The Grant Street Guys Brewing Club all started when I moved from the Midwest to the Great Northwest in 2001 and my brewing equipment went directly into the attic storage of my home. Perhaps it was because there were too many fantastic beers to sample in my new geography that I forgot my old beer equipment even made the trip west.

However, upon moving into our new home on the 2500 block of Grant Street in Bellingham I discovered three other neighbors who also shared a great fondness for quality beer. In December of 2008, I sent out an invitation to join me in the formation of the Grant Street Guys Brewing Club. Everyone quickly accepted and the first brewing session took place in January of 2008. It was time to resurrect the equipment and get the dead insects washed out of the carboys!

Having procured and sampled too many of our favorite northwest regional brews while brewing our first beer together, suffice to say that our initial brewing session was very “spirited.” It is not often that taxi cabs are considered to take people home who live only four houses apart . . . at 3 p.m. With phrases such as, “oops, was that supposed to go in there?” and “you have to re-sanitize AFTER going to the bathroom” being bantered around the kitchen, this had brewing disaster written all over it. To this day, as the inaugural brewmaster for the club, headquartered in Bellingham, I am still not sure how the first batch turned out good.

The four basic cornerstones of the Grant Street Guys Brewing Club are to:
1. Meet quarterly to select and brew a different world style of beer.
2. Test our bounds of brew knowledge and be willing to experiment.
3. Discover the joy of creating a quality beer that we can attempt to duplicate repeatedly.
4. Enjoy the “fruits” of our labor and share it with family and friends.

With each batch, a different member is designated the “Grant Street Brewmaster.” This individual is in control of the batch from start to finish, selects the beer style, formulates the recipe, gets to name the beer and designs the label. It is up to the other guys (brewing apprentices for that quarter) to find quotes at ChuckNorrisFacts.com and sample new beers from around the world. Tough gig! Here are some of our favorite quotes:

“Chuck Norris can drink our entire 5-gallon (19-L) batch in 37 seconds and not even feel the effects,” says Brian B.

“Well, that’s because Chuck Norris can drink beer with his mouth closed,” shouts out David.

“Yea, Chuck Norris doesn’t throw up if he drinks too much, he throws DOWN!,” yells Brian C.

The inspiration for batch #1, CENSOREDy Cat ESB, is a neighborhood inside story. Every neighborhood has the token crazy person — you know, the house that no child wants to visit on Halloween night. We have an individual on our block who is a cat hoarder. At one time, before the city stepped in and stopped her makeshift shelter, she had 76 cats in her tiny house. She is very bitter with everyone she comes in contact, thus CENSOREDy Cat ESB was born. “Not very special…but TRULY bitter” became the catch phrase for the beer.

Since the excitement of the first batch, we have brewed Cascadia Pale Ale, Scout Stout, Cheval Blanche and recently brewed Coal 525 Porter. Presently, we are still in the intermediate phase of brewing, sticking to partial mash extract brewing. Eventually we may transition to all-grain and we will definitely transition from bottles to kegs. Our other goal is to get temperature control set up so that we can begin brewing some European lagers in the future.

While the names Chris, David, Brian and Brian don’t exactly evoke memories of the Fab Four, we are currently producing some of the finest beers ever produced on Grant Street. We now consider ourselves to be the preeminent brewing club on the 2500 block of Grant Street in Bellingham. All right, so we are the ONLY brewing club on Grant Street!
Our advice for anyone wanting to start a club in their neighborhood?

• Get to know your local brewing store owners. They are invaluable. For example, our local store, North Corner Brewing Supply in Bellingham, will even take one of your homebrews home, review it and fill out an analysis sheet. This is a great way to improve your future brews.
• Develop a procedure for brewing that will ensure success every time you brew. A great sanitation process should be part of that procedure.
• Share your beer with family and friends, especially those who think Milwaukee’s Best is a premium beer.
• Never ever carry a bottle tree loaded up with sanitized bottles up a flight of stairs on bottling day! It is truly is a disaster waiting to happen as we found out.
• Have fun! Trust me, if our first batch turned out OK, yours will also.

Even after the eventful first brew, I am very happy to this day that I resurrected a hobby out of my attic and I am able to share it with friends on my street. There is nothing better than sitting down with some Copper River salmon coupled with a bottle of Cheval Blanche — our Belgian white beer. If you ever find yourself in Bellingham, Washington stop over to the 2500 block and ask for one of the Grant Street Guys Brewing Club members and enjoy a beer with us. Cheers!