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- by Kendall Jones, Washington Beer Blog -

While waiting for the taxi to pick us up at the hotel, I explained the philosophy to John, my travel companion for this adventure. “Always walk into a new brewery with low expectations,” I told him as if he’d never walked into a brewery before. “It usually takes a new brewery some time to work out the bugs and get up to speed. If you prepare yourself to be unimpressed, you avoid disappointment. Also, this gives the brewery a chance to exceed your expectations.”

Shortly after I shared this sage advice, Perry Street Brewing hit a homerun on the first pitch. After visiting this new Spokane brewery, a recent addition to the Inland NW Ale Trail, we walked away pleasantly surprised and impressed. Expectation exceeded.

Photo by John Beath, MyTravelTastes.com

We spotted the brewery in a new building at the corner of Perry Street and 11^th Avenue South in Spokane’s South Perry neighborhood. I recognized our destination from a block away because of the outdoor seating area populated with people quaffing pints of beer. John thought they needed better signage, but my nose for beer and breweries makes such issues irrelevant.

In many ways, Perry Street Brewing felt instantly familiar and comfortable. Wood and steel define the décor. Other features include high ceilings, exposed ventilation ducts, polished cement floors, and a garage-style door opening to the street-side seating. Windows behind the bar provide a view of the seven-barrel serving tanks, which receive their payload from a seven-barrel brewhouse and fermenter farm located in the back of the building.

Perry Street Brewing offers only beer and encourages hungry visitors to order food from nearby restaurants. Food trucks regularly park themselves out front. For beer trekkers like me, this kind of food arrangement sounds familiar. In fact, everything seemed familiar at Perry Street Brewing.

Of course familiar is a matter of perspective. I visit breweries, especially new breweries, all the time. It’s what I do. For John it all seemed much less familiar. Visit John’s blog, MyTravelTastes.com, to read about our visit to Perry Street Brewing from his perspective.

Open for just two months, the paint still looked wet on the walls but the beer tasted refined. The owner and brewer at Perry Street Brewing, Ben Lukes, brought some impressive credential to the project. He graduated from the American Brewers Guild’s science and engineering program and started his brewing career as an intern at Big Sky Brewing in Missoula, Montana. He earned a fulltime position, worked his way up the ladder, and eventually led the quality control program, operating the brewery’s laboratory. That explains why the beers at this young brewery impressed me; good breweries beget good breweries.

My top picks? The Kolsch looked sparkling and clean, and then went down smoothly with just a tiny hint of bitterness lingering. The IPA was exceptionally balanced and quaffable given its girth (7.4 percent ABV, 77 IBU). The Scotch Ale probably stole the show (8.8 percent ABV, 25 IBU). Rich, smooth and slightly sweet, with just the right amount of smokey character, I covet this beer.

Next time you find yourself in Spokane, visit this new brewery in the South Perry neighborhood. Nearby attractions include the Lantern Alehouse, a noteworthy beer hall and pub, and Casper Fry, a buzz-worthy restaurant on Spokane’s burgeoning culinary scene.

Perry Street Brewing
1025 S Perry St
Spokane, WA 99202
(509) 279-2820
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