I originally learned about Three Magnets Brewing from an article in The Olympian and then from another article on NorthwestMillitary.com. I sniffed around a bit and eventually wound up talking with Patrick Jansen, who will be the brewer at this soon-to-be Olympia brewery and pub.
If they aren’t brewing yet, they will start brewing very soon. The 15-barrel brewhouse and fermenters arrived recently and the Liquor Control Board has now issued a permit for Three Magnets Brewing to brew beer for sale. In other words, they’re close. Very close. No word on when the pub will be up and running. Keep an eye on the Three Magnets Brewing Facebook page.
“I’ve been brewing for around eight years at a rate of four batches of beer per month. None of them professionally,” says Patrick. “I had flirted with the professional world a few times but never had enough motivation to leave the golden handcuffs of the [United State] Postal Service.”
Three Magnets Brewing Company represents the fruition of a dream. Nathan and Sara Reilly, the owners of Darby’s Café in Olympia, dreamed of opening a brewpub. Nate and Sara’s dream provided the motivation for Patrick to go pro. In addition to being proponents of local food and beer, Nathan and Sara are soccer fans; locally sourced food and soccer will be at the heart of Three Magnets Brewing, which is located at the corner of Legion and Franklin streets in downtown Olympia (600 Franklin Street).
Patrick tells me that he met Nathan and Sara at a music festival to which he’d brought a lot of homebrew. They were impressed with his beer.
“Jeff Stokes, formerly of Gravity Beer Market, currently of Skep and Skein Tavern, will join me in the brewhouse,” says Patrick. “While I have focused on the four elements of yeast, water, hops, and malt, Jeff has a freer spirit, incorporating alternative ingredients into his beer. This I feel makes us a good combination. We even drink different. He sips, I quaff.”
“We are entering the primed Olympia craft beer market with two house yeast strains: a Yorkshire Square ale strain and a Saison ale strain, as well as a menagerie of bacteria and wild yeast to tempt the taste buds. We plan on keeping a Lager strain on as well.”
“Our restaurant will have a rotating fresh seafood menu as well as house cured seafood and meat. We will also feature a burger menu, all hamburgers will be fresh ground chuck and we plan on having a rotating wild game burger as well. We will make our buns and bread in house.”
“We will not be thawing and frying anything, though we will still fry a good number of finger foods,” says Patrick. “We plan on sourcing the majority of our salad and vegetables from local organic farms and will be fermenting our own Kraut, pickles, and so on. There will be an all ages dining area as well as a 21 and over pub, the two spaces will be separated by the kitchen and brewery, all very open like you are having a beer in the brewery.
About the Name
According to NorthwestMillitary.com, Nathan and Sara Reilly were inspired by the garden city approach to urban planning, The plan for the brewpub feeds off the book Garden Cities of To-Morrow, written by Ebenezer Howard in 1898. Howard’s diagram of the concept of town, country and town-country, which asks the question, ‘Where will people go?’ contains three magnets to represent the areas of residences, industry and agriculture.
“Essentially, the third magnet, town-country, is proportionate parts of all,” Nathan told NorthwestMillitary.com, “and what Olympia strives to be.”
Thanks Kendall for the great write up and press! We are still on target for brewing the second week of July (next week!). Had our brewery electronical components fully hooked up and calibrated today, and anticipate our gas meter to be turned on come Monday (after a little snafu with permitting). Ingredients and yeast for our first beer arrived today, and we will finish the glycol systems and run pressure tests this weekend. I can’t wait to meet you and all of the Three Magnets supporters very soon!
We will also be racking our first beer (brewed at Lacey’s Braueri Kastellan) a classic saison, into wine barrels this weekend and release it at the August 2nd Olympia Beer Festival. That event will be the first unveiling of our dream project, to bring great beer to the community of Olympia.
Hope to see you soon!