This new Sunnyland brewery is going for a European, rustic feel
A rustic brewery in Sunnyland welcomed guests for the first time on Wednesday, June 25.
Otherlands Beer, a family-owned business on Humboldt Street, is the passion project of Karolina Lobrow and Ben Howe. Their brewery aims to offer rustic beers and European-influenced foods in a cozy, guesthouse-like environment, said Lobrow, who is Polish.
“We just wanted it to be like a cozy beautiful space,” Lobrow said. “We wanted to offer a little bit of a different variety of food, some of it pulls from my family background, Eastern European background.”
Howe said their goal is to provide the kind of food offered at little cafes and guesthouses in Europe. The brewery did not offer to-go foods during its opening day, but it did offer five types of beers.
“The whole project is kind of on these rustic farmhouse beers whether they’re lager beers, whether they’re, you know, saisons people know or even IPAs and pale ales,” Howe said. “Kind of a more rustic, folksy approach to them, again influenced by the places we really love in our travels.”
The two met while waiting tables at a brewery in Boston. After traveling to Europe together and then moving to Portland, Oregon, they began planning their brewery. After a three-year-long process, they finally held their grand opening in Bellingham, where Lobrow had previously lived for many years.
“What we’re doing here can fit into this really rich tapestry of a brewing scene that Bellingham has because it’s a little bit different,” Howe said. “And, yeah, we love that Bellingham is being known as a beer city and we just want to be a little part of it.”
Despite challenges presented by the COVID-19 crisis, the two persevered to open their brewery. Whatcom County is still in Phase 2 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s reopening plan, meaning capacity at their brewery is limited to 50% and tables can seat no more than 5 people. Masks are also required while not seated at a table.
“I think it’s (the COVID-19 crisis) put on an entirely different layer of opening a business because you’re also wanting to make sure everyone is safe,” Lobrow said. “You want to take care of your employees, you want to take care of your customers in an entirely different way than just, hey let’s give people a great experience.”
Dick Edwards, a Bellingham local, said the novelty of Outerlands drew him there. He added he enjoyed a wheat saison called, A Spring Will Come.
“It’s a very impressive place, I like it,” Edwards said.
This story was originally published June 27, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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