For a good time, drink this: New tap room in CDA brews alcoholic tea

Coeur Voice Contributor

“What if we made an iced tea that drank like a beer?”

This is the question Matt Price asked of himself and friends.

After enlisting the help of a friend and brewer, he bought low scale professional brewing equipment, and went to work.

“So we made it, and... this was actually good,” said Price.

“So we decided that we’d move forward with this and see if I could launch a hard iced tea and give people some options outside of seltzers.”

After developing an allergy to gluten in his thirties, Price was left with alcoholic choices that didn’t hold much appeal, such as hard alcohol or seltzer drinks.

The solution? Take the iced tea he grew up drinking in Arizona and make it, well, more like beer.

“Matt is the brainchild,” said Darren Dillon. He has been involved with the creation of a unique hard tea recipe since Price began experimenting. The two are close friends, calling each other ‘brother,’ and co-own Good Time Brewing.

The tea is now the signature drink of their Good Time Tap Room on 4th Street in Coeur d’Alene.

The tea and tap room are even named for the good times the “brothers” have when they drink their creation.

“So (with) this being gluten free and a very clean product, most people can drink it,” said Dillon.

It’s also low in calories and sugar content.

“It really just ticks a lot of boxes. I wish I could say it was really intentional that it came out that way, but it’s just because of the process,” said Price.

The hard tea has another advantage: It’s difficult to get drunk off of it. So far, no hangovers have been reported either.

The two have even put it to the test themselves with friends.

“The thing is you don’t ever really get that drunk on these because of the caffeine and 4.5 percent alcohol. You just stay in a fun buzz,” said Dillon.

“Obviously [we] don’t want to recommend people binge drink,” Price said. “[But] it’s just a really easy, fun drink and product.”

The pair wanted their product to be as “active” as they are. With an alcoholic content of 4.5%, Good Time Hard Tea is lighter and better suited to outdoor activities like fishing.

“You could go out on a boat and you can have a few of them, [but] you’re not going to feel like you’re bogged down and sleepy.”

After successful brewing, Price began looking for breweries. When Slate Creek Brewing went up for sale, the pair was eager to relocate from Portland, having enjoyed and visited the area for years. The two bought Slate Creek in December and brought the new hard tea recipe to Coeur d’Alene.

After waiting through the shutdown guidelines, the Good Time Tap Room was finally able to open this summer – and Good Time Hard Tea was launched.

Walking into the Good Time Tap Room, however, North Idaho natives may feel right at home. Dillon and Price come from ranching backgrounds, and have renovated the space to fit their rustic background. Wood paneling, posters of country artists and rodeo feats playing on television screens greet customers.

“The decor is kind of a rustic country bar slash sports bar slash neighborhood watering hole,” said Price.

“We wanted to offer something for the community, a place where people want to come hand out,” said Dillon.

“For us it’s someplace that feels comfortable to just sit down and have a beer. You know, it feels like a neighborhood bar,” Price added.

So what does Good Time Hard Tea taste like?

“You taste it in the beginning and it’s like an iced tea. You get that iced tea flavor, but it’s not overpowering,” Price explained.

“It’s got a little bit of citrus in there and then at the end of it you taste a very light beer finish.”

The tea is brewed with a yeast commonly used to brew beer, giving it that ale-like finish.

This process of fermenting the tea itself appears to be unique to the new business.

The few hard teas on the market typically add tea to malted beer or vodka. By brewing the tea directly with a beer yeast and sugar (which is eaten up in the process), the “brothers” make a gluten-free product.

“It’s a combination of the tea and the yeasts and sugars,” said Dillon.

“We don’t know anybody fermenting tea like this.”

Although Price says the process is not so simple.

“A big problem in the fermentation process is that a lot of that flavor is stripped out from the fermentation process,” he said.

“And if I told you the amount of tea we use to get this amount of flavor out of it you would just be blown away.” Though most of the caffeine is lost in the process, Price says.

Good Time Hard Tea has been popular so far.

Cassandra Lindquist and spouse Mark Hausman happened on the tea as they entered the Good Time Tap Room one July evening. After agreeing to try the hard tea, they offered their thoughts.

“I think it’s really refreshing,” said Lindquist.

“I like it better than cider,” Hausman agreed.

“Cider is very sweet,” Lindquist agreed. “I like a light beer. I like [something] subtle.”

“I’m not a beer guy and this is really neat,” said Hausman.

“This is an unexpected, nice thing to encounter,” he added.

The couple approved of the atmosphere and company as well.

“It’s really cool. They did a good job on renovations and the decorations,” Hausman added. “Thumbs up.”

The tea has been successful with other customers so far. Dillon said they had been out of their tea for nearly a week before Lindquist and Hausman came in.

“Our hard tea outsells every other product we have on the shelf,” said Price.

“We’re working on getting a bigger system because our tea’s flying so fast,” Dillon said.

Word of mouth and community spirit have helped spread the word on hard tea. The tap room and tea were launched with a bang on June 5 thanks to the monthly Full Moon Bike Ride [featured in Coeur Voice May 30].

“So that was our soft open, our very first night open,” said Dillon.

“We probably had 150 people here. It was a lot of fun.”

“She definitely threw us to the fire. There was nothing soft about that opening,” Price joked.

But the tap room owner is grateful to the Ride’s main coordinator, Danica Gilbert.

“You know, it was kind of a testament to how awesome of a community Coeur d’Alene is,” said Price.

“God bless Danica.”

It’s the kind of community-mindedness and friendliness that helped bring the two to Coeur d’Alene. They hope to offer the same spirit back to their new home.

“This is more the way I grew up than Portland is now,” said Dillon.

“We’re just really happy to be here. I love this town.”

The tap room is open from 3 to 8 pm, Tuesday through Saturday.