The story of the beer garden at The Roost
The story of the beer garden at The Roost
The entrance to 5 North Brewing Company’s beer garden outside The Roost.
The entrance to 5 North Brewing Company’s beer garden outside The Roost.
February 12, 2020
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EWU is a dry campus. No alcohol can be sold on campus grounds. However, there is an exception to this rule.
If a third party vendor is hired to serve alcohol for a special event, then attendees can enjoy a beer or some wine, on EWU’s campus.
The U.S. Curling National Championships are being held in the URC from Feb. 8-15, and they are taking advantage of this rule with the help of the Spokane Sports Commission and 5 North Brewing Company. The Spokane Sports Commision is an organization in charge of bringing major sports events to the Spokane area.
Sammie Reagen, the marketing and operations manager, shared how they put a bid on this event, and they were lucky enough to have Spokane chosen to host it. “About two years ago we put in a bid for this event,” Reagan said. “We thought it would be extremely successful for the region, but also the university and the sports commission as a whole.”
Reagan mentioned how they hired 5 North Brewing to host the beer garden. She said that a beer garden is a major part of curling culture. Once the commission knew they needed to hire a brewery, they contacted Tom Shafer from EWU to set up this event.
Bryan Utigard, the head brewer at 5 North, said it didn’t take much time to prepare for the U.S. Curling National Championships. The important part was planning ahead to make sure they had enough beer. To add to the environment, they are bringing in Scottish beer, since curling is a Scottish sport. Justin Harris, the food service manager at the Roost, said the Roost has nothing to do with this event. They were able to give 5 North Brewing a place to keep the kegs, but none of his employees are able to clean up any beer. “We technically have nothing to do with the beer garden,” Harris said. “We rented the Roost out as an event facility.”
“We thought it would be extremely successful for the region, but also the university and the sports commission as a whole.” -Sammie Reagen, the marketing and operations manager
The Roost cannot host an event that serves alcohol unless a nonprofit decides to rent out the Roost. In 2008, the Roost was built with a soda machine that could become a bar, Harris said. He mentioned how other schools like WSU can sell beer on campus. However, EWU never took part in that. Though, when events like this occur, they are able to turn the Roost into a beer garden and the local community can enjoy a cold beer and watch games.•
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