*Passing thru Gorst the first time, I laughed at myself, thinking this was an excessively long way to travel for a hot dog on a Tuesday. Not that absurd, I suppose. I’ve driven further for weirder. This was just over thirty minutes drive time, one way, depending on traffic. Worth it, I thought, since the locally renowned wiener slingers at Harbor Haute Dogs had just confirmed the rumors were true that they would be selling their food truck and shutting down their restaurant space in Port Orchard.
TODAY WOULD BE THEIR LAST DAY OF service at the Town Square Mall in Port Orchard, open for extended hours until 7 p.m. Since it was just after lunch hour but still early in the afternoon on a week day, I figured most people would probably thus be at work, and I might be able to miss the crowds, grab one last high class hot dog at the mall, thank the purveyors for their fine work over the years and maybe get in a few burning questions I had about hot dog economics…
At 1:03 p.m., the line stretched out the doors, halfway down the hall to the stairwell in the middle of the mall. It was looking to be a long wait, on top of the already excessively long drive. Perhaps if I’d been equipped with the proper tailgating supplies, and didn’t have much to do with the entire afternoon, I would’ve waited it out.
I walked back to the parking lot and walk past a guy in the sea of parked cars who says he’d waited an hour and a half for his dog. Dang. Realizing I’ve likely missed my last chance ever for a Harbor Haute Dog and might never know the full reason why they had to close, I laid the hard-hitting question on this guy: ‘Where are we gonna do for hot dogs now?’ I wonder aloud. He looks at me seriously, leans in quietly almost like a drug deal, says to keep a look out for his food truck coming to this parking lot soon and stamps out his cigarette on the asphalt. I ponder that as we part ways. Looking around, I see two Mexican restaurants, one at either end of the mall parking lot, and an Arby’s on the corner where the A&W Drive-In should be. But no other options for a sausage on a roll covered in creative condiments. Then, it hit me. A new hot-dog-slash-lobster-roll cafe had opened not-too-long-ago in Bremerton’s Charleston neighborhood. What’s another 20-minute drive, I thought…
•••
Passing thru Gorst the second time around on this now-even-more-excessively long drive for a hot dog, I remembered that Deep Draft Brewing recently celebrated their 7th anniversary with ‘Seven Rye Beers for Seven Years.’ Which brought to mind a few other hard-hitting curveball questions about the current economics of the craft beer world…
The algorithms and headline news have not been looking good: High-profile and beloved breweries shuttered. Brand consolidations. Bankruptcies. I’d tapped in late to the annual end year-end report from the National Brewers’ Association which detailed another year of decline, 5% drop in production industry-wide in 2025, the second year in a row where the number of breweries closing has outpaced the number of those opening.
All of which was contrasted in the report by a more than 100% jump in non-alcoholic beverage production across craft brewery production and a continued emphasis on a brewery’s need to focus on promoting the ‘story’ of its brand and function as a third space for a greater community as opposed to just a place to sit around and drink beer. Despite the downtown and economic uncertainties, nearly 10,000 small, craft, independent breweries are noted in operation across the country in the report. Washington has perennially ranked one of the top-five breweries-per-state in the nation. There are still more than a dozen breweries currently in operation along the 48 mile stretch of highway between the Tacoma Narrows and Hood Canal bridges alone. Lost in that thought, I duck into brewery tucked behind the historic tavern in Gorst and arrive to find that not nearly as many people were lined up to drink rye beers for lunch.
Rye, a well-known grain in bread, is characterized by robust flavor and spice notes in beer. Sounds kind of like a hot dog in a glass. Rye was historically a beermaking ingredient before the beer purity laws in the 1500s. The style was revived by home, craft and niche brewers over the past few decades during the craft beer boom and developed some cult following. But it’s a notoriously love-it-or-hate-it style. And I love that these guys were bold enough to brew seven of them. That might be the exact opposite of what you’d think craft brewing economics would tell you to do. But somehow, it’s absolutely perfect.
Midway between the Pale RyeWheat Lager and the Roggenbock, I was starting to forget about hot dogs and the economy when the brewery’s owner/brewer/boss lady/former-battleship-captain/badass Linda Sweet comes into the taproom looking like she is midway through a list of a million things she needs to get done today. We high-five to Seven Years and I cut straight to the chase: ‘What’s the deal with all the rye beers?’ I ask.
“Didn’t they give you the thing?” Linda tries to refer me to the pamphlet they’ve put together that explains the ingredients and tasting notes for each of the seven beers. But I’m not letting her off the hook that easy. I wanna know, in an economy like this, amidst the perilous state of the craft beer industry and shrinking economic forecast–not to mention with the beloved hot dog shop closing its doors down the road–where did they find the audacity to brew seven different types of this niche, not-your-typical-top-seller style…
“Well, because we like brewing with rye,” she puts it bluntly. “A lot of people seem to think ‘Eh, I don’t like rye beers’ but I challenge you to have this flight and not find at least one that you like.” // BILL MAN
YOU CAN FIND MORE DEEP DRAFT at their taproom in Gorst or online at deepdraftbrewing.com. FIND MORE HOT DOGS at the Wigwam Pub adjacent to the brewery, lobster rolls and hot dogs at Lobster Dogs in Bremerton and Hawaiian Hot Dog Musubi at Cafe Kai in Manette
