The Trail stops here

Hitting all of the Inland Northwest Ale Trail stops keeps getting trickier, given the growth from 16 original breweries to 27 to next year’s 41, and an increasing focus on Central Washington.

Now the newbies on the trail are coming to you. A dozen will be pouring at tonight’s Yelp Beertopia from 6 to 9 at the Black Diamond in Spokane Valley – which has had its power restored – including five of the more far-flung:

238 (Green Bluff): Partyline Porter

Badass Backyard (Millwood): Black Stout

Bale Breaker (Yakima): Bottomcutter imperial IPA

Bellwether (Spokane): Albion strong heather ale

Bennidito’s (Spokane): Checkerboard Pale

Downdraft (Post Falls): SMaSH IPA

English Setter (Spokane Valley): Chukar Nose Amber

Ice Harbor (Kennewick): Tangerine Hefeweizen

Iron Horse (Ellensburg): Mocha Death

New Boundary (Cheney): Blackberry wheat

St. Brigid’s (Moses Lake): TKO Amber

Ten Pin (Moses Lake): Headpin IPA

The other three trail newcomers can’t make it: Daft Badger (Coeur d’Alene), North Idaho Mountain (Wallace) and Quartzite (Chewelah).

For $5, you get a flight of three 5-ounce tasters of your choice along with light appetizers. Reservations were requested through Yelp, but it’s unlikely anyone will be turned away at the door.

And since the Black Diamond also will be open for business as usual, there’s nothing stopping anyone from coming in and ordering whatever they want.

While the new Ale Trail map isn’t out until January, visits to any of the new members already count toward the 12 currently needed to earn a souvenir 32-ounce growler.