Homegrown gruit

This time of year, it’s common for breweries to seek backyard crops for community fresh-hop brews (like the call New Boundary just issued).

Now Bellwether – which specializes in old-world styles including gruits, which are herbed, often hopless beers – is taking that a step further.

The North Spokane brewery is inviting gardeners to bring homegrown herbs and spices to Sunday’s Gru-It Ourselves harvest party and brew day from 2 to 4 p.m. Hops are welcome as well, along with fruit and vegetable greens and even weeds.

Those will be tossed into a mass brew that will be released for Bellwether’s second anniversary Sept. 29. There will be discounted pints during Sunday’s event and goodies for those who bring in their bounty.

There are a few qualifiers: Your contributions must be identifiable (by sight or smell) and not sprayed with pesticides. And there’s no guarantee everything collected will be used in the beer; it does need to be drinkable, after all.

"It's a little bit of an experiment," Bellwether's Thomas Croskrey says. "I hope people don't get too personally attached if something they bring in is too weird, or if they think that it's edible but it turns out to be toxic."

And some herbs need to be added later in the brewing process to preserve their character, he says, like basil. "It turns out like spinach if it's boiled too long," Croskrey says.

"We're keeping a light-hearted attitude about it," he says. "We'll see how it goes. If it goes well, we'll do it again next year."