Beer, humbug!

Some more glad tidings from the week in local beer:

- Northern Ales has joined the canned craft beer parade, behind a bit of a grumpy grand marshal.

The Kettle Falls brewery on Monday canned its session-style lager, The Grouch, in conjunction with Spokane-based Spokes mobile canning.

Kettle Falls elects a “Town Grouch” each summer for its Town and Country Days festival. This year’s winner, Dan Aldous, graces the label of the new 12-ounce cans, which are available throughout Stevens, Ferry and Pend Oreille counties, and possibly later in Spokane.

Northern is the third Inland Northwest brewery to put beer in cans, following Laughing Dog and Orlison.

- Long-delayed Black Label Brewing on Friday finally fired up its kettle to brew its first batch of beer.

Reese’s  Red, a darker Irish red ale, is the initial offering, to be followed by a IPA, Honey Bandit Blonde and Nut Brown.  The tasting room in the new Saranac Commons development on the east end of downtown Spokane is expected to open early next year.

The four-barrel brewery will focus on organic and homegrown hops, honey and malts, and sustainable practices.

- Downdraft Brewing in Post Falls today launched a “Winds of Change” series of pilot beers under recipe development.

First up is IPA 1.0, brewed with CTZ (Cascade/Tomahawk/Zeus) and Cascade hops. The brewery’s standard Seltice SMaSH is a single-hop IPA featuring Chinook.