The Pourhouse Goes Up for Sale

JEFFERSON COUNTY, WA —The husband-and-wife team that resurrected a derelict tow truck company building on Port Townsend Bay into the Pourhouse, a revered craft beer taproom and bottle shop, is selling the business.

Since the Pourhouse went up for sale last week, numerous serious interested parties have signed non-disclosure agreements as part of the information search and negotiation process. Owners Ned Herbert and Virginia Marston are confident that the keen interest in the business will help them select a buyer who will retain the place's basic flavor and feel, while expanding to include events like live music and perhaps food offerings that Herbert and Marston didn’t have the energy to implement.

“This is our baby,” Herbert said. “We want it to continue.”

That will be welcome news to hundreds of locals who have grown in love with the slightly gritty, but comfortable, building and grounds that might have the best view of any beer garden in the state. 

From a tow yard to a taproom

For eight years during the early 2000’s, Herbert and Marston ran their Port Townsend business, The Bindery, which made hand-bound blank journals and photo albums. During their monthly trips to Seattle to sell their products to wholesale and independent bookstores, they started visiting breweries, and they noticed that the craft beer industry was old enough to support beer bars and bottle shops. They decided that they’d like to run a tap room and bottle shop in Port Townsend.

During their search mission around Port Townsend, they often passed the building that had no windows, a barbed-wire fence and a sign out front. It had been a tow truck company impound lot.

”Finding this location really developed what our business plan was going to be,” Herbert said. They rented it in 2011 and opened in February 2012. The couple put everything they had into the build–out, including the equity in their house, and opened with almost no cash and eight picnic tables. Herbert said the business has been profitable since his first day.

What grew in the space

Over the years, the owners added a deck, an overhang, umbrellas and landscaping outside, and sturdier tables inside. The taproom holds about 80 people indoors, and the outdoor space holds roughly 250.

The size of the deck and arrangement of the outdoor space enable a variety of social dynamics. When the place fills up on a warm day, you may find kayakers paddling up to the shore 30 feet from the long wooden bar, where folks slowly savor their beverage while gazing at the Olympic Mountains and the islands across the Bay. You’ll find groups of coworkers, out-of-town visitors, groups of two or three engaged in deep or light conversation, and quite likely, a lively game of ping-pong.  Chances are that you’ll see customers enjoying their Pourhouse beers with food they brought from the outside, which the establishment allows.

And then there is The Inferno, the name given to a table at the north end of the garden, against a cinderblock wall that has been the hottest seat in the house on summer afternoons. It is also the unofficial headquarters of a group of regulars who all met there, and continue to meet frequently, Herbert said.

Arran Stark enjoyed a brew while occupying a familiar perch at the wooden bar with the great views on a recent Sunday afternoon. “I started coming here at the very beginning,” Stark said. “My band played here while my son sang along, standing on that rock. I got my dog here. It’s a great place, and it’s a part of me.”

Herbert and Marston say that one of their proudest accomplishments is their beer curation. “We feel like we have one of the best beer selections in the state,” Herbert said. Marston manages the beer buying, which Herbert praises as, ”the best job of anybody in the state.”

Herbert manages the operations of the business.

The Pourhouse offers 14 thoughtfully created taps and over 200 cans and bottles from regional and nationally acclaimed producers.

Stepping away

Herbert and Marston are looking forward to enjoying the Pourhouse in a way that they have not been able to as owners. Their hard work and vision have created a community gathering spot that they are confident will only get more appealing to customers under new ownership.

They plan to discuss other pursuits that they find rewarding and worthwhile.

For Marston, a Port Townsend native, building and running the business demanded applying her belief that, “I've always taken the stance that you have to be creative to make it in Port Townsend. This has never been easy for a long time.”

The couple anticipates stepping out of the fire in a few months to settle into a more relaxed mode for a while, perhaps occasionally at the Inferno, where they will most certainly be given the best seats at the table.

For interested buyers, the listing can be viewed here.