Local breweries Axis Meads, Percival Creek highlight products at 507 Taproom’s Brew Fest

The second annual Brew Fest, hosted by the 507 Taproom and Filling Station in Yelm, brought in some of the region’s finest breweries — including Lacey’s Axis Meads and Olympia’s South Puget Sound Community College’s (SPSCC) Percival Creek.

The two local businesses were two of 30 breweries attending the second annual Brew Fest, and Tim Ralston, with SPSCC’s Percival Creek, and Dave Ross, with Axis Meads, each told the Nisqually Valley News on Saturday, June 27, that they were thankful for the opportunity to set up a booth at the event.

According to Ralston, the brewery program at SPSCC brings in around 20 students between one to two cohorts each year. He noted that’s the maximum the program can handle, as instructors want to have one-on-one student-teacher relationships readily available.

“We’re out here promoting college beers,” Ralston said. “Basically. SPSCC’s Percival Creek is our LLC. We offer a two year program for an associates degree in either brewing, cider or distilling,” Ralston said. “We started the program back in 2019. We got the building up and running in 2020. It’s a good two year program. You can get your associates degree out of it.”

According to Ralston, the course starts out in the first year with students learning about the basics of brewing. He said they’re studying barley, water, yeast and hops — learning all the basics.

“You’re learning a bunch of botanicals,” Ralston said. “In the second year, you pick your pathway, whether it’s on the cider, brewing or distilling side.”

He added, at that point, research development begins on the type of beer or spirit that each student wants to create and craft as their own product.

“Depeinding on how it’s made and if it’s good, we do a blind taste at the end of the program,” Ralston said. “Whoever wins the blind taste test, their cider, spirit or beer gets put into big production.”

At the second annual 507 Taproom and Filling Station Brew Fest event, SPSCC’s Percival Creek presented three different beverages, including a dry cider, a blueberry lemon refreshment and a bohemian pilsner. Ralston noted the drinks are made through student-led production.

The community college will present an information session on Thursday, Aug. 20, for those interested in the brewing program.

Ross, with Axis Meads, said his business is located on the Hawks Prairie side of Lacey on Willamette Drive. He originally started out as a home brewer before opening up a location on the west-side of Olympia, where he made mead out of a tavern.

“We’ve been in business for about eight years now,” Ross said. “We’re up in the Hawks Prairie area of Lacey. We’ve got a pretty extensive selection of meads that we make. Our tap room is open on Saturdays.”

He told the Nisqually Valley News at Brew Fest that making mead requires patience more than anything else. He described the creation of mead as being a basic process.

“I use one of two honeys — either clover blossom or wild flower,” Ross said. “I make the same mead every time. All the flavoring I do is post fermentation, when it’s ready to go into bottles or when we send it to a retailer.”

He noted that Axis Mead features a traditional mead, which is created with clover blossoms, and a wide variety of different flavors. The most popular version of the mead, according to Ross, is the local breweries blackberry and raspberry.

“I tend to experiment more with draft products, like all three of the products we’re carrying today for the festival are more experimental,” Ross said. “They aren’t available in bottles.”