara: [29:39] I like it. It's unique. You can do it on foot.

Reed: [29:43] Mm-hmm.

Lara: [29:44] Exactly. Especially when the sun is shining and it feels so good to be out and about.

Reed: [29:47] Mm-hmm.

Christian: [29:47] Yep. All right. That was very good. Let's, let's shift into actually talking about the beer that you brew.

Lara: [29:53] Yes. Okay.

Christian: [29:54] What, what are some of the most popular, what are, if someone's coming to Stoup for the first time, what should they definitely try, or is there a way to try numerous types? Like, what's, what's the, give us the lay of the land.

Lara: [30:05] Okay. Well, Kristen, you already, um, you already love, our most popular beer really is the Citra IPA. Um- Yeah,

Christian: [30:13] it's 'cause it's delicious.

Lara: [30:16] Thank you. And also because it's, it, it is easy drinking, you know, it's not one of these, um, like- a bigger extremely hop forward IPAs. Yeah. It's just light and bright, and yes, as we describe it, sunshine in a glass.

Christian: [30:29] Exactly.

Lara: [30:30] Um, but we do pride ourselves on a wide range of styles. We are traditionalists at Stoup Brewing, so we are making beer according to the more classic beer styles. We're not working with a lot of adjunct ingredients.

Christian: [30:45] Mm-hmm.

Lara: [30:45] Um, we're not making, you know, milkshake IPAs or anything like that. We really do specialize in Northwest style IPAs. We like the clean and the bright, bold flavors of the Northwest hops. And bright, clear IPAs, Brad and Robin would want everyone to know, does not mean filtered. Mm-hmm. All of our IPAs are unfiltered, even though they're not cloudy, right? Right. Yeah. I think that sometimes the assumption is that that clear, bright beer is filtered, and that's not necessarily the case. Um, but coming into summer, we are so excited to have recently brought back our Bavarian-style hefeweizen.

Reed: [31:19] Oh, yay. That's one of my favorites.

Lara: [31:20] Yes, it is. So we were surprised. That beer took us by surprise. I will say, that is a beer that Brad was brewing on the East Coast.

Reed: [31:28] Oh, wow.

Lara: [31:28] Um, and we, and we drank so much of that beer when we were back there- Mm … and I was like, "Oh, we have to make that beer." And at that time, that style wasn't really something you were finding in Washington. You know, like- Mm. Mm-hmm … the Washington hefeweizen was always that Northwest style, like the Pyramid and the Widmer. Yep.

Christian: [31:44] Mm-hmm.

Lara: [31:45] And this is another animal entirely. But it has a distinct fan base, and, um, so we, we roll it out every spring, and it, we keep brewing it all through summer, and then it goes away until the following spring. And so that is back on tap, which is exciting. The next couple of weeks we'll see the release of, you know, Berliner Weisse, which is another, again, it's so great for summer. It's a clean sour and really refreshing, and sometimes we'll, we'll work with different flavor components there, which we've made raspberry Berliner Weisse in the past, which- Hmm I don't know, on a hot day, low alcohol.

Christian: [32:24] Yeah.

Lara: [32:24] Really bright, thirst-quenching flavors. Delicious beers to drink under a hot sun, for sure.

Christian: [32:30] Yum.

Lara: [32:31] I gotta check that out. And then, and then as we get to fall, you know, we roll into fresh hop season, and that is such a fun, exciting time because we're literally driving over to Yakima, grabbing freshly harvested hops, and racing them back to brew same day.

Christian: [32:44] Wow. Um,

Lara: [32:44] yeah, while they're fresh. And nobody in the States can do that as fast as, like, Washington and Oregon, right? Yep. Nobody can have that same freshness factor. So there's a lot. But to, to your question about how people would taste a variety, we of course offer taster trays. So it is possible to come in and line up a grouping of distinct styles and, or just talk to our beer tenders. We have such a really friendly, knowledgeable staff, and they can always- Yeah … guide people based on what they're looking for in a beer. If-

Christian: [33:12] They are definitely friendly. Thank you. Every time we're there for a class, like, they are super kind, super friendly. Even when they're slammed, they're there to answer questions and help and

Reed: [33:21] They are, they are really great. And, um, not a promise if you go there w- especially when they're busy, but, um, my dog always gets a, a little treat too, so she loves to- Oh, we love dogs … she loves to visit, which is excellent. Oh my

Lara: [33:35] God. It is so funny. I mean, I, it is really funny to watch some people walking by. They get anywhere near the entrance and the dog is suddenly just, like, dragging them to the bar. Yeah. Those dogs know.

Christian: [33:49] Smart dogs.

Lara: [33:51] Beer, or dog lovers inside. Yeah.

Christian: [33:55] Ooh. Well, one thing that I love about it is, uh, for my kids, they always have the rotating food trucks.

Lara: [34:01] Mm.

Christian: [34:02] Yeah. And so it's like, you know, if we're ever wondering what the heck to have for dinner, and we don't have four billion sports going on- This is, yep. like we do right this minute- Yeah … um, you know, we could go over there. I can get a nice crisp beer, and the kids can get something from the food truck 'cause you guys have, I mean, much like a lot of places, but you guys have a different food truck every night of the week, and it's always changing. And I just love the fact that, you know, you can go to your website and see exactly who's coming when and yeah, it's awesome.

Lara: [34:32] It has been great. I mean, it, m- not, not doing food ourselves was a very conscientious decision. Yep. Um, Brad, Robin, and I have really complimentary skillsets, but, and, and we also love food, all three of us, but we are not professional. We would have no idea how to do that, right?

Christian: [34:50] Yep, yep.

Lara: [34:51] And so we were really fortunate that the food truck scene was something that was really starting to roll in Seattle when we were opening the brewery. And it's the best, it's just so, such, it's so mutually beneficial. I mean, it's a built-in customer base for the truck, and it's such an added benefit for our customers. And the variety is super fun. So we like to work with 14 trucks at any given time, and we do them on an every other week rotation so that there's enough consistency for people that are coming back, you know, for a favorite food truck. But the variety does get rolled in there, too. And hot tip, Kristen, I mean, maybe depending upon the ages of your kids, you're not there yet, but so many parents are just dropping those kids at all of the sporting events at Gilman Park and rolling over-

Christian: [35:37] Yep … Lara: during practice for their own beer.

Lara: [35:39] Yep. Yeah. Yeah. But the food trucks are great. We love them.

Christian: [35:44] Yep. Now, you have that outdoor space and, like I said earlier, we always rent the upstairs event space. Do you have other spaces that you can rent out as well there?

Lara: [35:53] We do not rent out the whole space and the, um, or the beer garden because it's really hard to let customers that are coming know when something like that has changed. Yeah. So we just wanna be as open to the public as we can at all times. Right. However, during the pandemic, we did carve out a little corner of our beer garden, and we erected a, a greenhouse-

Reed: [36:14] Mm … Lara: back there. Oh. I've seen that. It's really pretty.

Lara: [36:18] It's, well, we're constantly working on it, right? It's so great. It is really cute, and we're, we're trying to grow it with more plants and adding elements all of the time. But it is a cozy, quiet corner of the beer garden where probably isn't comfortable for more than eight people. It would feel pretty crowded in there if you were to get to eight people and beyond. But it can be reserved in two hour increments. It's really easy to make the reservation directly on our website. It's just a $100 booking fee, and a portion of that goes to, um, one of five charitable organizations that- Hmm … the customer can actually choose directly- That's cool … on our website.

Christian: [37:01] That's cool.

Lara: [37:02] Um, and it comes with, you know, a goodie bag of some treats while you're in there. So it's kind of a great way to have your own space or to know that you'll have a table in the beer garden- Mm … if you're coming on a busy Saturday night- Or- … or something like that … or

Christian: [37:14] if you're having a little birthday party, you wanna make sure you got a spot and-

Lara: [37:17] Exactly

Christian: [37:18] you're not having too many people, but yeah.

Lara: [37:19] Right, not enough people to warrant renting the upstairs space, but just to- Yep … but knowing that you have a place to land.

Reed: [37:26] Yeah. I do have one question, just kind of as we wrap things up, that I've been curious about this whole time. I love the Stoop logo. I think it's really cool. Oh. And I'm particularly curious as to where did you find or how did you choose the name Stoop?

Lara: [37:44] Ah, yes. Well, Stoop is something our, at the time, our four-year-old or three-year-old child said. And at that- Mm-hmm … well, I should go back even further. So when Brad and I were first making the decision, like, "You know what? We're gonna do this," we came up with Critical Juncture Brewing Company.

Christian: [38:03] Okay.

Lara: [38:03] That was our working name, actually. And as we started sharing the idea with friends, one friend in particular came back and said, "Well, you might as well call it Midlife Crisis Brewing Company." And so we were like, "Oh, ruh-roh. Back to the drawing board." And so our child said the word stoop at one point, and at… And we were just putting every single word we heard in front of beer, in front of brewing, in front of brewery.

Reed: [38:30] Uh-huh.

Lara: [38:31] And we were like, "Stoup Brewing, that's, that's strong. That sounds good." Yeah. And we looked it up, and stoop is an Old English word for like a tankard, the type of vessel that you would have brought into your local pub and had them- Oh fill with ale.

Christian: [38:48] What?

Lara: [38:48] And we're like, "Ah, oh my gosh, three-year-old- Wow … reckoning genius."

Christian: [38:52] Yeah.

Lara: [38:52] And so we ran with it. It is also the font of holy water outside of the church door. Oh. So we like to- Yeah … and that was actually, that was a London Times crossword puzzle answer, so it's legit. Nice. And we like to talk about blessing ourselves in beer. And we had also found, like, in the Nordic language that it meant beaker. It was the word for a beaker. And since, you know, we are The Art and Science of Beer, and Brad and Robin are scientists- Yeah … Lara: and our tasting glasses are designed to look like beakers- Mm-hmm.

Christian: [39:21] Yeah, they definitely are … Lara: it all honestly j- fell into place. Wow. That's how Stoup-

Reed: [39:26] Very cool … Lara: yeah,

Christian: [39:27] was named. Well, Laura, thank you so much for spending some time with us and for sharing the awesomeness that is Stoup, the Seattle beer scene, Stoup's brewing history, and all things Seattle beer. Uh, we really appreciate it. Um, clearly you guys genuinely care about the community, and it's, you know… As, as the Awesome in Seattle podcast, which, you know, we talk a lot about real estate, but we're also talking a lot about just community. We also talk a lot about the Seattle history. Um, so we felt like this was a good, a good thing to talk about as well, because beer is so ingrained in our community. Um, and we couldn't think of a better place to feature other than you guys, Stoup Brewing. So thank you for joining us.

Reed: [40:13] Yeah. Thank

Lara: [40:13] you so much,

Reed: [40:14] Laura.

Lara: [40:14] Well, thank you. Oh. This was great. Thank you to both of you. I really appreciate the invitation, and really appreciate the opportunity to work with you and host your organization upstairs regularly. Yeah. And thank you for teaching people how to acquire a home in- Yes this crazy home we call Seattle, because- Yeah … that's not easy.

Christian: [40:35] It's, it's not. But we make it easy with our Beers and Home Buying class. Um- There

Lara: [40:39] you go … Speaker: and this is a great time- I love it … to plug it. Beersandhomebuying.com (opens in a new tab). Beersandhomebuying.com (opens in a new tab). That's how you can sign up for our free monthly Beers and Home Buying class. Uh, they are literally no pressure. They are one hour long. Um, when they're at Stoup, they're upstairs. Uh, it's basically free beer, and we talk you through the home buying process. It's, it's really laid back. We do them all throughout the Ci- City of Seattle, but also in the suburbs as well, we teach these classes. And it's, it's a lot of fun. So if you are ever interested in learning how to buy a house, sign up for free on our website, beersandhomebuying.com (opens in a new tab). You can always see the upcoming classes we have there as well. Our next one at Stoup, I believe, is in June. It

Reed: [41:26] is- It is the 15th of June.

Christian: [41:28] Yes, June 15th at Stoup. So if you are listening and you wanna buy a house, and it's 2022 You should definitely come to the next Stoup brewing class. Um- For

Lara: [41:40] sure. We look forward to seeing you there, and anyone else that attends.

Christian: [41:44] Yes. And one of these days- Absolutely … I will join Adam on the Stoup run on Sundays, which-

Lara: [41:50] Yes, please. Stoup.

Christian: [41:51] Is that every other Sunday? Is that the deal? I, uh-

Lara: [41:54] It is every other Sunday.

We meet in the tap room at 11: [41:56] 45 AM. It's three miles down the Burt Gilman. Um, we come back, we drink dollar off pints together, and it is a really great group of people. So many friendships have been born of this run. That is, you know, we're eight, almost nine years old, so that makes the run almost, at least six years old.

Christian: [42:16] Wow.

Lara: [42:16] And really a lot of fun. They, a, a core group of them actually just got back from the Vancouver Marathon.

Christian: [42:23] Wow.

Lara: [42:24] So they're int- they're intense, but it's no pressure, all abilities.

Christian: [42:28] Yeah.

Lara: [42:28] Lots of walkers.

Christian: [42:30] Yes.

Lara: [42:30] Super fun.

Christian: [42:30] That's what I've heard, lots of walkers, people with kids in strollers. Like, it's- Totally it's totally chill. But it's also, if you wanna go, you know, try and have a PR that day, you can. You can.

Lara: [42:40] Yeah, you'll just be the first one back- Exactly … with a beer in your hand. Yeah. Totally fine.

Christian: [42:44] You just get those dollar off beers. There you

Lara: [42:46] go. Yeah.

Reed: [42:47] I'll meet you there. I'll pay full price for mine and I'll just- Meet you at the end.

Lara: [42:53] That's also to- totally acceptable.

Christian: [42:56] Excellent. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining us, Laura. Reed, thank you for everything, and we'll see you next time on the Awesome in Seattle Podcast.

Lara: [43:05] Thanks, Laura. Sounds great. Thank you. Bye.

Christian: [43:07] Bye. All right. Bye.