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hyperlocal ingredients - oak fermented - 100% Native Yeast

Located in the beautiful Skagit Valley in Northwest Washington, with its uniquely fertile soils and cool, temperate climate, Garden Path Fermentation is one of very few producers in the world that’s able to make beer, wine, cider, and mead, all using ingredients sourced from our own backyard, and may be the only one to do so using only native yeast fermentation.
 
 In addition to the products that we make in-house, our onsite tasting room and bottle shop also features beer, wine, cider, mead, and other fermented beverages from small, independent, philosophically-aligned producers from around the world, including many that cannot be found anywhere else in the region.
 
Our own production process draws on old-world brewing and winemaking techniques from a variety of traditions, which we reinterpret and adapt to take advantage of our abundant local resources, including Skagit-grown and locally-malted grain, Skagit-grown fruit, much of which we tend to ourselves, locally-cultivated honey, and organic hops from our friends’ nearby farm. Fermentation takes places in oak barrels of varying sizes, including a large, open-top foudre, and each unique batch is a singular expression of time and place that we can never recreate.
 
A garden path is a beautiful way to get somewhere you may not have expected to go. Our products–the results of careful selection, blending, aging and curation–will take you on what may be an unanticipated journey that we hope you enjoy!

Amber Watts & Ron Extract

Co-creators & Chiefs

Ron Extract and Amber Watts moved to Washington from Jester King Brewery in Austin, Texas where Ron was a managing partner and Amber had a job with so many roles she could never quite figure out her title. Before Austin, Ron had spent close to twenty years in the industry as an importer, retailer, distributor, and brewer, and had studied brewing at Siebel. Amber was a media studies professor. They came to Washington in 2016 to build Garden Path Fermentation.

Katie Cochrane

Head of Fermentation

Tim Switzer

Operations Manager

Stephanie Fulmer

Front of House Manager

Chris Carley

Business Manager

Lina Luu

Front of House / Resident Woodworker / Zealot

Banjo & Brigid

Dogs

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