Idaho Microbrewery Operated by Crazy Army Veteran

Those who know my husband know of his extensive collection of craft brewery T-shirts. He’s got hundreds — so many that they overflow the shelves dedicated to them in our walk-in closet.

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How is your Craft Brew T-shirt Collection?

Visiting Idaho Microbreweries

In our most recent quest to add to the clutter and disarray, we stopped by the Mad Bomber Brewery in Hayden Idaho. We had a fun conversation with Tom Applegate, one of the owners and founders of this little pub on a backstreet off Highway 95.

Tom is an Army veteran who was assigned to the bomb disposal unit in Afghanistan. Yep, he was one of those fearless soldiers who dons those well-padded suits that look like the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man. Those folks walk into a building or along a roadside and, if everything goes right, disable things that go boom, making it safe for everyone else to go on about their business.

Hayden Idaho Microbrewery

It doesn’t take much critical thinking to deduce where he came up with the name of his business. If you’re not already nuts to take on an assignment like that, the stress would certainly drive one mad.

But he turned the crazy into creativity and gave his beers such fun names as Booby Trap Blonde, Powder Keg Dark and Lonely Walk Brown Ale. Bruce sampled the MK 84 Porter and found it to his liking.

It’s fair to say that the decor of Mad Bomber Brewery is authentic. As in scary authentic. Among the items:, a remote controlled robot device that bomb diffusers send in first to check things out.

So Bruce and Tom talked about their respective military service. Bruce did his basic training at Fort Lewis in Washington, now known as Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Tom indicated blowing things up in eastern Washington is about the only thing eastern Washington is good for. I take that as a regional joke.

We thanked Tom for his time and his service. And Bruce, breaking with tradition, purchased a hoodie. Yep, ’cause there’s plenty of room for THAT in the closet.