Brothers brew success by the keg
<p>Mick Duff's Brewing Co. owners, from left, Mickey and Duffy Mahoney, have doubled down on their investment downtown, now operating two locations with even more growth plans in the works. (Photo by DAVID GUNTER).</p>
SANDPOINT — Quick, what local business has just doubled its downtown locations, tripled its square footage and plans to nearly quadruple production over the next year?
The answer might surprise you. This summer, Mick Duff's Brewing Co. put all of the above into motion as part of a growth plan that taps hometown fervor for its micro-brewed beers and uses it as a springboard into new, regional markets.
Brothers Mickey and Duffy Mahoney opened their Mick Duff's brewpub on First Avenue right around St. Patrick's Day of 2006. Both had home-brewed in the Seattle area and Mickey went on to apprentice with master brewer Matt Stromberg at the Scuttlebutt Brewery in Everett, Wash., before the two made their move to Sandpoint.
Once here, “everything fell together,” according to Duffy, who said both a downtown building and the brewing equipment became available at the right price and precisely the right time. Laughing Dog Brewery had opened up just a few months earlier and was quickly on its way to an explosive increase in both beer production and national acclaim. The Mahoneys, meanwhile, began with baby steps and a business model that balanced a family friendly restaurant with an on-site, 500-square-foot brewery.
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