Coeur d’Alene Brewing Co. owners plan Spokane venture

The former owners of the Coeur d’Alene Brewing Co. plan to open a new brewery on the west edge of downtown Spokane.

Gage and Spencer Stromberg, along with their parents, Ron and Julie Wells, will open River City Brewing later this year.

The Strombergs and Wellses operated Coeur d’Alene Brewing until 2010, when they lost their lease on a building in Coeur d’Alene.

They’re taking the southeast corner of the Eldridge Building at 1325 W. First Ave., a property owned by the Wellses.

Gage Stromberg said they still own the corporate entity Coeur d’Alene Brewing Co. and hope someday to reopen it. “But I feel that to use that name and be authentic, the beer needed to be brewed (there),” he said.

River City will brew its own beers in Spokane but also produce two favorites from the previous company – the Huckleberry Ale and the Polar Beer Stout (known to locals as the “vanilla bourbon stout”).

The new location will be a brewery only and not include a pub or tasting room, Stromberg said. The Rocket Bakery, in the same building, is expected to start offering River City beers on tap, however.

A former brewer from Coeur d’Alene Brewing Co. will become the new company’s brewmaster, Stromberg added.

Before being closed, Coeur d’Alene Brewing operated in North Idaho for 23 years.