C4
EAT, DRINK & EXPLORE
East Oregonian
Saturday, January 4, 2020
New taproom brings self-service and craft beer to College Place
Taproom just the
third self-serve
establishment of
its kind to open in
Washington
By VICKI HILLHOUSE
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
COLLEGE
PLACE,
Wash. — Hop Thief Tap-
house and Kitchen made
twice the history in one shot
with its opening last month.
The taproom is the first
in College Place and just
the third self-serve estab-
lishment of its kind to open
in Washington, bringing the
cutting edge concept to the
Walla Walla Valley.
The business came in an
incredible seven-month time
frame from land surveying
to soft opening under the
lead of Definitive Design
and Construction LLC.
Ground was broken on the
project in May.
The quiet opening on
Dec. 19 followed two days
of private events with a cel-
ebratory soiree for contrac-
tors and crews and another
for friends and family.
Hop Thief joins the family
of bar businesses owned by
Juston Watson that includes
Stone Hut Bar & Grill and
Red Monkey Downtown
Lounge. But this one, Wat-
son said, reframes the con-
cept that draws guests for
drinks and dining.
So much of the business
is computerized that it’s
more like a tech company
that sells beer and food, he
said.
Since the idea involves a
do-it-yourself approach for
guests, the draw for them
will be selection, quality and
atmosphere.
“I’m selling hospitality,”
Watson said as new guests
trickled.
In warmer weather, he
plans to offer cornhole tour-
naments outside. He also
envisions walking chal-
lenges, given the proxim-
ity to about 5,000 homes
in a 2-mile radius, he said.
The business is decked out
with 17 screens for catching
games and entertainment.
Three of those are outside.
At Hop Thief, guests
check in, show their IDs and
are provided a chipped card
that gives them access to the
40-foot wall of taps for craft
beer, wine, cider, kombucha
and cold brew.
A chalkboard sign over-
head shows the areas where
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin Photo/Greg Lehman
A guest pours at the self-serve wall during a special event for friends and family last week at the Hop Thief Taphouse and
Kitchen in College Place. Beer, wine, cider and more is purchased by the ounce.
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin Photo/Greg Lehman
The Hop Thief Taphouse and Kitchen patio seating area features a gas fire pit.
taps are dedicated to lagers
pilsners, pales, sours, IPAs,
radlers, ales, stouts, and the
other drinks, including Pro-
letariat wines, Locust Cider,
and Nitro coffee from Walla
Walla Roastery.
To pour, guests slide their
cards into a card reader that
allows them to proceed. A
refrigerated case provides
cold glasses in 10-ounce
sizes. Beer pours range in
price from about 35 cents to
45 cents per ounce.
If customers want to try
something new, they don’t
have to fill a whole glass.
They can change up their
pours, mix, or stick with
nonalcoholic drinks, too.
Lest anyone fear that
means endless alcohol
pours, the system cuts
guests off after 28 ounces
and requires a member of
the Hop Thief team to check
in with the guest before the
card can be used again. The
ounce limitation is less than
the equivalent of two pints
in a traditional bar.
The concept not only
changes up how custom-
ers engage in their food and
drink experience, it also
drastically changes flow.
Without dedicated serv-
ers, there are no table
assignments, so guests can
freely move from table to
table or from the 85-seat
main floor to the 35-seat
upstairs mezzanine, where
Golden Tee 2020 and Buck
Hunter beckon gamers.
Another 85 or so seats
will be available on the patio
outside in nice weather. In
the meantime, a fireplace
there warms outdoor rev-
elers on the edge of the
creek that borders the busi-
ness at Southeast Lamperti
Street and Southeast Larch
Avenue.
Speaking of not hav-
ing servers, one anticipated
upshot of the self-serve sys-
tem is that it could mean a
reduction in labor costs for a
business of its size.
“I hope it does,” Watson
said.
Rising labor costs with
the the increasing mini-
mum wage, sick leave, and
the cost of offering health
care and retirement plans to
remain competitive in Walla
Walla’s hospitality scene
are huge investments out-
side of the capital costs of
construction.
Rather than servers,
front-of-the-house employ-
ees are “hosts” who help
guests navigate pouring and
ordering at a large walk-up
window.
Tips are welcome and
split among the staff, includ-
ing the kitchen where for-
mer Marcus Whitman Hotel
& Conference Center chef
Erik Johnson leads the cre-
ation of pizzas, sandwiches
and burgers.
With staffing at Hop
Thief, employment numbers
among Watson’s three estab-
lishments hover around 70
to 75 people.
A business model like
this is possible after the
Washington State Liquor
and Cannabis Board adopted
permanent rules for self-dis-
pensing wine machines and
self-service beer taps short
of two years ago.
Watson said the rollout
of self-serve establishments
has been slow since then,
likely because of the mas-
sive expense of a retrofit for
existing businesses.
Nevertheless, the oppor-
tunity to be part of the new
one here drew employment
applications from all over
the region and even outside
of the state as excitement
for innovation in the Walla
Walla Valley continues.
“Whenever something
new like this does come, you
know it’s going to be unique
and usually owner-driven,”
he said.
Hop Thief Taphouse and
Kitchen operates at 795
S.E. Sydnee Lane 11 a.m. to
10 p.m. Monday-Thursday;
11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays
and Saturdays; and 11 a.m.
to 9 p.m. Sundays.
———
Vicki Hillhouse can be
reached at vickihillhouse@
wwub.com or 509-526-8321.
What to do with that leftover bubbly? Some ideas
Sweeter
champagne
should be saved for drinks
and dishes that have sweet-
ness already in them.
Zabaglione, an airy sweet
pudding, is a dessert tradi-
tionally made with cham-
pagne, so you might head in
that direction.
Note that in cooking,
most of the alcohol burns
out, but if you are adding
wine to an uncooked dish,
make sure there is no one
with an alcohol sensitivity
consuming it.
By KATIE WORKMAN
Associated Press
NEW YORK — From
early December through
Jan. 1 (or beyond, depend-
ing on how fervently you
hang on to the holidays), the
pop of a champagne or spar-
kling wine cork is a wel-
come and frequent sound.
Fizzy wine is just the most
festive of drinks, whether
sipped straight up in a flute
or mixed into cocktails. And
many a New Year’s toast
would feel incomplete with-
out a glass of bubbles.
But whether you are
quaffing French cham-
pagne, prosecco from Italy,
cava from Spain, or some-
thing domestic and sparkly,
you may end up with some
left in a bottle. Since spar-
kling wine corks are notori-
ously tough to jam back into
bottles, use a wine stopper
as soon as you can to hold
on to some effervescence.
Tuck those half-full bottles
into the fridge.
And then … what?
A mimosa (orange juice
and sparkling wine) as a
post-holiday brunch drink
is a lovely little bit of deca-
dence, and should be consid-
ered. You also could make
sparking wine the base of a
sangria the next day, maybe
with some berries and berry
liqueur, plus a touch of some
sweetener. Or add it to some
pureed and sweetened fruit,
like mangoes or peaches,
for a Bellini-type cocktail.
It might not be as fizzy as
Make a pan sauce
AP Photo/Cheyenne Cohen
Leftover champagne is poured into a drink, which adds a bit
of sparkle to this glass of sangria in New York.
it was the day before, but
if you sealed the bottle in a
timely manner, it should be
bubbly enough.
But maybe you’re cock-
tail-ed out. If your sparkling
wine was dry (not sweet),
then you can use it pretty
much as you would any
other leftover white wine in
cooking. And if the bubbles
are gone, no worries — the
fizziness would be lost in the
cooking process anyway.
Use leftover sparkling
wine to deglaze a pan, pour-
ing it in after you’ve sautéed
your onions, garlic or other
aromatics to loosen the
brown bits from the bottom
of the pan, and beginning
to build a pan sauce, with
broth or some other liquid
added after the wine cooks
and reduces a bit.
You can also add cream,
a lovely partner to spar-
kling wine or Champagne.
Or add minced fresh herbs
and other seasonings like
mustard, olive tapenade or
hot sauce. Drizzle the sauce
over sautéed chicken, pork,
fish or seafood.
Crepes
Replace half the milk in
your favorite crepe recipe
with champagne. You can
use dry or sweet sparkling
wine, depending on what
type of crepe you are mak-
ing. Dessert crepes can be
made with sweeter bubbly.
Fondue
Use it instead of white
wine in your favorite fon-
due or Welsh rabbit recipe.
A bit of white wine is tra-
ditional in these European
melted-cheese dishes.
Steaming shellfish
Simmer some garlic and
herbs and whatever other
seasonings you like (toma-
toes, fennel, saffron, etc.) in
champagne, perhaps com-
bined with a bit of broth or
water, and then steam clams
or mussels until they open.
These can be eaten right
from the shells, or used to
make a seafood soup or
stew, or pasta with mussels
or clam sauce. The broth
from steaming the shellfish
should be strained and used
in any recipe as well.
Risotto
When you start your
risotto (any version), after
you’ve sautéed the rice in
oil or butter, start adding
liquid by pouring in ½ cup
of sparkling wine. This
will absorb quickly into the
grains and give the finished
dish another level of flavor.
Then switch to broth, add-
ing it slowly until the rice
is plump and al dente, stir-
ring frequently. Also use
sparkling wine to start off
farrotto, a modern take on
risotto using farro.
Vinaigrette
A splash of wine can
enhance the taste of a home-
made vinaigrette, to dress a
green salad, vegetable salad
(such as a green bean salad),
grain salad or, even better,
a French-style mayo-free
potato salad. If your cham-
pagne is more than a week
old and has taken on a vin-
egary taste, you can still use
it this way.
Braises
If it’s not sweet, think
about adding a few glugs
of leftover bubbly to dishes
like braised chicken with
mushrooms or pork chops
with apples. Or use it in
braised vegetable dishes,
like braised cippolini or
pearl onions or braised cab-
bage and radicchio.
Stews
Champagne would be
great in a chicken or fish
stew, especially one with
Mediterranean flavors. And
even though many meat
stews call for red wine, if
it’s a small amount you can
usually sub in a dry white
or sparkling wine. Use it
in a lamb stew with orange
and fennel, or a pork or beef
stew with root vegetables.
———
Katie Workman writes
regularly about food for
The Associated Press. She
has written two cookbooks
focused on family-friendly
cooking, “Dinner Solved!”
and “The Mom 100 Cook-
book.” She blogs at http://
w w w. t h e m o m10 0 . c o m /
about-katie-workman. She
can be reached at Katie@
themom100.com.