Prepared to pour
UPDATE FRIDAY 8/12: 238 Brewing has pulled out of the festival because of cooler issues at the brewery.
Six weeks ago, Spokane Arena organizers were busy lining up participants for their just-announced, first-ever Spokane Brewers Festival.
When the taps start flowing Friday at 3 p.m., 35 regional breweries and cideries will be pouring in the parking lot along with food vendors and live music. The festival continues Saturday starting at noon, with things wrapping up at 9 both days.
“I’m so happy it’s come together as well as it has,” says Matt Gibson, the Arena’s general manager, who figured he would be lucky to get 20. “It really just amazes me that we’ve had such great feedback, participation and support from all these breweries.”
The lineup includes 17 of the 22 operating breweries in Spokane County: Badass Backyard, Bellwether, Bennidito’s, Big Barn, Black Label, English Setter, Hopped Up, Iron Goat, Little Spokane, New Boundary, No-Li, Orlison, Perry Street, River City, Steam Plant, Waddell’s and Young Buck.
They’re joined by Eastern Washington’s Icicle (Leavenworth), Iron Horse (Ellensburg), Laht Neppur (Waitsburg), Northern (Kettle Falls), Paradise Creek (Pullman), St. Brigid’s and Ten Pin (Moses Lake), Top Frog (Newport) and Yakima Craft; North Idaho’s Downdraft and Post Falls (Post Falls), Rants & Raves (Moscow) and Slate Creek (Coeur d’Alene); farther-flung 54˚40’ from Washougal, Wash. and Ordnance from Boardman, Ore.; and the cideries, D’s Wicked (Kennewick) and One Tree (Spokane Valley).
Each will start with two offerings on tap, with a third in reserve in case one of the others runs out. The beer list runs the gamut from fruit beers and sours to porters and stouts, with plenty of IPAs in between.
“There’s a wide range, more than I thought we were going to get,” Gibson says.
For sour fans, the opening lineup includes Paradise Creek’s Huckleberry Pucker Shandy, Waddell’s Blackberry Sour and Young Buck’s Raspberry Berliner Weisse, with 54˚40’s cranberry/cherry Pretty in Pink, Iron Goat’s Blackberry Apricot Sour and the Steam Plant’s Wild Strawberry Sour ready on the bench.
Also for fruitier tastes are Big Barn’s Apricot Wit, Badass Backyard’s Daring Diva Razz Wheat, Downdraft’s lemony Lemmy Weizenheimer, English Setter’s orange/grapefruit Citrus Setter, Laht Neppur’s Peach Hefeweizen, Ordnance’s Bloops Blueberry Wheat, Orlison’s Orangelicious Golden Ale, St. Brigid’s Grapefruit Explosion, Steam Plant’s Blood Orange Ale, Ten Pin’s Groove Pineapple Wheat and New Boundary’s Lemon Kick hard lemonade.
On the darker side, there’s the likes of Hopped Up's Irish Cream Stout, Big Barn’s applewood-accented Mt. Smoke Porter, Icicle’s coconut-spiked Dark Persuasion German Chocolate Cake Ale, Iron Goat’s smooth Goatmeal Stout, Little Spokane’s lighter Bulk Bin Porter (plus a raspberry version) and Top Frog’s hoppy Poison Dart Porter.
Those IPAs include Young Buck’s brand-new, lightly oaked Cascadia IPA, Bellwether’s braggot Honey Hop, Bennidito’s Truancy Double IPA, Perry Street’s Single Malt IPA and Post Falls Brewing’s Stoney MacGuyver, among many others.
Also look for an assortment of kolsches, reds, browns, Scottish ales and the like. No-Li is bringing three beers prepared specially for the festival: Royal Slacker with double the orange and vanilla, a peach/cherry Cherry Bomb Big Juicy IPA and Mint Chocolate Chip Rise & Grind coffee milk stout.
Like the event’s inspiration, Portland’s venerable Oregon Brewers Festival, there’s no admission fee; you buy a tasting mug for $7 (good for both days) and pay for drink tokens as you go ($1 each, with a 2-ounce pour for one token or 10 ounces for five).
Along with the beer and cider, River City is serving its root beer, which will be free for kids (allowed if accompanied by a parent) and designated drivers, and $1 per pour for other drinkers.
Food will be provided by Azar’s and the Thai Lunch Box and Fork in the Road trucks, with additional treats from Black Fire Kettle Corn, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Pete & Belle’s Ice Cream.
You also can bring your own food and non-alcoholic beverages, like water – which wouldn’t be a bad idea, since the asphalt will heat up fast from the forecast 90-degree temperatures. (There also will be drinkable water at the cup-rinsing stations, and bottled water for sale.)
Tents with attached misters should help keep things cool, Gibson says. And anyway, he adds, “I’d like to think that the people who enjoy these festivals are sort of weather-resistant.”