Summa cum hoppy

It might seem a bit early in the season for graduation parties, but Downdraft is throwing one tomorrow – for a beer.

The pilot IPA previously known as Winds of Change 1.0 will officially join the regular lineup as Third Channel, in honor of the Post Falls dam.

Third Channel (7.5 percent alcohol by volume, 102 International Bitterness Units) – full of Cascade and Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus hops – was originally brewed as an alternative to the brewery’s flagship IPA, the smoother, Chinook single-hop Seltice SMaSH  (7.2, 70).

“People were asking, when are you going to do an IPA with more punch-in-the-face type hops?” says Downdraft’s Aimee Brayman.

A second batch, with a few tweaks, is in line to be tapped tomorrow. “It’s spot-on, more hop forward,” Brayman says.

Third Channel will be on special for $3 per pint, and $8 for a growler fill. Each pint purchase between 4 and 8 p.m., when the King of Tacos food truck also will be on hand, earns a raffle ticket toward some schwag.

Meanwhile, more beers are in the works for the experimental Winds of Change series, including an India red ale and something lighter like a session IPA or pilsner for summer.