Atwood Ales is a family affair. The first and oldest brewery operating out of Blaine, Washington, may be small, but has a vast and rich history. Josh Smith and his family grow ingredients and brew beer on-site at their 100-year-old farmhouse and surrounding property. Sticking to the tradition of farmhouse brewing, Atwood Ales looks to bring the early styles of brewing from Belgium, Northern France and Western Germany to the Pacific Northwest.
Smith says the fact they are a farmhouse brewery makes them unique to the area and different than any other brewing operation he is aware of in Washington State. “As a result of our location and our land, we’re pretty seriously committed to the philosophy of farmhouse brewing,” Smith says. “What that means to us is that we’re utilizing what we have available here on the farm and locally whenever we can.”
Farmhouse brewing is different than the farmhouse-style ales you may have heard of or tried. Unlike farmhouse-style beers, farmhouse brewing requires the use of a homestead or farm to grow and produce the final product. As Smith notes, Atwood Ales sticks to this motto, but makes sure to explain they can only incorporate house-grown ingredients when possible and permitting.
“We still rely on commercially available malt and hops, but most of the beer we currently brew uses at least some small portion of hops, grain, fruit, herbs, etc., grown right here on our farm,” Smith explains.
Atwood’s intentions moving forward is to craft brews that are 100 percent estate-grown, Smith says, adding the brewery hopes to achieve this in its near future with sustainability at the forefront.
The production brewery, although not open to the public, has its select Belgian-style ales available at various locations across the Northwest. The Smith family is a regular at the Bellingham Farmers Market, sampling tastes of their libations while selling their bottled-conditioned ales at their table, like the Grange farmhouse ale and the Dark Harbor oyster stout.
Both the Grange and Dark Harbor represent a special uniqueness and artisan quality. The Grange, arguably the most popular of Smith’s brews, can be found on tap at multiple locations in Whatcom County. The beer, named after the French word for barn, exhibits intriguing bitter notes in perfect harmony with a spicy finish. The stout was brewed with not only oyster shells, but whole oysters from the Drayton Harbor Oyster Co., found just two miles from the brewery. This stout is a delicious collaboration to appease even the staunchest of locavores.
Smith says it is hard to pick a favorite of his beers, but if he had to choose one it would be the Grange, largely due to its versatility. “It tends to hit on something for everyone’s tastebuds,” he says. “The hopheads appreciate it, the malt maniacs like it, the Belgian nerds approve and even people who think they don’t like beer usually like it.”
In accordance with their farmhouse-style brewing, Atwood Ales doesn’t only take from the land, they also give back. They incorporate sustainable processes of farming and brewing, whether it be composting spent grains to use on the hop yard, irrigating crops with water reused from the brewing process or maintaining a healthy amount of native plants around their acreage.
Respect for the land that provides the ingredients for the beers, the land in which the farmhouse stands, was a founding priority for the brewery and continues to be a focus as the farm flourishes in an increasingly curious market.
