SANDPOINT — The building at 119 First Ave. has been home to numerous stores, cafes and restaurants in its over 100-year history, but its next chapter begins this week.

The next business to call 119 First Ave. home, Pivo Peaks Alehouse, is the longtime dream of Joey and Sarah Bowden. The couple have spent the last year tirelessly renovating the space to realize their dreams of owning their own restaurant — a dream that came true Monday, when the alehouse held a soft opening event. 

"It’s surreal, I can’t believe we got here,” Joey Bowden said with a laugh. “I’m extremely excited to show this off to all our friends.” 

Bowden said he’s always enjoyed exploring the Pacific Northwest and the breweries within it, making the choice for the couples’ new venture an obvious one. He said that the couple spent time with Mickey Mahoney, co-owner of MickDuff’s brewpub, for guidance about running an alehouse in the area. 

Featured among the 14 beers currently on tap is Boneyard RPM, which Bowden said has a special connection to him. 

"That’s a brewery I used to work at, for a little over a year,” Bowden said. “On road trips, we’d plan our lunch stop at a brewery so we could start sampling beers, talking to distributors and hearing their recommendations.” 

This is far from the couple’s first venture into food; they’re bringing their sandwich recipes from their former Oregon-based food truck “Hogan’s Hoagies” to Sandpoint. Bowden said that the two are casual people and wanted to reflect that in their establishment.  

"We did accidentally make a very nice building,” Sarah Bowden said. “We didn’t mean to make it this fancy.” 

Bowden said that the two put their life savings into buying and renovating the building, which became an adventure in itself. As renovations took place in the iconic building, they discovered old RadioShack advertisements, a secret compartment to nowhere and bottles from across the 20th century. 

"One of the bottles we found was actually hidden inside a wall, and it still had a cork in it and a little bit of liquid,” Sarah Bowden said. “We haven’t opened it, I don’t know if anyone would want to try it.” 

The couple moved to Sandpoint three years ago, after buying the building that Pivo Peaks calls home. Sarah Bowden said that their story about discovering the area starts with her cousin inviting them up to ski on Schweitzer Mountain. 

Bowden said they have always loved nature and exploring the outdoors, so naturally, they instantly fell in love with the area. 

“[Her cousin] knows we love the outdoors and the mountains, and he was like ‘You’re going to love Sandpoint,’” Bowden said. "Driving over the Long Bridge, it came over us like ‘Alright, I’m not leaving.’” 

The name of the alehouse pays homage to their love of the wilderness and Joey Bowden’s grandfather. Bowden said he wanted to honor is grandfather's roots from the Czech Republic, hence the first word “Pivo,” which is “beer” in Czech. 

The alehouse is offering Pilsner Urquell, the first pilsner ever brewed in the world, that hails the Czech Republic. Sarah Bowden said that the alehouse’s logo was inspired by Urquell’s logo as another homage to Joey Bowden’s roots. 

Bowden said he hopes that the alehouse becomes a gathering place for the community. Sarah Bowden said that the establishment will be hosting a fundraiser for the Pandia Theater renovations Nov. 21. 

“I just want to thank the community for being patient with us while we got this going,” Joey Bowden said. “Thanks for the support they’ve given us so far.” 

Pivo Peaks will host its grand opening ceremony Friday, Oct. 31, but will also be open today, Oct. 28, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.