Moving beyond Belgians

Selkirk Abbey is branching out beyond its Belgian roots.

The Post Falls brewery is launching a new brand, Northern Cross, to broaden its appeal with more familiar offerings. The first release, an IPA, is expected early next month.

Owner Jeff Whitman says his heart is still with Belgian beers, but the new label will allow him to explore other styles without diluting the Selkirk concept.

“We’re trying to have some fun with this,” Whitman says. “We’ve deliberately made Selkirk Abbey kind of a pinky-out, nose-in-the-air brand. This will be more feet on the table, yukking it up.”

While Selkirk makes a big, Belgian-inspired Infidel IPA, Northern Cross IPA will fall in the classic Northwest style, with substantial additions of old-school Cascade and Centennial hops.

“Cascade is a fantastic hop that people seem to have forgotten about,” Whitman says. “Everybody has jumped on board with the new melony, fruity, tropical hops – which are outstanding, and we plan to use, too – but we’re going back to the reason the Northwest is known for hops.”

At around 6 to 6.5 percent alcohol by volume and 90 International Bitterness units, he says, “it should be fairly hoppy for an area that likes its hops.” Dry-hopping begins Monday, with the release scheduled a couple of weeks later.

It’s the first of several planned beers under the Northern Cross label. An amber is in the pilot stages, with a robust Russian-style stout in the works.

“We’re just going to do whatever we feel like,” Whitman says. “We’re all pretty excited about it. Hopefully we’ve done a good enough job with our specialty beers that people will trust us with the more accessible stuff.”

Dubbel-barreled: Back on the Belgian side, Selkirk Abbey on Friday releases a barrel-aged version of its 8˚ dubbel on draft in the taproom, aged for eight months in Dry Fly triticale whiskey barrels.

While barrel-aged dubbel was included in the blend for last year’s Cuvee de la Nuit Profonde (and will continue to be part of this year’s version), this is the first time it’s being offered by itself.

“The two barrels that we put in the Cuvee last year just made us cry that we weren’t releasing it on its own, they were so good,” Whitman says. “But we didn’t have enough of it, and we still don’t have a lot.”

In addition to four 5-gallon kegs for draft sales at the taproom, which are sure to go fast, there will be a limited 50-case run of 22-ounce bottles.