Jeff Winn, left, and Chris Swedin owners and opertors of Yakima Craft Brewing Company explain the brewing process. Chris Thorn photo

By CHRIS THORN

The Yakima valley is the heart of hop production, but that hasn’t translated into beer production. 

Yakima Craft Brewing Company, established in 2007, is currently the only brewery in the upper valley.

Before Yakima Craft Brewing Company opened in 2007; the valley was home to Yakima Brewing & Malting Co., established by Bert Grant in 1982. 

Grant later opened the country’s first brewpub restaurant since Prohibition, Grant’s Brewery Pub, located smack in the middle of downtown near Track 29. 

After Grant sold the business in 1995, multiple sales of Yakima Brewing & Malting Company occurred and in 2005 both the brewery and brewpub were closed.

Joey Castilleja works at his computer in his Zillah office. Castilleja operates Incredible Lease and Genius Coach. Staff photo

By RICHARD BURGER

Despite concerns about the economic recovery appearing in the news from time to time, Joey Castilleja sees positive signs of business growth.

Castilleja operates Incredible Lease in Zillah, and deals with a variety of commercial clients.

“I am seeing businesses wanting to expand,” Castilleja said. 

He deals exclusively with commercial leases and mostly with equipment, he said.

His clients find him through his Internet Web site, www.incrediblelease.com, and come from across the nation. 

“Real entrepreneurs are optimistic,” Castilleja said. “I think we’re coming up on a boom.”

Susan Bonser, a Fresh Taste Meals customer, mixes ingredients for meatloaf with kalbi sauce. Elena Olmstead photos

By ELENA OLMSTEAD

Nearly everyone has experienced that feeling of dread when you walk through the door after a long day’s work and realize there is still one more chore waiting for you – making dinner.

But making dinner doesn’t have to be a chore. In fact, making dinner can be as simple as coming home, turning on the oven and popping in a meal you made yourself.

The owners of Yakima’s Fresh Taste Meals are making a living making people’s lives easier.

Joel’s Tire owner Joel Ylvisaker, right, and manager Ryan Rodeen show off some of the inventory being stocked in the new Yakima store, slated to open Feb. 8.  Staff photo

By RICHARD BURGER

A 45-year veteran in the tire business has opened the first of what may be a number of full-service tire stores in the Yakima Valley.

Joel’s Tire, owned by Joel Ylvisaker, was slated to open its doors Feb. 8, at 1203 N. 40^th in Yakima.

“We’re excited about being here,” said Ylvisaker. “This is a great place to start a business.” 

Ylvisaker said he’s already been doing business in the Yakima area prior to opening the new store, operating three service trucks from a local warehouse, servicing commercial vehicles.

Dr. Michael Zammit conducts an angiogram at the Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center Cath Lab in mid-January. He joined the Center staff Jan. 1. Richard Burger photo

By RICHARD BURGER

A nationally recognized vascular surgeon has joined the staff of Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center. 

He is Dr. Michael Zammit, who studied and practiced with the Wapato-born surgeon who pioneered coronary bypass surgery.

Zammit joined the Yakima Regional staff Jan. 1, and his first day of surgery was Jan. 13.

Among the positions held by Zammit before coming to Regional, were director of the Vein Treatment Center of Stevens Memorial Hospital in Edmonds, director of the Non-Invasive Laboratory of Pacific Vascular, Inc. in Bothell, and director of the Clinical Vascular Fellowship at Hope Heart Institute in Seattle.

Valley Buffet owner Toni Vrettas along with cook Steve Aliff are ready to greet patrons of the new restaurant in downtown Zillah. Rosemary Dellinger photo

By ROSEMARY DELLINGER

Valley Buffet is Zillah’s newest eatery. The breakfast and lunch buffet opened on Dec. 9. 

Toni Vrettas, a resident of Zillah since March is operating the new restaurant in downtown Zillah in the former Doc’s Pizza building. 

“We’re really excited,” Vrettas said about her newest business venture at 507 First Ave.

Steve Aliff, a longtime Zillah resident with more than 25 years of cooking experience is Valley Buffet’s cook. Local wait staff includes Heather Collins and Trudy Goodson.

One of the things you’ll find on the front page of the Yakima Valley Business Journal is our tagline, “Promoting the Economic Vitality of the Yakima Valley Since 1991.” 

Just about every business publication I’ve seen has something similar on the front page, and I don’t know if you’ve ever stopped to read it or consider what it means. What I do know is that it’s easier said than done. 

RICHARD BURGER

At some point we need to recognize that about the only good that’s going to come out of the inept federal meddling in the U.S. economy is that at least it provides some comic relief. The funniest examples I’ve read about so far are related to the calculations that a number of community agencies used to determine how many jobs have been “saved” by the “economic stimulus.”  

There were apparently instructions that came with the money to help recipients make the correct calculations, so that they could accurately report the positive effects the money generated in their organizations.

In an Associated Press story recently, the director of the Southwest Georgia Community Action Council, Myrtis Mulkey-Ndawula, explained to the reporter how she had calculated the number of jobs saved in her agency, which employs 508 people. She said she had simply followed the guidelines the administration had provided, and those guidelines instructed her to multiply the total number of employees, 508, by 1.84, which is the percentage of the pay raise they all received. With that simple multiplication, she arrived at a figure of 935 jobs saved, which she duly reported. 

KATHY MILLER

The end of the year is a good time to focus on tax planning and assess your financial status and goals. These strategies may help minimize your tax bill. 

Thinking about your taxes will almost always give you a headache, especially around the holidays. But staying on top of your finances as the year comes to a close can mean the difference between owing thousands of dollars in federal taxes and receiving a sizable check from the government in the spring.

Martin Scoll, Vice President of Life Event Services for Wells Fargo Advisors, says it is paramount to start preparing as early as possible. “Good tax preparation and planning starts on January 1,” he says. “Don’t wait until December to start dealing with your year-end planning. Reviewing your finances and giving some thought to your taxes in October and November will not only keep you ahead of the game — it will also likely save you money.”

SCOTT OVERTURF

Recently our state wine industry lost a quiet friend. It is fortunate for us that David Lake spent years in London working in the retail wine trade, while earning his Master Of Wine certification. 

Why? Because he ultimately chose to leave one of the world’s great cities and settle in very small and quiet Bellevue, Washington. There he invested his bank of knowledge of the wines of the world by becoming the only winemaker in America with an MW. I believe there were only a few dozen MWs back in 1978, when he arrived here. Even now, there are less than 300 in the world.