BY COLLIN JOHNSON, Staff Reporter
Housed in a hundred-year-old Kittitas building is Central student William Reichlen’s self-owned and operated brewery, Colockum Craft Brewing.
The brewery itself did not open for business until August of this year, but Reichlen had already built a reputation around town as a brewer.
“I had a tendency to bring my beer everywhere I went, and let people try it,” Reichlen said. “A lot of my friends in this town know me, and know my beers.”
Reichlen is 45-years-old with a wife and three daughters, and is in his final year of studying chemistry at Central.
Reichlen has been home brewing since 1992, after he returned from his post in the Marines as an air traffic controller.
His career included six months of running the Kuwait National Airport during the Gulf War.
“The whole reason I joined up was so I could get a GI Bill to pay for college,” Reichlen said. “But it was fun, I’ll never regret it for sure.”
After his military career, he got married and started studying hotel and restaurant administration at WSU.
After the semester system and large classroom environment did not work for him, he left WSU and took a job in the agricultural business.
“I ran a seed plant, we produced barley and wheat seeds for growers to raise, to sell,” Reichlen said. “I did that for about 20 years.”
In 2009, Reichlen decided he was tired of what he did, and moved to Kittitas, picking up a part-time job at Kittitas Country Hardware.
In January of 2010, he began studying chemistry at Central.
“There’s a lot of chemistry in brewing,” Reichlen said.
Reichlen obtained the lease to the building that is now Colockum Craft Brewing from the owners of Kittitas County Hardware.
There are no televisions in the brewery, only an assortment of comfortable seating and a large elk head over a fireplace.
“It’s different from what you typically see in a tap room,” Reichlen said. “I wanted this to be a place that engaged conversation.”
Reichlen’s time at Central has been integral to the development of this business.
“I graduated from the beer trade certificate program last year, from Central,” Reichlen said. “I already had plans to open this place when I took that course, but it gave me some better ideas on how to get in to things.”
While in the beer trade program, Reichlen entered the business plan competition held by Central’s Symposium On University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE), every spring.
“The business plan was based on this business,” Reichlen said. “Second place got me $3,000, and some funding to buy some more equipment and get going a little more.”
Colockum Craft Brewing is still in its early stages, but Reichlen finds a certain contentment in the fact that he runs a small operation.
“I’m always experimenting,” Reichlen said. “It will be a sad day, I think, personally, for me when I ever get locked into having to brew the same thing over and over again.”
Colockum Craft Brewing consistently has an IPA, porter, and wheat beer on tap.
“All my customers say it’s excellent,” Carl Lowe, owner of Carl’s Barber Shop, said. “They seem to line up there when they’re open.”
Anything else he makes is up in the air. Recently, he made a brew for Halloween that contained a pound of candy corn, that went over spectacularly with his customers.
“It was pretty unique, I liked it,” Jeremy Larson, employee at Kittitas County Hardware, said. “He’s always coming up with something new to try out.”
Reichlen intends to expand his small brewery that has already had requests from Suncadia and other businesses outside Kittitas for his creative brews.
“I’ve actually already purchased a one and a half barrel system, which will upgrade me from my half barrel system, so I’ll be making three times as much, and be able to open up a couple more days a week,” Reichlen said.
Although Reichlen just started his business in Kittitas, he has already utilized his education from Central with something he loves to do.
“Without the support of my friends and family, I would probably still be doing this in my garage.”
