The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

If all goes well, River Mile 38 Brewing Co. customers could be sipping craft beer and cider at their new building on the waterfront some time next year.

River Mile 38 owners Rex Czuba and Javier Sanchez moved forward with plans when they recently signed a lease with Port District No. 1 of Wahkiakum County for the new space.

“We are working with the county and the state to get the shoreline permit and all that stuff going,” Czuba said on Sunday. “The goal is to build a space that gives us a little more room for the summer crowd but keep it small enough that we have a nice cozy environment for the winter months when we don’t have all the tourists in. A lot of the building will be focused on outdoor seating and taking advantage of the views.”

Czuba and Sanchez are planning to build the structure out of shipping containers for a few reasons. One, it will have less of an environmental impact. They will be reused from old shipping containers and can be built off the ground, unaffected by possible flooding. Secondly, shipping containers go along with a port theme.

They have tentative designs, but they are still awaiting feedback from the state and county.

“I think there is a lot of opportunity to take advantage of that awesome resource we have down there at the waterfront,” Czuba said. “The port has been great, they have been very supportive of making that a welcoming spot for everybody. We think it will be a great opportunity to give the community and tourists a spot to sit on the river.”

Czuba expects the permitting process to take another 3-6 months, and when the rains end, the building can commence, hopefully with local contractors.

“We think it will be a nice addition to the community,” Czuba said. “We’re excited.”

The pair are also excited about their new Beer with Benefits program.

Each month the brewery will feature a different beer, donating $.50 from each pint of that beer sold to a local charity, selected by staff.

“This month we started out with our Freedom Fighter beer which we launched for Veterans Day last year and so our first charity this month is the Semper Fi Fund,” Czuba said.

“We have had a lot of great support from people in the community and one of the things we really wanted to do was to make sure we were giving back to the community in the best way we could,” Czuba said.

“We let the team pick which charities are important to them,” Sanchez added. “They are all local community members, so they know which charities are important to the community.”

“You not only get to drink and enjoy a good beer but you also get to give back to the community yourself,” Czuba said.