Prohibition ended Pacific Brewing & Malting Company and other Tacoma breweries’ heydays. But it didn’t stop Tacoma from drinking. Under the shadow of alcohol prohibition in America, those who stole away to secret speakeasies and basements to drink outside the law were shamed as “scofflaws,” criminals. In downtown Tacoma during those days, the police would emerge from their City Hall Annex police stable on horseback at Seventh and Pacific Avenue, search out the scofflaws, then throw them in jail in the basement of City Hall. Almost 100 years later, in the former police stable, Pacific Brewing & Malting Co. re-emerged from the ashes to brew again, eventually hiring the only female brewer in the South Sound at that time, Bethany Carlsen. In the Grit & Grain Podcast Episode 8, Carlsen tells us how she went from country music DJ to brewing at several Ram Restaurants before her eventual brewing gig at Pacific Brewing & Malting 2.0. We also discuss her roller coaster ride as head brewer at Mother Fern Brewing — the short-live Tacoma brewery she opened with her business and life partner, Greer Hubbard — as well as their current beer line cleaning company, The Funk Busters.
Tap, tap, tap
Alright Grit and Grainers! Email us at cheers@gritandgrainpodcast.com with your comments, opinions, and ghost stories from the old Pacific Brewing & Malting as Carlsen discusses on the podcast. We read and drink everything we receive, and we’ll try to respond as quickly as we can. If not online, then on air.
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If this podcast is not what you expected, please alter your expectations. It is perfectly acceptable to breathe deep the insides of new leather boots. No such thing as a bad time to visit Tacoma. No such thing as too much barleywine. Tune in next Friday for more sweet chatter! Cheers!
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