Gallaghers in Edmonds: Brew-it-yourself heaven

What Dennis Gallagher has created in downtown Edmonds is nirvana for those of us who are tempted to dabble in home brewing. To dabble: to try one's hand at brewing without buying all the gear, constantly checking the recipe, worrying out bacteria, etc.  Let's say you walk in and look around at the hundred of labels on beer bottles that you never heard of before.  They are all private labels, created by Gallaghers' customers.  So you want to see your name or neighborhood on a beer bottle.  Choose a recipe (they have about fifty) and Dennis or Chris or Eric will lead you to the bins with the malts, yeasts, and hops you need.  Spend several hours stirring and boiling and all those fun things, with advice from one of the staff experts at any stage, whenever you want it. When your batch is ready, it goes to a fermentation room for a week and then to an aging room for another week.  You come back in two weeks (a bit longer for some recipes) with your empty bottles or empties you can buy there.  Your batch, which has cost you $150 to $165 (plus bottles) will make about 138 12-oz bottles or around 75 22-oz bombers.  Plus the thrill of your own label going on them.

   The details are on their website ; I have started saving my bottles instead of recycling them. This sounds like great fun! As is the area in which they display their coaster collection.

Here are pix of the fermenting and aging rooms.
(Visited 7/29/10 and 8/14/10)