The Who
5th Line Brewing was first dreamed up by two hockey-crazy buddies that, of course, met over beers after a hockey game.
Nate, the original brewer of the group, started home-brewing while he was still in chiropractic school. He brought some of his early home brew down to the rink to share with the crowd. Even though this particular bottle was so over carbonated that upon opening foam shot all over the room, the beer caught Chris’s attention. At this point the two friends did not live in the same town, but the seed of brewing together was planted.
The When
A couple of years later, Nate and his wife graduated chiropractic school and moved to Yakima to open their chiropractic practice. Soon after, the guys broke out the brewing supplies and started making beer together…. Lots of beer. After only one extract batch, they decided to make the jump to all grain brewing. They tried brewing a couple of kit recipes and then decided to move on to their own. They downloaded Beer Smith and made some of their own creations and heard lots of positive comments about their product. This brought the two guys and their wives, Kristina and Jessa, to a crazy idea… What if the four of us opened our own brewery?
The What
After a few beers one night the guys were chatting about their respective hockey careers (rather un-illustrious) and noting that they were really just mediocre hockey players, but they loved the camaraderie that comes with playing on a team and having some drinks with the guys afterwards. It was at this point they started calling themselves 5th Liners (there are only 4 lines of players on a hockey team). From there, the idea of a brewery started to take form, it would be called 5th Line Brewing. For all of those guys and gals out there who aren’t the best, but love the games they play, and the teammates they play with. This led to numerous discussions of if this brewery dream could be a reality, typically over beers, often accompanying hockey games, but that is beside the point.
The How
After lots of talk and dreaming between the couples it was agreed that with the passion and quality of beer the guys were putting out that this could become a reality. This is where the story really comes together. These two hockey loving families, put everything on the line to dive into the craft beer business, and in the 5th Line spirit they did it because of the love of brewing and their willingness to work hard no matter what.
The Why
We love beers with lots of great flavor and character. We strive to only create products that embody our passion for what we do. We may not be flashy stars of the beer world, much like we are not flashy on the ice, but we put in the work, and love, to create something that we feel will make the craft brew team (market/industry) just a little better.
Our Values
What does it mean to be a 5th liner?
Well, to be honest “5th Liner” is a term we created to make fun of our hockey skills. We have played the game with some very talented people, and competed at reasonably high levels, but we were far from the cream of the crop, more like the trub in the boil kettle more often. But we have kept playing the game of hockey, at higher levels than we are really capable, because we love the competition, the grind, and the friendship. We have all been on teams where most everyone should play ahead of us. Even if we didn’t get to skate we would still love to be on the team, just because of our passion for the game and the team camaraderie. This is why we call ourselves 5th Liners. As long as we get that post game beer with our team, that’s one of the best parts of the experience.
Are you a 5th Liner as well?
Are you a 5th Liner as well?
Become a 5th liner
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