North Bend, Washington is not an urban jungle. It’s a happy little mountain town along Interstate 90, the last stop before travelers start the ascent to Snoqualmie Pass. The town’s brewery, Volition Brewing, recently learned that it is not immune to the kind of petty, meaningless property crime that some folks mistakenly think is reserved for the big city.
“We experienced a grand heist! Our till and change machine decided to take an unexpected vacation, leaving us with a chaotic aftermath,” said Volition Brewing on Instagram, firmly placing its tongue in its cheek. “But fear not, the show persists! To commemorate this misadventure, we’ve introduced a new beer – because even robberies can’t steal our sense of humor!”
Last week someone broke into the brewery and stole the till, which was empty, and all of the quarters out of the change maker, which feeds quarters to gamers looking to try their hand at the pinball machine. The brewery says, “We will be CARD ONLY until our new till arrives, likewise we will be limited on quarters for pinball until our new machine is installed. Bring those quarters from home!”
To memorialize the unfortunate incident, Volition Brewing decided to name a new beer Quarter Bandit. The beer is on tap now at Volition Brewing’s taproom in downtown North Bend.
The then-unnamed beer was conditioning in the tank, nearing completion, when the incident occurred last week. Quarter Bandit Double IPA is described as “Boasting flavors of bitterness and loss, with aromas of disappointment and loss. Might leave you contemplating your life choices in front of a Coin Star machine.”
One bright side to all of this, the brewery gained some attention from the mainstream media in the form of coverage by all of the local television stations. Because the vast majority of the stories surrounding the craft beer industry are happy and positive, local breweries rarely see this kind of media attention. Cheers to Volition Brewing for keeping its sense of humor and making the most out of an unfortunate situation.
For more news about recent beer releases, visit the Washington Beer Blog’s New Beer Releases page.