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BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – When Dave Vitt founded Kulshan Brewing Company in 2011, there were only two other breweries in Bellingham.
Bellingham, and Whatcom County as a whole, has notably become a hub for craft beer over the last decade with Kulshan as one of the largest breweries in the market. With two taproom locations and a seasonal waterfront beer garden in downtown Bellingham, Vitt has his hands full year-round.
What started as a backyard passion has grown into 20-year career. Vitt began brewing his own beer at home and quickly fell in love with the process, pushing him to pursue a job with the former Fish Brewing in Olympia.
At the time, Fish Brewing was the only organic brewery in the state and Vitt was able to hone his craft in beer production for six years. In 2011, he decided to shift gears and open his own craft brewery in his hometown of Bellingham.
“I mean, I knew I always knew that I wanted to move back to Bellingham. And so in 2011, I quit that job and just focused on getting Kulshan open.” – Dave Vitt
“I got a lot of good experience down there and then kind of got, you know, homesick,” Vitt said. “I mean, I knew I always knew that I wanted to move back to Bellingham. And so in 2011, I quit that job and just focused on getting Kulshan open.”
Vitt, alongside a staff of four people, opened the first Kulshan taproom on James Street in 2012. According to Vitt, the Bellingham community seemed to immediately rally around this new local brewery within a short period of time.
“That was at a time where there was so much energy around town and with people who were involved and, you know, bars and places that wanted craft beer,” Vitt said. “There were only two breweries in town.”
The two breweries Vitt mentions are Boundary Bay and Chuckanut Brewery. Boundary Bay has announced their closure for later this year, while Chuckanut Brewery closed their original Bellingham brewery to expand in Burlington in 2021.
Soon after the success of the first taproom, Kulshan became the first brewery to begin canning their own beer in Bellingham. Vitt first canned a beer for Bellingham Beer Week followed by their flagship IPA called “Bastard Kat IPA”. The new beer cans were popular and caught the eye of local distributors who were interested in carrying Kulshan’s beer.
The demand for more beer began to grow to a point that Vitt knew it was time to expand.
“It was pretty intense. So that’s when we decided ‘OK, we’re going to do this,’ Vitt said. “We need to expand and build another [brewery].”
In 2015, Kulshan’s second location named “K2” opened, just four years after Vitt began working on opening his first location.
Vitt says that around 70% of all beer brewed by Kulshan is rolled out to distribution, going straight to grocery stores and bars around the region. The remaining 30% goes to taprooms.
Just over five years after Kulshan’s second location opened, an opportunity came up with the Port of Bellingham to install a seasonal beer garden on the Bellingham Waterfront. At the time, COVID-19 restrictions were still in place, so Kulshan and the Port worked together to create a spaced out and outdoor area for community members to enjoy time together in a communal space.
After months of planning, Trackside opened to its first customers the following summer. Since then, the seasonal beer garden has served thousands of pints of beer to the Bellingham community and has continued to evolve every summer.
Kulshan is preparing for another summer of serving beer at Trackside, with opening day set for Friday, May 2. The brewery announced that they are bringing back live music and community events weekly at the beer garden.
For more information about Kulshan Brewing Company and Trackside, head to kulshanbrewing.com.
We Are Whatcom is a weekly column featuring Whatcom County residents making a positive impact on the community. To submit a Whatcom County resident to be featured, click here.