Inland Ale Works is a great brewery in Cheney, Washington. Established in a remodeled auto shop, the whole place is decorated with photos of old Spokane, Washington, breweries and horse-drawn wagons loaded with beer barrels. There are ads for Rainier, National Bohemian, and Golden Age beers. I was there on Saturday to talk to my friend, the owner and expert brewmaster, retired Air Force Master Sgt. Nick Johnson.
I sat at the bar and ordered an Aye or Die Scottish Ale. For a small, annual “Mug Club” fee, I get a slightly larger pour.
The beer was dark and smooth. “Nick,” I asked, “why did you enlist in the Air Force?”
Nick chuckled and went to throw a dart. Triple 14. “I wanted to eat, and not live in my car.”
He graduated from high school in Dearborn, Michigan, in 1981. The Carter administration hadn’t been kind. Unemployment in the greater Detroit
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