When our good friend Steve Luke told us he was moving to New Zealand, our first response was “take us with you please!” When he then tacked on…“you guys wanna run Cloudburst?”, our second response was “nope! Good luck!”
We just didn’t know how we’d be able to do it. There’s not really a blueprint for how a small business can acquire another small business – we’re not a large corporation, bursting at the seams with employees searching for things to do. Our team is scrappy and capable, but everyone here is wearing 40 hats at a time.
But this wasn’t simply a business inquiring with a business. We have history. We first met Steve at the Fresh Hop Ale Festival in Yakima in 2010 – before Bale Breaker or Cloudburst were even an idea. Since then, we’ve brewed, traveled, golfed, skied, and drank a lot of beers together. We consider Steve and Holly family, and the idea of a different brewery partnering with Cloudburst just didn’t feel right. So we circled back with a third response – let’s DO this.
Since we opened in 2013, our goal has always been to grow and evolve and never be afraid of change. We were raised by hard-working hop farmers, always taking risks and being on the cutting edge. The idea of doing MORE always feels right to us, especially when we feel we’re uniquely positioned to do it WELL.
We don’t take this responsibility lightly. We’re committed to continuing to operate two great, distinct Pacific NW craft breweries. The goal is for customers to barely notice anything changed – it’s just business as usual around here! The teams will remain the same. Cloudburst production will happen at Western Ave in Seattle, with Steve still driving recipe and brand direction (just…in a VERY different time zone), and Bale Breaker production will be on Birchfield Road in Yakima with Smitty at the helm. Both Cloudburst’s Western and Shilshole taprooms will operate as they are now, just like Bale Breaker’s Yakima and Ballard locations. Cloudburst will continue to be self-distributed in Seattle, while Bale Breaker will continue to be available throughout Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The Cloudburst Instagram will keep posting insane and hilarious things straight from the now-Kiwi Steve, and Bale Breaker’s Instagram will continue to push goofy reels of us throwing beers at Quinn. Eventually we may try to make Cloudburst’s beer more widely available outside of Seattle – but that’s just a thought for now. (But like, who wouldn’t want MORE Cloudburst?)
All in all, we’re thrilled that this means we get to continue to work closely with one of our best friends, and it really softens the blow of him moving 7,000 miles away!
We can’t wait for you to barely notice this even happened,
Megs, Quinn, and Smitty (and Pat)