Cushwa Brewing Co. in Williamsport

In this episode of the UnCapped podcast, host Chris Sands talks with Garrett Chambers, Marcus Thomas and Scott Coleman, the three founders of Cushwa Brewing Co., who gave details on the new taproom they’ll be opening in Columbia. They also discuss nonalcoholic beers and the ever-changing craft beer market. Here is an excerpt of their talk.

UnCapped: I’m in Williamsport today with the trio of gentlemen from Cushwa Brewing. This has become an annual check-in with you guys, every year around your anniversary ... and you guys have some exciting news.

Garrett Chambers: We are actually expanding. We’re gonna be opening Cushwa Rad Pies Taproom, in Columbia, hopefully sometime this summer.

UnCapped: Where at in Columbia?

Scott Coleman: Dobbin Road.

UnCapped: I don’t know where that is. If I didn’t have GPS, I couldn’t navigate Columbia. I think every time I’ve gone there, it’s from a different direction, so I have no concept of what exit takes you where and how to get to what. So, just put it into your GPS and find them whenever they open.

Chambers: I’ve driven there five times, and I’ve GPSed every single one. I couldn’t get there on my own right now if you paid me.

UnCapped: [Opening a location there] is, I would guess, strategically very wise. Columbia is almost another state, the way Maryland works.

Coleman: Well, that’s how people treat us here: We’re west of Frederick, so why would anybody go there?

UnCapped: You have to crest that slight mountain.

Chambers: Yeah, once you cross the mountain, all bets are off.

UnCapped: And I assume that was the motivation.

Chambers: Yeah, we wanted it to be far enough away that it doesn’t cannibalize business here but close enough that we could manage it ourselves and make sure things are going the way we want them to. ... Logistically, it’s managing, delivering kegs, having employees go from here to there if we need to. From here to the spot in Columbia is just over an hour.

UnCapped: What’s funny is this is kind of one of the worst-kept secrets in the beer-nerd community. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this posted a few times.

Chambers: I’m glad people are pumped. It’s super cool that people are excited about it. We have to publicly announce that we’re applying for a liquor license, and I think somebody found that on the door, and that’s how all the talk started.

UnCapped: You’ll be serving beer in your taproom, but will it be a fullfledged bar?

Coleman: Yeah. The focus is always gonna be on the beer, but we’ll have a pretty nice cocktail list as well.

UnCapped: And Cushwa wouldn’t be Cushwa without having Rad Pies, so you’ll also be replicating that?

Chambers: Yeah, the idea is to take what we have here, pick it up, and put the same concept down there — the difference being it won’t have exactly the same feel. Aesthetically, it will be different.

UnCapped: No Goodloe murals?

Chambers: That’s not off the table. We definitely want some big art pieces. Maybe change up the colors. We’ve got some concepts now that we’re working through.

Coleman: A lot more comfortable than here. There are two rooms there that have different themes. We have a room for private events. Rad Pies will have a kitchen that’s twice the size that it is here, so they intend to do some different things — sandwiches and, I believe, some New York-style pizza.

UnCapped: So, Rad Pies is gonna be much larger there, and you won’t be brewing there, correct?

Chambers: Correct. We have a lot of existing capacity [for brewing in Williamsport], but we also have a lot of room to grow.

Coleman: We are gonna have more taps down there — 44, or something like that. We wanna have options and do some things that we aren’t doing yet, like nitro. We might bring some cask beer. A lot of cool things from back in the day.

UnCapped: I don’t understand the fascination with cask beer.

Coleman: I don’t know that there is a fascination with cask beer.

UnCapped: Well, people who like it really like it.

Chambers: That’s me. I love it.

UnCapped: You like warm beer?

Chambers: Sure.

This excerpt has been edited for space and clarity. Listen to the full podcast at fnppodcasts.com/ uncapped. Got UnCapped news? Email csands@newspost.com.