Crumble Roots

Then there were two…

Two walls left standing that is. If you’ve driven by 314 Wendell Avenue recently then you’ve seen a bunch of hustle and bustle as we wrap up the demolition phase of building a brewery.

This summer has been a whirlwind of activity for Humble Roots Beer Project. At the time of writing this, we are 99% wrapped up with demolishing the portions of the existing building that needed to come down. What is left standing is the two original walls, and a small portion of the concrete slab that lives inside those walls. The two walls left standing are the original walls of the building that were poured when the facility was brand new, way back in the early 50’s. The rest of the building had been piecemealed together throughout the years– some of which was done very hastily, judging by the state of them before we pushed them over…terrifyingly easily.

There is no telling what stories those walls hold. Those two walls have seen every major change that has come to Fairbanks since literal statehood. Acting as a steward of historical Downtown Fairbanks, bridging the gap between past and present, they soon will encapsulate a warm and inviting taproom of which many future memories will be made. 

Time seems to move in slow motion when you’re taking a building down to basically nothing. From the outside, it seems as though we’ve been moving at a snail's pace. Inside the trenches however (sometimes literally in the trenches), things have been blasting along! This summer we completed a lot of massive goals including securing our Beverage Dispensary License (Liquor License) that will allow us to operate as a Brewpub and sell our friends beers along with our own, removed 7,000 square feet of roof by hand with just three guys, removed all old plumbing connections to the building, removed old concrete slab work, and prepped the ground for construction in the spring of 2022.

We’ve learned a lot about our little chunk of land this summer. We’ve unearthed various soda cans, flyers, and surprising building decisions throughout the demolition. We’ve also learned a lot about our goals and ambitions, and kept our mission at the forefront of our minds throughout the process. Downtown is important to us, and we hope to be important to Downtown.

As we wrap up in the last few weeks of construction season 2021, we are extremely excited to delve deeper into designing our new building. We will use the winter time to plot, plan, and delegate out specifics of the construction plan and we are eager to share those details as they progress! It’s time for a beer.