3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2017
Owners put Cathlamet
brewery on the market
River Mile 38
goes up for sale
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
CATHLAMET, Wash. —
River Mile 38 Brewing Co. is
up for sale.
Three years ago, Drop
Anchor Brewery opened on
Third Street in Cathlamet
with 12 investors. Less than a
year after opening, the brew-
ery faced a trademark law-
suit from California’s Anchor
Brewing and changed its
name to River Mile 38
Brewing.
The brewery is now owned
by six partners, includ-
ing Richard Erickson, Steve
Sharp, Andy Lea, Rob Stock-
house and Barry Aiton in
Cathlamet; and Danna Speer
in Texas. Erickson, a man-
aging partner in the brewery,
said the owners, two in their
50s and the other four in their
60s and 70s, are looking for
someone younger to take the
brewery to the next level.
“We all have other jobs,”
he said. “We opened this up
to be like a little clubhouse.”
Erickson said the owners
are selling the entire business
and remaining lease with
the Port of Cathlamet for
$550,000. The port had built
a 1,500-square-foot build-
ing for River Mile 38, which
includes a 10-barrel brewing
system and five 10-barrel fer-
menters producing about 400
barrels of beer a year.
“We have 14 beers on tap
in our brewery,” Erickson
said.
The brewery’s taproom
opens two days a week in
the winter and three in the
summer, with five part-time
employees. People want the
brewery open longer, Erick-
son said, which means more
work and beer production.
He said River Mile 38 dis-
Ron Baldwin/For The Daily Astorian
Coast Guard personnel observe the Hero cleanup.
Hero poses an
oily mess for
cleanup crews
Petty Officer Brad Bennett,
the Coast Guard officer in
charge. “With strong tides
and the storm, we could have
trouble”.
Shellfish farmers have
worried about the Hero for
some time. Their fears were
fulfilled when the vessel
went down. A light sheen
remained close to shore on
Thursday despite efforts
earlier in the week. A major
spill was not expected
because the main diesel fuel
tanks were mostly empty,
but even a small spill can
have a profound effect
on the valuable shellfish
industry.
Salvage efforts and
responsibility remain in
doubt. The ship rests on the
muddy bottom that is owned
and controlled by the Wash-
ington Department of Natu-
ral Resources. None of par-
ties involved are willing to
discuss salvage and cleanup
at this time. Both Department
of Ecology and Coast Guard
crews are expected to moni-
tor the vessel closely until a
plan is agreed upon between
the owner, a local resident,
and state agencies.
Sunken vessel
worries local
shellfish farms
By RON BALDWIN
For The Daily Astorian
BAY CENTER, Wash. —
Washington Department of
Ecology contractors found
more oil than they expected
on the Hero, the historic ves-
sel that sank last weekend on
the Palix River in Bay Center.
Working from a small
boat alongside U.S. Coast
Guard personnel, workers
from Global Diving and Sal-
vage began removing the
oil soaking devices placed
earlier in the week. While
inspecting the fo’c’sle sec-
tion of the ship, the crew dis-
covered more oil than could
be handled by the absorbent
pads and floats. The driv-
ing rainstorm that prevailed
through Thursday afternoon
did not seem to affect the
workers.
“We found more oil today
than we anticipated, so I’m
requesting a vacuum truck
to remove it.” said Chief
Coming
Soon !
P
SHEE L
LOCA
Tillamook
1 st and Main
2014 - 2017
Submitted Photos
River Mile 38 Brewing Co., formerly Drop Anchor Brewery, resides inside a 1,500-square
foot brewery and taproom next to the Elochoman Slough in Cathlamet, Wash.
tributes as far north as Red-
mond and Tacoma, Washing-
ton, and east to the Columbia
River Gorge, with a new dis-
tribution agreement recently
signed for Oregon.
“We’ll try to sell to loca-
tions along the Columbia
River,” he said. “People want
to drink local beer. Tour-
ists come (and ask) ‘What’s
local?’”
Erickson said the partners
will hang on until the right
person comes along to take
over and keep growing.
“We’re in a little niche
market, but it’s just been bet-
ter than we ever dreamed,”
he said. “We never imag-
ined we’d have to work this
hard.”
Submitted Photo
River Mile 38 Brewing Co., formerly Drop Anchor Brew-
ery, opened on a hill overlooking the Elochoman Marina
in Cathlamet, Wash.
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