Small craft advisory
Collaboration beers, barrel-aged treats and tap takeovers all are on the way for the first official Spokane Craft Beer Week, May 11-17.
Organizers today announced the initial schedule for the week, which coincides with American Craft Beer Week. Among the highlights:
– The week kicks off in earnest on Tuesday at No-Li with a Collaboration Beer Festival featuring six joint releases by 12 area breweries.
Three already have been announced by the breweries involved: a Belgian golden strong with sweet orange and lavender from Twelve String and Laughing Dog (which will be first poured at Twelve String on Monday); a raspberry gose (sour wheat) from Ramblin’ Road and MickDuff’s; and a SMaSH (single-malt and single-hop) bock with rich Bonlander Munich malt and spicy Saaz hops by Waddell’s and Wallace.
Still to be revealed are collaborations between Iron Goat and Paradise Creek, the Steam Plant and English Setter, and River City and Big Barn (the latter of which will serve several of the beers at a wrap-up event on Sunday).
– Perry Street also is working with the Manito Tap House on a special beer recipe to be released at Manito on Monday, while River City and The Lantern Tap House will tap a firkin of their own collaboration at the Lantern on Tuesday.
– Ramblin’ Road will tap a new barrel-aged, Belgian-inspired beer each day during the week. And on Saturday, No-Li is offering a dozen barrel-aged, infused and other specialties at its third No Boundaries on the River small-batch festival, while Twelve String will serve four or more beers “Straight Out of the Barrel.”
– Local beers will be pouring exclusively all week at the Lantern, the Hop Shop and both Growler Guys locations.
– Black Label will serve a different flavor-infused beer through its Randall each night.
– Twelve String is pouring four-ounce flights of all three of its anniversary beers – the Volume 1 imperial IPA, Volume 2 imperial black IPA and Volume 3 imperial red – on Tuesday, and will bring in six limited-edition local beers along with their brewers for an event on Thursday.
– Durkin’s Liquor Bar is doing a brewer’s dinner featuring Perry Street on Wednesday.
– Perry Street on Thursday will host an On Tap Night in celebration of this blog with beer specials, merchandise raffles and brewery tours.
Also occurring on Saturday, though not part of the official calendar, is the second annual Battle of the Homebrews, which is moving to the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center this year from the Greyhound Park and Event Center. Fifty entries will compete in both public voting and professional judging, with a commercial version of the winning recipe again being brewed by Waddell’s.