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Early in the 21st century, a vision was born. A dream to unite the land of brews, bring harmony to all who pledged their strength… and make some damn good beer. They who had the vision started the journey and thus began the story… nay… the legend of Bombastic Brewing. The sections that follow chronicle the epic of our glorious team, that create our brews for thee.
Founders History
2016
Bombastic Brewing began in 2016. Inspired by the scale of Sierra Nevada, the “gypsy” model of Mikkeller, the business model of early Sam Adams, and the opportunity to make a positive impact in the world through craft beer, Russell Mann sold his retail beer business and set out to create an interesting craft brewery, built in a different model: Partner Brewing.
He took on two co-founders, and being thwarted from Partner Brewing by Johnny Law, Bombastic pivoted and started brewing on a 30, then 50 gallon system in a garage-style facility by the airport. Bombastic would roll open the big garage doors every Saturday to welcome the brave craft beer enthusiasts who showed up and had a great time, buying out every release.
2019
The original strategy for Bombastic Brewing was always Partner Brewing, but when we started the business, our state quickly told us we couldn’t do it that way.
To work on this problem, Russell joined the brewer’s guild, Idaho Brewers United, and the legislative committee. Following years of effort, and impassioned testimony by Russell delivered to the Idaho House of Representatives, our Partner Brewing model was legalized.
The law took effect July 1st, 2019, and that very day we had our first batch delivered from our first brewing partner, Sawtooth. At this point Bombastic was entirely self-distributed to accounts, stores, bars, restaurants, and bottle shops.
2020
In 2020 Bombastic formed our first distribution partnership, with Golden Beverage in Utah. That partnership remains strong, and since then Bombastic has partnered with distributors in Idaho, Montana, and Washington. Through distribution, Bombastic Brewing is able to spread the love of craft beer to more people in more places.
2022
In 2022, at the North American Beer Awards, the commitment to quality craft beer was rewarded with three medals. Our 5th Anniversary Barrel Aged Blend took gold, our Stubbornness Barleywine took silver, and our Murder Mexican Chocolate Cake Stout took bronze. We’re glad to see craft beer enthusiasts and professional beer judges alike embracing our beer.
2023
Two of the three original founders have moved on to other endeavors, and Russell continues to carry Bombastic Brewing forward as a family business. His wife Sarah, son Isaac, and mother-in-law Carole joined him to grow the business. In October, Bombastic added Nevada distribution. With a new team, strong recipes, a great brand and love for craft beer, the future looks bright.
2024
In 2024 Bombastic made the milestone step of brewing with a Partner Brewery outside of Idaho. Lewis & Clark Brewing in Helena Montana produced Bombastic’s first non-Idaho beer, specifically the Montana version of Shiver Stout, using all Montana ingredients, including coffee from Montana Coffee Traders. Furthermore, this was the first Bombastic beer packaged in a shorty.
In August, Bombastic added Oregon distribution with a wonderful distribution partner, Day One out of Portland. Bombastic comes to Oregon through quarterly special order drops, so see the Oregon page for more info.
The winds of craft beer blew fierce in 2024, and Bombastic’s primary brewing Partner decided to become more like us, having their beer brewed with another partner! This nudged Bombastic to open up new relationships with more brewing partners, allowing Bombastic to provide more beer in more places than ever before.
Partner Brewing?
We get a lot of questions about how we make beer with our Partner Brewing model. If you have a question we haven’t covered here, we’d love to hear from you.
Why Partner Brewing?
Bombastic founder Russell Mann spent a decade in craft beer retail with a business that grew to encompass a bottle shop, beer of the month club, beer shipping across the country, and craft beer bar. Through this experience he got to know a lot of breweries and noticed some disturbing trends that he thought would eventually damage the industry. The Partner Brewing model was developed to challenge those trends and save the craft beer industry by creating a virtuous cycle that makes the craft beer world better for everyone involved: the craft beer enthusiast, the distributors, the partner breweries, and the environment.
Did you know Boston Beer Company, maker of Sam Adams, started in 1984 and relied on Partner Brewing until 1996? They were brewing in at least 5 different breweries until they purchased their own facility, which happened to be one of their Partners!
Did you know that Mikkeller, the famous Dutch brewery, through Partner Brewing in Europe became the world leader in unique beers in the market at one time?
Inspired by these examples, we believe Partner Brewing is a path to a sustainable craft beer future for all the Partners, including the craft beer enthusiast partner who ultimately enjoys the beer.
The can says it brewed at [Partner Brewery Name] for Bombastic Brewing, does that mean you are just buying someone else’s beer?
Partner Brewing means that we develop our recipes on a small, pilot scale, and once we’ve settled on a flavor that we think you’ll enjoy, we scale it up with our Partners. The recipe is ours, the thinking that went into the beer is ours, it’s an authentic expression of what we desire to create for you. We buy ingredients, and we work with our Partner Breweries to scale up the recipes. Our Partners have the capacity to make larger batches of beer, and more efficiently.
Imagine Gordon Ramsay came into your house, into your kitchen. Imagine he used your utensils, pots and pans, spice rack, and grabbed ingredients from your refridgerator. Gordon whips up a meal right there. Whose culinary masterpiece are you enjoying? Is it yours, because it was in your kitchen? Or is it a Gordon Ramsay meal? In the same way, every Bombastic Brewing beer, no matter which Partner Brewery’s “kitchen” is used, is an authentic Bombastic Brewing creation.
What about Barrel Aging? Are you transporting the beer back to the Bombastic Brewing garage to age?
We’ve found that the best quality comes when beer isn’t moved around a lot. For our barrel aging program, we buy barrels and racks, fill and age them right there in our Partner Brewery’s facility. When it’s time to blend, package, and sell, we taste, blend, and our Partner Brewery finishes the process according to our direction.
The results have been award winning barrel aged beers.
Epilogue
Bombastic Brewing was officially launched in August, 2016 to make a contribution to the culture of craft beer. Our mission is to create highly sought after beer and make it readily available to craft beer enthusiasts. Our beer is currently distributed in Idaho, Utah, Montana, Washington, and Nevada and looking to expand in the coming years. We would love to hear from you as we are just people like you… the stuff of legend.
Bombastic Brewing Team
Sarah Mann
Head Brewer
Sarah Mann comes from a background in food science, brewing up flavors in the kitchen. She is now brewing up flavors in beer, always seeking balance.
Carole Reiff
Office Manager
Carole manages the office chaos, calling accounts, handling inquiries, and keeping everything on track. She also manages the shipping department.
Isaac Mann
Beer Sales
Isaac is the Bombastic Brewing sales rep for North Idaho and Eastern Washington. You might see him on sales visits to other areas as well.
Russell Mann
President
Russell is the President and founder of Bombastic Brewing.
Chris Drake
Marketing
Chris Drake is a business development African swallow. He can carry large coconuts by the husk over large distances and brings his marketing background to sling beer with best of them. He loves video games, Calvin & Hobbes, and philosophy along with his leonberger dog breed Oakly, chihuahua mutt Poka, tabby cat Sir Remington Purrs-A-Lot, and three fish that we shall not name. Chris lives in beautiful north Idaho.
Taryn Post
Marketing and Press Releases
Taryn has more than 20 years experience as a writer, investigative reporter, photographer and public relations/marketing consultant. Taryn leverages her creativity, experience and broad range of talent and skills to help Bombastic Brewing grow. She does all of this while splitting her time between north Idaho and the Yellowstone area of Montana. You won’t see her rustling cattle or picking fights with developers or tribes. That’s just for TV.
Dawn Armstrong
Bookkeeping
Brent Foster
Fine Artist
Brent has a background as a tattoo artist. He is responsible for the artwork on Phil’s sleeve. He creates Bombastic Brewing artwork from whereabouts unknown.
Bombastic Brewing Ruff Riders
Bella
Shipping Sheriff
Bella may not be very tall, but she’s very persistent, and loud. She patrols the shipping department, keeping Carole safe, and ensuring your packages arrive without any hassle.
Silvana / Silvie / Silly
Department of Cuteness
Silly handles all things cute, with constant poses. When he’s not working, Silly sits in Russell’s lap, and tries to steal his food, and drinks any beer she finds unguarded. Silvana is Bombastic Brewing’s only full time Instagram model. She’s an Italian Greyhound.
Rylie
Security / Bouncer
Rylie is Silvie’s big sister. Her bark is terrifying, and her size imposing, making her the best security guard / bouncer a brewery could have. She’s an Irish Wolfhound.
Sadly Rylie is no longer with us. She passed in 2022 and we miss her.
Oakly Drake
Oakly is a Leonberger.
Poka Drake
Poka is a Chihuahua mutt.
Eva
Eva is a void. She has big round eyes. She’s timid but loves a good butt scratch. Born on Halloween, she is just over two years old. Isaac’s best friend.
