Big firkin deal

The elusive firkin is a rather uncommon critter around these parts, occasionally spotted alone but rarely traveling in packs.

Crafted Tap House is about to change that. The Coeur d’Alene gastropub on Saturday presents the area’s first Firkin Festival, featuring more than two dozen cask-conditioned beers by brewers both local and beyond.

There have been similar festivals in Seattle and Portland. Mike Detar, Crafted’s beverage director/bar manager, says he got the idea from one he attended at the iconic Triple Rock brewery in Berkeley, Calif.

“It was just a super fun event,” Detar says. “I thought it would be really cool to bring it to this area. A lot of people don’t even know what a firkin is.”

A firkin is a container – traditionally 10.8 gallons (that’s 9 imperial gallons in England), or about two-thirds the size of a regular keg – used to create naturally carbonated beers, containing active yeast. Additional hops or other ingredients often are added.

They’re tapped by driving a stake into one end of the cask with a hammer, a sometimes messy spectacle that’s part of the fun. Crafted plans to do that en masse when the festival kicks off at 11 a.m. in its parking lot.

Admission is $25, which includes a commemorative tasting glass and seven 5-ounce pours. Souvenir T-shirts will be sold, and there will be live music throughout the day.

The local lineup includes such treats as Trickster’s Daedric Druid stout with Stumptown coffee; a still-secret infused version of Harper’s Oatmeal Stout from Slate Creek; Selkirk Abbey’s Guilt imperial porter over oak chips soaked in Dry Fly wheat whiskey; and River City’s Red with espresso beans, and Clocktower Imperial IPA dry-hopped with Palisade and Citra.

There’s also the likes of Bayern’s Citra dry-hopped Dump Truck Summer Bock, Pelican’s Scotch Ale, Epic’s Escape To Colorado IPA and Odell’s Chocolate Crème Brulee Stout.

Other participating breweries include Iron Goat, No-Li, Laughing Dog, Paradise Creek, PostModern, Fremont, New Belgium and Sierra Nevada.

No one knows how long they’ll last, but Detar assures: “Once we kill the firkins, there are a bunch of other cool beers we’ll be pouring, too.”