Exciting Brewery-to-Be Needs $200K to Make It Rain Beer Over Ballard

Fair Isle Brewing, planning to bring farmhouse ales to Ballard in summer 2019 with the help of Austin’s respected Jester King Brewery, is hoping to raise a minimum of $200,000 in the next two months via Nextseed. The money will help Fair Isle with costs related to “production equipment, build out for the brewery and tasting room, working capital and a contingency buffer.”

Nextseed is different from other crowdfunding sites in that it pays investors a portion of the company’s gross revenue until the investors earn 1.5 times their original investment. Investors also receive some of the perks that usually go along with crowdfunding projects: vouchers for bottles of beer, preview party invitations, various swag.

With the launch of the campaign, Fair Isle has also released new details about its forthcoming brewery. It will be located at 936 NW 49th St., near Lucky Envelope and Populuxe brewing companies. When it opens, hopefully in June 2019, Fair Isle’s brewpub will have 100 seats, split evenly between indoor and outdoor spaces. It will also host monthly beer pairing pop-up dinners with local chefs.

Fair Isle [Official]

As for the beer, Fair Isle co-founders Andrew Pogue and Geoffrey Barker will use local ingredients, including wild-harvested plants.

“Our philosophy revolves around creating beers that are of a moment and of a place. We are leveraging all of the resources available to us in the Pacific Northwest, the ambient yeast, the local fruits, grains and seasonal changes and then pulling that all together to create a beer that truly shows our intent and reflects our local neck of the woods,” Barker says.

Fair Isle was originally announced back in 2016, with initial plans to open this year. The involvement of farmhouse beer expert Jester King, who “will assist Fair Isle with guidance on operations, best practices developed at its Austin brewery and tasting room, and creative ideas for how Fair Isle can tap into its local surroundings,” according to the Nextseed description, really bumps up the excitement level for this one.

• Fair Isle Brewing [Official]
• Fair Isle Brewing [Facebook]
• All Coverage of Fair Isle [ESEA]
• Anticipated Farmhouse Brewery Finds a Home in Ballard [ESEA]
• Austin’s Famed Jester King Brewery to Help Seattle Homebrewers Go Pro [ESEA]
• Fair Isle Brewing [Nextseed]