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

New twists to the trail

Rick Bonino

At least 13 more breweries are joining the ranks of the Inland Northwest Ale Trail.

Even more could be added by the time the new map is released in January, says Iron Goat’s Heather Brandt, president of the sponsoring Inland Northwest Craft Brewers Guild. There are 27 stops on the current map.

In the meantime, the newcomers announced this week will be added to the Ale Trail website and an event showcasing them will be scheduled soon. And any stamps from those breweries will count on the current map toward the 12 brewery visits needed to earn a souvenir grunt (32-ounce mini-growler).

“For all the people who’ve completed the map already, it gives them some new places to try out,” Brandt says. “We want to make sure we support them and send people their way.”

Among the newcomers are breweries that have opened since the current map was released last August, including Bennidito’s Brewpub in Spokane, 238 on Green Bluff, New Boundary in Cheney, Downdraft in Post Falls and Daft Badger in Coeur d’Alene; two longer-operating breweries that have joined the guild since then, English Setter in Spokane Valley and North Idaho Mountain in Wallace; and one brewery in progress, Spokane’s Bellwether.

There also are five more breweries from Central Washington, following in the footsteps of Yakima Craft, which was added last year: Yakima’s Bale Breaker, Ellensburg’s Iron Horse, Kennewick’s Ice Harbor and St. Brigid’s and Ten Pin in Moses Lake.

One of the reasons the new map has been delayed until January is to allow time to develop an accompanying smartphone app, Brandt says.