Something’s been brewing in Langley, and it has nothing to do with a funicular, rabbits or mayoral races.

Last week, Daniel Thomis held a soft opening for his new business and the city’s only brewery, Double Bluff Brewing Company on Anthes Avenue.

Sitting down with The Record over a flight of brews — a wooden plate that holds several small glasses of different beers — the Switzerland native told how he left the world of biochemistry and Boston with his wife, Marissa, a couple of years ago for a new life on Whidbey Island. They zeroed in on Langley, then began planning for him to turn from home brewer to village brewmeister. 

“South Whidbey was a brewery desert,” Thomis said with a noticeable Swiss/German accent. “A proper Northwest town must have a brewery.”

His space is set up as a craft brewery and taphouse. That means he can sell his and others’ beer from the space, which was formerly the Joe’s Music building. Thomis is planning a grand opening, Oct. 17-18, that will include seven beers on tap. During the soft opening this past week, he had four varieties ready to pour: Anthesian India Red Ale (named for Anthes Avenue), Ko[with umlauts/dots]lsch, Belgian Dubbel and California Common Porter.

Much to Thomis’ surprise and delight, all four were ordered at a similar rate. Although, he admits, most of that was probably because people ordered the four-glass flights to sample a handful of ounces of each in their first tasting.

“When we were there, it was standing-room only,” said Michaleen McGarry, executive director of the Langley Chamber of Commerce.

Not a beer drinker herself, she based her opinion of the tastiness on her husband’s positive reactions, she said. 

Most of the recipes were reverse engineered from beers he liked, then tinkered with and tweaked to his liking. The white India pale ale, for example, was based on a Deschutes Brewery version, with added flavors such as coriander and orange peel adjusted to separate it.

Everything about the operation is handled by Thomis. With 20 years of home brewing experience, he knows plenty about gravity, alcohol by volume, sugar levels, carbonation, bitterness units, mashing, boiling and cooling. All of which he does himself. Even the storage of barley and hops is done by Thomis, who has to grind the barley downstairs, then haul it up a steep stepladder in five-gallon buckets.

Compared to most craft breweries or micro breweries, Thomis’ venture is something tinier.

“I’m even smaller,” he said. “I’m a picabrewer.”

News of the brewery and taproom has swirled around Langley for months. It’s one more drinking haunt in town, joining the ranks of the popular Mo’s Pub & Eatery and the Village Pizzeria.

Langley’s Chamber of Commerce director said she thinks the brewery will fit in perfectly and help fill a niche.

“It’s a welcome addition, especially with the Dog House not being open,” McGarry said.

“They fit in with the whole scene in Langley,” she added.

Thomis and his wife fled Boston and found Whidbey Island thanks to the Internet. He said they filled out an online questionnaire and both had Whidbey pop up on their independently answered quizzes. Once they visited, it was love at first sight, he said.

He left a long career in a pharmaceutical company developing cancer treatment drugs as a trained chemist-biologist. Those talents of tinkering with chemical compounds and understanding chemical and biological processes have helped him craft his ales and beers. Two decades of hobby and home brewing hasn’t hurt either.

“What I’m making here in a week is more than I’d make in three, four years (at home),” Thomis said, motioning to the three 55-gallon fermentation vessels, mash pot, kettle and the two dozen five-gallon kegs he keeps to store the brews.

The grand opening next weekend will include some finger foods, but largely the brewery and taphouse will not offer food other than pretzels baked up the street at Sundance Bakery, which, incidentally, is made with spent grain and old beer. Winter hours are 4-8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 2-8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Thomis is expecting to expand those hours during the summer. Double Bluff Brewing Company will fill growlers and kegs.