Avista preview: Going with the grain
This is the second in a series of posts exploring the beer lineup for this weekend’s Inland Northwest Craft Beer Festival.
Yesterday we told you about all the hoppy concoctions coming to this weekend’s Inland Northwest Craft Beer Festival. Now it’s time to give grain its due.
Here’s a look at the more malt-forward offerings pouring Friday and Saturday, including fall seasonals and bigger beer styles:
Season’s greetings: Oktoberfest started last Saturday in Munich, and interpretations of its traditional Marzen-style lager are on the way from Dru Bru (4.7 percent alcohol by volume), Boundary Bay (5.7), Northern Ales (6), Waddell’s (6.2), Silver City (6.4) and Young Buck (6.8) with its Bucktoberfest through a Randall of coffee, cinnamon and French oak.
Fall also means pumpkins, and beers like Blewett’s Pumpkin Ale (5.5); Big Barn’s Golden Pumpkin, with homegrown gourds from the Green Bluff farm (6.3); Pike’s big Harlot’s Harvest (8.3); and Schooner Exact’s even bigger, barrel-aged Whiskey Dick Cantwell (9.9). Two Beers is bringing the Pumpkin Spice from its corporate sister Seattle Cider (6.9).
Other cool-weather offerings include a pair of Marzen-inspired ales – Diamond Knot’s Fog Bank (5.6) and 7 Seas’ Autumn (6.5) – and Reuben’s Roasted Rye (7), described as a cross between a winter warmer and an IPA. And the coffee cinnamon version of Fremont’s barrel-aged B-Bomb winter ale (14) will pour on the rotating tap Saturday at 1 p.m.
Great Scots: Northern offers its Okanogan Highlander Scotch Ale (6) and Silver City its heartier Fat Scotch (9.2). Bellwether brings its Albion (8.2) – brewed with peated malt and Scottish wild heather, which adds a sour touch along with its floral character – and will have a rotating tap with selections from its recent small-batch series using Scots Bere barley, which originated in the Orkneys.
Down with the brown: This lesser-seen style is represented by Badass Backyard’s coconut-infused No Alibi (5), Orlison’s Boulder Garden (6.1) and a whiskey barrel-aged version from Bennidito’s (6.8).