Elysian Brewing co-owner Dick Cantwell was featured in an AP story which ran today in the Seattle Times. It appears that the state legislature is “poised” (their word) to create a state beer commission to promote Washington-made beers.

From the article:

The crusade to establish Washington-made as a premium microbrew brand is in line for some help from the state Legislature, which appears willing to create a new industry promotional arm called the Washington Beer Commission.

If lawmakers give their blessing, the commission would be officially empowered to levy a modest tax on its producers, put on fundraising festivals, and — perhaps most importantly — give away free beer.

“I drink milk, personally,” said state Sen. Marilyn Rasmussen, D-Eatonville, a dairy farmer who is a sponsor of the Beer Commission bill. “But as long as they use Washington hops and Washington barley, I approve.”

The beer makers’ model is the Washington Wine Commission, seen as instrumental in promoting the state’s most well-known adult beverage during its rise to national prominence in the past 20 years.

Bert Grant opened the country’s first brewpub in 1982 in Yakima, Washington and had been a fixture in the industry until his death in late July of 2001. Due to various financial troubles after his death, the original brewpub finally shuttered its doors in December of last year. But as reported last week in an AP story that was printed throughout local papers in the Pacific Northwest, Aaron Gamache, a 31-year-old beer lover and hop farmer in Toppenish, is planning on re-opening the pub under the name “Bert’s Pub” as an homage to Bert Grant, a move that has been endorsed by Grant’s family. Sounds like a nice legacy and one which I wholeheartedly — or would that be wholehoppedly — support.
 
 

Bert Grant and me at the Oregon Brewers Festival some time in the mid-1990s.