"I've already had people saying, 'Are you bringing back the Crooked card? What about us old guys that had the original Crooked card?'" Cutler says with a laugh. "It's like, 'Oh. My. God. Give me a second to breathe, please!'"
Let's all take a deep breath. Under the ownership of Cutler and his wife, Maerene, Crooked Fence will reopen Friday, June 15, at 5220 N. Sawyer Ave. Twelve beers will be on tap. They range from old favorites 3 Picket Porter and Sins of Our Fathers imperial stout to more recent varieties such as Cranberry Sour and Grapefruit IPA. Head brewer Jeff Winn remains with the brewery.
"Crooked Fence has got a history," Cutler says. "There's lot of people out there that know it and like the beers. They are looking for a place back in town to be able to go."
Twelve beers will be on tap when Crooked Fence reopens. Crooked Fence Brewing Co.
Opened in Garden City in 2012, Crooked Fence helped lead a flood of local breweries that's still saturating the Treasure Valley. Two years later, Crooked Fence moved to a destination acreage in Eagle. In 2017, its brewpub closed, but the brewery continued to operate. The Cutlers took over Crooked Fence around the start of 2018. They hauled the 15-barrel brewhouse back to Garden City, to a space about a block away from Crooked Fence’s original location.
Brewing began at the new spot in February, but it's taken time to get the taproom running. A grand opening is planned sometime in July.
Within a month, Crooked Fence also will serve food, Cutler says.
"It'll be bites," he says. "Chips and salsa. Fruit and meat platter. We're talking about doing a Bavarian pretzel and mustard, that kind of stuff. We don't have a kitchen. We'll have a sandwich prep table and be able to do stuff like that."
Old-time Crooked Fence regulars longing for those beloved $6 growler fills on Saturdays are probably out of luck. But, Cutler says, Crooked Fence does plan to offer a $2 fill after 10 regular growler-fill purchases.
Happy hour details are still being worked out, he says, but "we'll end up doing some type of happy hour thing most every day."
Oh, and about that Crooked Fence Club card? Feel free to keep it in your wallet.
"Everybody has that card!" Cutler complains with a chuckle.
Summer hours: 3 to 10 p.m. Fridays, noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. Closed Monday and Tuesday.