Top Frog’s big leap

Top Frog is starting its fourth year of operation with a taproom of its own.

Saturday’s third anniversary party at the brewery near Newport marks the grand opening of a project owner/brewer Casey Brooks started working on before last summer’s second anniversary.

“It’s just really, really nice to have it done,” Brooks says. “I sat on the front porch the other night – there was a nice, cool breeze – drinking a beer, and thought, this is what I did it for.”

All 13 taps will be full tomorrow, including such new offerings as a barrel-fermented nut brown ale, raspberry mango shandy, Smoke Jumper cream ale and an IPA hopped with Mosaic, Simcoe, Citra, and Amarillo.

The family-friendly gathering from 1 to 8 p.m. also will include bratwursts and hot dogs on the grill, horseshoes and other games, and live music by the likes of Scotia Road and Skookum Creek.

The 1,000-square-foot taproom addition doubled the size of the brewery, which previously was open to the public only at random hours or by appointment. Brooks did almost all the work himself, with some help from friends, during off hours from his railroad day job.

The fact it was the first new commercial building in Pend Oreille County in nine years also slowed the process down some, he says, since “none of the building inspectors had ever done one.”

“Everything has taken a lot of time, and some extra money, but not as much as you would think for as long as it’s taken,” he says.

For starters, the taproom will be open Saturdays from 4 to 8 p.m., through Brooks is considering Friday hours as well. “Everybody from Spokane is going to the lake and they’re driving right by us,” he says.

It’s also available for private events, with discount pint prices. Brooks already has hosted wedding, bachelor and retirement parties, and has been getting a few dozen customers on Saturdays by word of mouth even before the formal opening.

He’s looking at doing crowler-type cans and pint-sized growlers along with regular fills, as well as resuming Idaho draft distribution to Priest River, Oldtown and eventually Sandpoint.

For now, the focus is on the taproom, which has something no other area brewery can boast: a hitching post.

That was put up by one of Brooks’ former bosses who rides horses with his friends in the timberland around the brewery. “It just adds to the atmosphere,” he says.