Boundary Bay Expands and Bellingham Gets Another Brewery
Good craft beer is nothing new in Bellingham, WA — the other City by the Bay. Ed Bennett founded Boundary Bay Brewery in 1995 and started producing award-winning beers shortly thereafter. Down the street, Will and Mari Kemper opened Chuckanut Brewery and Kitchen in 2008 and started winning medals almost instantly. The news today is about the planned expansion at Boundary Bay as well as the introduction of a new player on the Bellingham beer scene: Kulshan Brewing.
At Boundary Bay Brewing, plans have been drawn up to expand into the building to the immediate south of the existing location, adding another 2,000 square feet of much needed retail, office and production space. I originally reported on Boundary Bay’s pending expansion back in September when the plan was first announced, but I wanted to touch on the story once again in light of the other big news from Bellingham.
Just north of downtown, a new brewery nears opening. According to a report in the Bellingham Herald, David Vitt is busily constructing his dream brewery in a building on James Street in Bellingham’s Sunnyland neighborhood. Vitt worked for Fish Brewing in Olympia for six years but originally developed a passion for brewing as a home brewer in Bellingham. Kulshan Brewing hopes to produce 400-500 barrels of beer per year. Vitt does not intend to serve food at Kulshan Brewing. Instead, he’ll invite local food trucks to park nearby and allow patrons to bring food into the tasting room.
The brewery seems to be coming together quite nicely. No opening date has been announced but it looks like its at least a month or two away. I will have more details about Kulshan Brewing in the coming weeks. For now, see the article published yesterday in the Bellingham Herald or check out the Kulshan Brewing Facebook Page.
If you are wondering about the name, Kulshan is the native word for Mount Baker.