If you haven’t been keeping track, there will soon be eight breweries in Redmond. Yes, you read that correctly — eight.

Wild Ride Brewing, Smith Rock Brewing, Cascade Lakes Brewing, Kobold Brewing, Silver Moon Brewing, Geist Beerworks, Porter Brewing and, later this year, Initiative Brewing.

Initiative is the latest entrance to the Redmond beer scene — but you might not have heard much, if anything, about it yet. And that’s because the new owners are busy getting their building, beer and food menus ready.

The brewery plans to be open by December for the holiday season at 424 NW 5th Street. Initially the site of Juniper Bank, the building has also been occupied by the Department of Motor Vehicles and by a compounding pharmacy.

But back to the first statement. Eight breweries?

Is the Redmond beer/pub scene big enough for each to survive?

Or are they all simply riding the brewing craze, looking down the investment road in anticipation of being absorbed by a huge company like Anheuser-Busch InBev (which owns Budweiser, Corona and many others)?

I recently put that question to Initiative Brewing’s President and Chief Financial Officer Ryan Churchill. “There’s a local finance officer that we talk to, and he said that we look at breweries as an industry that cannot fail,” Churchill responded.

Cannot fail. When is the last time you heard that kind of exuberance? (I’m sure our eight breweries wouldn’t want you to reference the dot-com bubble and crash, an historic period of excessive speculation that occurred roughly from 1995 to 2000.)

Ryan Churchill was about five years old in 1995.

With a degree in economics and math from the University of Oregon and a former financial advisor with Waddell & Reed, he sees nothing but upside potential.

“We looked at breweries all across the state,” said the energetic Churchill. “Some are making some pretty awful beer and they’re growing at an exponential rate.”

Churchill’s co-owner, co-president, and brewmaster has a degree in fermentation science from Oregon State University. Requesting anonymity for the time being, his credibility in the Central Oregon brewing scene is what gives Churchill confidence about carving-out their niche.

“We know that our brewer’s fermentation skills are already enough to penetrate an already-saturated market,” Churchill said.

There is an advantage to being the eighth brewery on the scene. You can study your competition and fill-in the perceived gaps.

Since beginning planning in 2016, Initiative has studied the Central Oregon market and, interestingly, first considered Madras as their target location.

“We initially considered establishing our brewery in Madras but ultimately felt that Redmond was a better location for our one-stop shopping experience — good beer, good food, table-side service and kid-friendly,” Churchill said. So Initiative settled on that market strategy. “We didn’t think that anywhere in Redmond was offering all of those things under one roof.”

Initiative is bullish about its brewing recipes.

“We’re going to have all the traditional beers like an IPA, a double IPA, a winter ale, a stout,” Churchill said. “But we know, because of our brewer’s recipe development, that our beers are going to be akin to some of the better selling beers out there — like Sticky Hands (Block 15 Brewing) or Boneyard (Boneyard Beer Company).”

There will also be lagers.

“We have a rye lager, a smoked lager and a honey lager. These are unique beers that you probably won’t be able to find anywhere else,” Churchill said.

Food-wise, Initiative owners came up with a creative alternative to the fact that, architecturally-wise, their building won’t have a kitchen — and they didn’t want to have the often-seen independent food trucks on their property. The solution — a “mobile kitchen.”

Different that a traditional food truck where customers order and pick up their own food, Initiative’s “kitchen on wheels” will be adjacent to their building but customers won’t have to order and serve themselves. An in-house chef and wait staff will ensure that the customer has a relaxing and stress-free experience.

Churchill believes their cuisine will be unique.

“We looked at what Redmond has to offer and tried to fill the gap, ethnic fusion is the best way to describe our menu,” he said. “We’re also pretty proud of the fact that you can get pretty much anything on our menu gluten-free.”

Initiative’s web site lists dishes such as Grilled Chicken Banh Mi, a Grandmaster Swine Burger and a Meatloaf Gyro.

Passion for the industry is clearly evident with the two owners. Starting any business, however, especially one in a crowded marketplace takes funding.

Relying on Churchill’s background in finance, the company is securing financing through a combination of personal owner assets and “membership agreements.”

“We are selling portions of the company to people (members) who want to own a brewery,” Churchill said. “Some of the people simply believe in the owners, others believe that breweries are money-making machines.”

Initiative currently has about 14 members.

“We were able to raise a substantial portion of our funding through memberships — and we plan to sell more, we’re still looking for people who are passionate about the industry and are looking for an opportunity,” Churchill said.

Again, passion for the mission is important but Churchill also understands why people are investing in Initiative. “Ultimately, the members will be entitled to dividends based on company profits.”

Initiative’s location just north of downtown will provide the on-street visibility enjoyed by Wild Ride farther south on NW 5th Street. And Initiative has extensive plans for the remodel of the building, set to begin later this month.

The location was also a significant factor in Initiative’s business plan. Incentives provided by the city of Redmond were a motivating factor.

“The location is within the urban renewal downtown zone so that was a real motivating factor for us,” Churchill said.

Look for remodeling to start on Initiative’s building soon. Juniper Bank’s drive-through will be eliminated. The patio area will encompass about 3,200 square feet and will include a performance stage and fire pit. An Astroturf-type play area is also being considered as well as a drop-down screen for outdoor movie nights.

Long-term planning-wise, Initiative is not going to have a bottling and can operation.

“Initially we’re going to be 100 percent keg distribution to places like Growler Guys, growler fill stations and in-house sales. We really want to focus on the in-house customer experience,” Churchill said.

However, with anticipated success, Churchill sees expansion.

“Long term goal is to keep this place as the brew pub and to open a production facility on the outskirts of Redmond,” he said.

And unlike many craft breweries, Initiative wants to control every aspect of their business — including distribution around the country.

“Distribution-wise we’d like to self-distribute which is unique to the industry,” Churchill said. “As demand grows, that’s when we can start employing people.”

— Reporter: 541-548-2185, bmintiens@redmondspokesman.com