Echoes Brewing brings back Sound beer, family vibes

Creating a family-friendly space while bringing back one of Kitsap’s favorite breweries (under a new name) and brewer (same guy) is the ultimate goal for Echoes Brewing.

Samay and Manas Jaine are brothers who live and work in North Kitsap with their young families and like many were saddened to hear about the closing of Sound Brewery, just before the world closed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Sound Brewery was by far and away one of our favorite breweries in the region, and they’re all good, but this was definitely our favorite, and on a whim, I told my wife we should buy Sound Brewing,” Samay said.

By trade, the brothers and their wives work in the medical profession in Kitsap but in their leisure time like to go beer tasting. They found many taprooms are not designed for families with small children.

So the idea of creating a space for families but also with great beer was born.

“Part of it was this kind of fantastical idea of owning a bar or brewery. I think everyone thinks that would be cool and part of it was we knew the quality of beer that was associated with Sound…One of the most important things was staying to try to that kind of Sound foundation,” Samay said.

A critical piece of the resurgence was bringing back Sound’s master brewer Mark Hood.

“That was critical,” Samay said. “Speaking with Mark when the whole process was going down in terms of getting ownership of Sound and kind of restructuring and rebranding we had very honest conversations with Mark.

Manas said, “Mark had to come along, that was the attraction to Sound, not just the space or equipment, it was him because he does quality work.”

Hood was excited to come back, especially after the last two years.

“My first thought was let’s explore it, and let’s see it. I mean Sound was my dream, building, designing it and growing it, my whole life was in it, so this is a nice opportunity to make Echoes into something cool,” Hood said.

When Samay, Manas and Hood took on the adventure, it was clear that Sound would need to be rebranded, and the name Echoes just made sense because echoes are what come after sound. That and it’s simple to say.

“It’s a nice link back to really where we are coming from which is Sound Brewery, but it’s meant to be the next iteration of it,” Samay said.

“It’s mean to serve as a bridge. You know bridges take you to a new place but also connect you to your past. So we wanted to go to a new place but we also wanted to pay homage to Sound Brewery,” Manas said.

Family friendly

Echoes taproom is being constructed across the street from Rainy Daze in Poulsbo, with the hope of being open in October, but due to issues with supply chains and ongoing issues with COVID a firm opening date has not been set. However, when it does open the space is set to be one in which families with kids (and maybe dogs) are welcome.

“In our taproom, the focus is really meant to be a high-quality beer facility where you also can bring your family,” Samay said.

One of the things that Echoes will have will be a space for nursing moms, gender-neutral bathrooms with diaper changing stations, and an area for kids to play so that their parents can enjoy their beer without much worry.

“Hopefully bringing the brewery space into … the idea of what the modern family may look like and recognizing that when people have kids, they want to go out too,” Samay said.

Manas added: “If we’re going to be really honest about it this is something that we want to give to the community because we’re both successful people, and one thing I understand is about is having young kids and feeling trapped and feeling kind of separated from life before kids. So we wanted to do something to give back to that element.”

The beer

While Echoes is not open yet, you can find some of its beer in stores around Kitsap.

“We have been really fortunate because Mark’s reputation as a brewer has kind of carried forward, and we have seen an outpouring of support from local shops like Marina Market, Red Apple Market and Central Market,” Samay said.

Also, folks will also have an opportunity to preview some of Echoes Brewing at this year’s Poulsbrew Sept. 18.

One of the exciting things about Echoes is that it gives Hood time to focus on new brews and small-batch specials.

“Right now being able to focus on the taproom gives me a lot more freedom to do small batches. I am still doing some favorites from Sound like Monks Indiscretion Belgian Pale Ale. It’s what got us into wanting to start a brewery in the first place. I made it for my homebrew club, and everybody said you gotta make this into a real commercial beer,” Hood said.