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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Your weekly roundup

Rick Bonino

Some odds and ends from the past week in local craft beer:

– Washington State University’s second annual Know Barley Know Beer day has been scheduled for July 15 in the Spokane area.

Unlike last year, when local malting was still in the discussion stage, this year’s event begins with a 1 p.m. tour of the Palouse Pint facility at the Spokane Business and Industrial Park in Spokane Valley. It proceeds to WSU’s barley variety field trials west of Reardan before finishing with beers at Orlison’s production brewery in Airway Heights.

– Badass Backyard Brewing has launched a Rally.org fundraising campaign for the creation of an offsite taproom in the Spokane Valley. The home-based Millwood brewery is negotiating for space in the in the shopping area south of the freeway at Argonne and Mission (where Safeway formerly was located).

– Downdraft is offering a rewards program, with a $5 credit toward their next visit for new customers, a free pint for every 10 stars earned (one star for each purchase of $4.75 or more) and a free beer on your birthday.

– Brewery collaborations are becoming more common around here, but Bellwether is taking that a step further. It recently brewed a braggot (honey beer) in conjunction with Green Bluff’s Hierophant Meadery, using hand-collected green walnuts; look for that sometime next month.

In the meantime, Bellwether is opening on Sundays for the summer from 1 to 7 p.m. starting this weekend, with discount growler fills.