Pleasures of the fresh

The biggest fresh-hop festival this side of Yakima returns to Spokane this weekend.

The Lantern Tap House’s fifth annual Freshtival will feature more than 30 beers and ciders made with just-picked hops from this year’s harvest, from Oregon and Southern Idaho on Friday and Washington and North Idaho on Saturday. Winners in people’s choice voting will be announced at 9 each night.

For $10, you get a commemorative tasting glass (good for both days) and five drink tokens, with a 4-ounce pour for one token, 8 ounces for two and a full pint for four. Extra tokens are $1 each.

A dozen Southern Region offerings will pour in the outside tent on Friday from 4 to 10 p.m., including:

• Beer Valley’s Black Madness imperial IPA/stout blend (10 percent alcohol by volume)

• Breakside’s What Fresh Beast, a New England-style IPA (Mosaic hops, 7 percent ABV)

• Cascade Lakes Sizzle Juice (Simcoe/Cascade/Warrior, 5.7)

• Crux Crystal Zwickle Belgian-style pale (Crystal, 6)

• Deschutes Hop Trip pale (Crystal, 5.9)

• Double Mountain Killer Green IPA (Centennial/Simcoe, 7.6)

• Double Mountain Killer Red IRA (Perle, 7.3)

• Ecliptic Altair pale (Centennial, 5.4)

• Everybody’s Head Stash IPA (Citra/Simcoe, 7.1)

• Fort George Fresh IPA (Citra, 6.4)

• Payette Wet ‘n Wilder (Chinook, 5.5)

• pFriem Amarillo Pale (5.5)

And on Saturday from 2 to 10, look for 15 tent taps from the Northern Region:

• 7 Seas Hop Prophet (Citra/Comet, 6)

• Bale Breaker/Cloudburst Citra Slicker IPA (6.2)

• Fremont Cowiche Canyon pale (organic Citra/Simcoe, 6)

• Georgetown Fresh Hop Bodhizafa IPA (Citra, 6.9)

• Icicle Apres Harvest pale (Centennial, 5)

• Iron Goat Citra Fresh Hop IPA (7.4)

• Matchless C.L.S. Farms Centennial IPA (5.8)

• MickDuff’s Wet Hop IPA (Amarillo, 5.9)

• Paradise Creek Alpha Madness IPA (Simcoe, 6.8)

• River City Funkadelicious pale (Citra, 5.8)

• Silver City Juicy Denali IPA (Denali, 7.7)

• Trickster’s BoatLoad IPA (Simcoe/Loral, 6.5)

• Twelve String Simcoe Fresh Hop Session IPA (5)

• Waddell’s 1.21 Gigahops IPA (Amarillo/Centennial, 6.2)

• Young Buck Warp 4 IPA (local homegrown hops, dry-hopped with regular El Dorado, 6.4)

Also pouring inside the Lantern on Saturday will be Backwoods Citra Fresh Hop IPA (6.5), Laughing Dog Hop Dog (Amarillo, 6.2), Ten Pin Fresh Lanes IPA (7), Two Beers Fresh Hop IPA (Centennial, 6.2) and two fresh-hop ciders from Finnriver (Cascade, 6.5) and Tieton (Mosaic, 6.9).

Live music will be provided inside each night at 9:30 by The Lamb Band on Friday and Fat Lady on Saturday.