She's Tickled Pink


100 hours of work a week trickles down to 60 for brewery owner


Penny Pink
Portneuf Valley Brewing, owned by Penny Pink, helped revive a blighted part of Pocatello.
Article and Photo by Mark Mendiola

 
Calling herself "a recovering workaholic," Penny Pink has capitalized on her experience in microbiology and analytic chemistry at the Idaho National Laboratory to run one of Idaho's most successful microbreweries and Pocatello's only brew pub with a restaurant.

Since 1996, Pink has been operating Portneuf Valley Brewing, now selling an estimated 15,500 gallons of beer a year or the equivalent of 500 barrels annually. Its modern stainless steel tanks have the capacity of brewing 1,000 to 1,500 barrels a year.

Pink earned a master's degree in hazardous waste management from Idaho State University, which she applied when she was employed as a scientist at the INL site.

"I socked everything I made at the site to keep the business," the former five-year Pocatello City Council member said.

Pink guesses she worked seven days a week for eight years, clocking 80 to 100 hours a week, to ensure Portneuf Brewing survived as a business.

"I've weaned it down to 60 hours a week," she remarked. "It's all gone very well according to my original vision. I'm now trying to figure out what I'm going to do when I grow up."

Portneuf Valley Brewing operated in conjunction with Dudley's Sports Bar & Grill in an old federal building in downtown Pocatello for about six years. In 2002, it moved into a 9,000-square-foot old structure where a brewery operated 50 years ago.

Pink hopes locating it there has proven to be the catalyst in reviving the warehouse district on South First Avenue not far from Union Pacific Railroad tracks.

"This entire district was blighted and decaying," she said.

A block to the south of the Gate City's microbrewery stands Don Aslett's impressive $3 million Museum of Clean, which recently opened. A block to the north is the Idaho Foodbank's regional warehouse, which was extensively renovated and expanded a few years ago. Continental Fuel's main office also is in the same vicinity.

Portneuf Valley Brewing's proximity to the ISU campus has been a boon to its bottom line. ISU faculty members and students are among the hundreds of customers patronizing it each week. In addition to a variety of ales and lagers, food also is served there. Live music is featured four nights a week.

Pink has established a $1,000 annual music scholarship at ISU in the name of her husband, Bob Pink, who has been very supportive of the risky business venture, which some felt was "trying to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse." Their sons Jeremias and Cody, who are nearly 30, grew up in the business and also have been actively engaged in it.

Portneuf Valley Brewing operates with a beer and wine license, but it also serves sarsaparilla, which is a popular drink for teetotalers.

"One of the things I love about the business is the incredible cross section of those who come here," Pink said. "Someone in a business suit could be sitting next to someone with dreadlocks and tattoos. That's one of the best compliments. One of the things I love is children are comfortable coming with their parents. All enjoy it. All feel at home."

The brew pub's reputation for quality beers - with a variety of flavors and colors - and its full lunch, dinner and catering menu have helped drive its success. Two batches of beer routinely are brewed there each day, but three barrels of beer can be brewed at a time.

"Pocatello is not exactly a tourist mecca," Pink observed, but customers have come from Europe, Australia, Asia, Canada, Mexico and all over the United States to visit her microbrewery and indulge in the beverages based on word of mouth.

"It's been a grand adventure. I was pretty confident, but the bank wasn't so sure. Bankers told me no, it's not going to work," Pink said. "It took a lot of persistence and hard work to make it happen.... It's very capital intensive and fairly labor intensive, as well."

Pink's 10-year business plan was divided into five phases, including major renovation of the old brewery building, which required removing and replacing floors and doing other structural upgrades. Installing a beer garden on the roof would conclude the fifth phase.

Pink praised U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, for co-sponsoring legislation to cut the beer excise tax in half for the nation's more than 1,600 small breweries, which employ nearly 100,000 people. Portneuf Valley Brewing has about 20 people on its payroll.

"By cutting taxes, that frees up revenue, most of which goes into equipment and people," Pink said. "The more you put into production, obviously the more you put into investments. It puts people to work."

The future looks good for the U.S. brewery industry, which is holding up under economic pressures and continues to enjoy strong, steady growth, Pink said. "It's a solid niche that is here to stay."