We first shared our story about “local brewer made good” Derek Wyckoff and his Mount Vernon tap room, 192 Brewing Co., back in May of last year. We had recently installed Derek’s pole sign and were looking forward to his planned expansions, which included a spacious indoor dining area and an on-site brewery (he currently brews his amazing fermented grain beverages at his original location and at his brew pub in Kenmore, Washington).

Like others in the restaurant and hospitality business, Derek has been hit hard by the social distancing guidelines issued in response to the coronavirus pandemic — but like others as well, he has found ways to adapt that at least enable him to keep the lights on, the kitchen operating, and the beer brewing. And if you’ve ever had the pleasure of quaffing a 192 Brewing Co. beer, you know that the latter achievement is something to be grateful for.

We caught up with Derek by phone today to see how he’s managing through this…dare we say it…”unprecedented” time. And for Derek, like our other local business customers, a term that might otherwise have been in the realm of hyperbole has now taken on a new and profound meeting as “the new normal.” 

In this “Corona Moment with Derek Wyckoff” we offer this dispatch from the pandemic front lines of Skagit Valley businesses, starting with the most open-ended question we can think of…

How’s It Going? 

“We’re still handling a trickle of business down at our Kenmore location. We are located right along the Lake Trail and we have a lot of regular customers. After having been here for almost eight years now, they’re providing a decent amount of support. I’m running that operation solo four days a week, and then I have someone helping me in the kitchen three days a week — which is keeping the brew pub open.”

“At our Kenmore location we have an outdoor bar, known as the “fair weather bar,” and we’ve just transitioned to handling all of our transactions outside. People can call us and we can do curbside business for them if they are more comfortable with that — but quite honestly, the bikers and the joggers and the dog walkers maintain their own social distance and observe common courtesy. In the meantime, I’m going through a lot of bleach. My hands are in bad shape at this point. I’ve got cracks everywhere and I’m using a lot of lotion to try to keep my skin on. We are constantly disinfecting everything. We’ve had the liquor board and the health department in to check on our location, and they’ve all given us the thumbs up for best practices and told us to keep up the good work.”

The Mount Vernon Location

“Our Mount Vernon tap room is in a much smaller community, so we’ve done what we can to at least keep the brand name alive and try to quell any rumors of business closings. We stay open for limited hours on Friday and Saturday for keg sales, growler fills, and food to go. Fridays we operate from 3 – 7pm and on Saturdays from 1 to 6:00pm.” 

“Our menu has been altered to whatever is left in the kitchen. There won’t be any replenishing at this point — it just doesn’t make sense. But we have plenty of stuff on the shelves to get us through what would have been two normal weeks of business and is now about two months of very slow business. Give us a call and we’ll let you know what we can put together for you.”

What’s Keeping You Awake at Night?

“Nothing is keeping me awake — I bring a growler of beer home every night. There is nothing that I can control. We’ve applied for all the financial assistance that has been made available and have so far received none, but I think that is a common story — at least in the brewing industry. Out of four hundred breweries in Washington I only know of one that has received anything, and that was just a $10,000 grant. We’re all in this together, so there’s no sense in losing sleep over it.”

Are There Any Silver Linings?

“From a selfish perspective I’m looking forward to maybe having a little bit better leverage on negotiating lease rates in the future, since there’s obviously going to be an abundance of retail space available on the other side of this — so things may be a bit more affordable in the long run. And being one of the brew pubs that hopefully manages to come out of this, having the strength of team that has lived through it is like doing an opening or a big project together: once you’ve weathered the storm there is a certain strength in your team — a renewed respect for each other.”

How Are Your Employees Faring?

“In Mount Vernon I’ve got one employee working four hours on Friday and another working six hours on Saturday. Down here in Kenmore I’ve got my other guy in the kitchen racking up about 12 hours a week out of what would have otherwise have been a crew of 20 — at least 12 of whom would have been full time. One of them has received unemployment so far, and I’ve received requests to approve unemployment for another eight. We’ve told our payroll company to stop bothering with requests and just approve them, but as far as I know our employees are having very little success navigating the “standby process” which they’ve been encouraged to use, and nobody has received the extra $600 a week — which you have to be on unemployment to receive. They have, however, received their $1,200 stimulus checks as far as I know.”

Any Words of Inspiration?

“Just take this thing seriously — and if the governor wants to shut down I figure his full-time job right now is to try and gather good information and make good decisions based on that. I’m working seven days a week trying to keep my operation going, so I’ve got to assume that the guy whose job it is to be looking out for all of us is using the best resources he has available. As for the guidelines…for God’s sake, let’s just get through this together as fast as we can.”

What Would You Like To Tell People?

“BYOG: Bring your own growler. As we’ve learned at our Kenmore location, with our growler rules we can fill any sealed container that you provide, so if you don’t have a growler you can bring us a canning jar and we can fill it. We’re going to run out of growlers this weekend, bring what you’ve got as long as it can be sealed.”

 I have to confess that I’m pretty stoked to learn that the 192 Brewing Co. tap room in Mount Vernon is filling on demand growlers. Since my recent birthday six pack of Elysian Brewing “Space Dust” is about to run out, the timing couldn’t be better.

I should mention in closing that I asked Derek if he would like me to run this story past him before publishing it. “Just let it fly — I’m too busy to read it anyway,” was his reply. I told him I’d do right by him, and I can’t think of a better way than by sharing his story…and picking up a growler of beer this Friday. I plan to drink a toast to Derek Wyckoff, 192 Brewing Co., and all the local businesses in our Magic Skagit that are gamely facing what for many will be the greatest challenge of their lives.

Cheers!