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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

A right jolly good Fallow

Rick Bonino

Friday marks the official start of the Christmas season (mob shopping and all), and Big Barn Brewing is getting into the spirit.

The brewery is located at Bodacious Berries, Fruits and Brews on Green Bluff, which is selling Christmas trees this season for the first time. And it’s reopening to the public starting this weekend, on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.

Beer will be flowing in the actual big barn where it’s made, not the usual, smaller taproom building, which is uninsulated. You can ride the wagon to cut a tree (six varieties to choose from), then return for a pint, or hot cider or cocoa, by the new wood stove.

There’s also a new beer for the occasion: Fallow India pale ale (7.2 percent alcohol by volume, 135 International Bitterness Units), which owner/brewer Craig Deitz calls the best IPA he’s made yet.

That's fallow, as in land left uncultivated in order to rejuvenate - or fallow deer, whose typical chestnut coat the reddish-brown beer resembles, thanks to dark caramel and chocolate malts. It's brewed with Deitz’s go-to Centennial hops along with Amarillo, the latter adding a fruity touch.

“For the IBUs, it has a nice malt finish,” he says. "It's what I've been drinking the last couple of weeks. It just suits my palate right now."

If you don’t make it up the bluff, keep your eye out - the beer also is being distributed to accounts around town, something Big Barn can do this winter since switching to a larger brewing system. And it could become a year-round offering, Deitz says.