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

Celebrating with a bang

Rick Bonino

Over its first year of operation, Mad Bomber has churned out a dizzying array of beers from its tiny 1-barrel brewing system.

Up to 18 of them will be on tap Saturday as the Hayden brewery celebrates its anniversary with a daylong bash.

“We’re doing nearly every beer that we had on tap that was worth drinking over the past year,” says co-owner/brewer Tom Applegate, a former Army bomb squad specialist, adding: “It’s sort of a shove in the face to all the people who said a 1-barrel brewery was a stupid thing to do.”

Most all of the favorites will return except for The Benjamin imperial IPA, a long-conditioning brew which Applegate wasn’t able to turn around in time.

There are some new twists as well, including the official anniversary beer, Black Hand. Somewhere between an imperial porter and a barleywine, at around 11 percent alcohol by volume, it’s aged in a Dry Fly whiskey barrel, with vanilla and oak notes that come out as it warms. “It looks like motor oil with bubbles in it,” jokes Applegate.

There’s also a fresh hop version of the Danger Bird “Scotch-ish,” using Cascade hops hand-picked by Applegate and his family. “It’s one of the best batches we’ve done of it,” he says.

And he’ll be serving what may well be the world’s first sour fresh hop IPA. Brewed in collaboration with Trickster’s as a standard fresh hop ale, it wouldn’t ferment with either of the brewery’s regular yeasts, but took off when a lactobacillus infection set in.

“It starts out tart, and the back end is like a punch in the mouth from a bunch of hops,” Applegate says. “Very intriguing, is the only word I can think of. I don’t know if I could drink a whole pint of it.

“It was a mistake, but we’ll share that with people, all in the name of beer education.”

Along with all the beers, the anniversary party – starting at 11 a.m. and running until midnight or so – will feature merchandise giveaways, live music and food from Brown Chicken Brown Cow, a competition barbecue team. Applegate has rented space adjoining the taproom to make sure there’s enough room for everyone.

And speaking of expansion, Mad Bomber won’t be a 1-barrel for too much longer. A shiny new 7-barrel system is scheduled to arrive early next year.

Downdraft alert: Also in North Idaho on Saturday, don’t forget the grand opening of Downdraft Brewing in Post Falls. Look for a further report on that this weekend.