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

Your weekly roundup

Rick Bonino

Catching up with more news from the week in craft beer:

• Badass Backyard has announced that its long-planned Coeur d'Alene taproom will open March 3 in the Coeur d'Alene Fresh retail complex. While the beer will be shipped from the Spokane Valley brewery for now, a small satellite brewing operation also is in the works.

Meanwhile, the Valley taproom now is open seven days a week – with Monday hours being added from 2 to 9 p.m. – and is opening at noon on Friday and Saturday, two hours earlier than before.

River City will release this year's Riverkeeper IPA at its next First Friday "garage party" in the downtown brewery March 2, with live music and food from the 3 Ninjas truck. The recipe varies each year for the beer, which benefits the Spokane Riverkeeper environmental protection program.

• Tickets are available for a pair of upcoming beer dinners:

– Coeur d'Alene's Filling Station on 5th has a Breakfast Beer Dinner on Feb. 26 starting at 9 p.m. with seven breakfast-inspired courses accompanied by beers from Firestone Walker; cost is $35.

– A four-course Matchless dinner is scheduled Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. at Nectar Catering and Events in downtown Spokane; tickets are $39.99.

• Finally, a few fun facts from the Hop Growers of America's newly released 2017 Statistical Report:

– Idaho now is the No. 2 hop-producing state with 13.2 percent of the national crop, passing Oregon (11.4). Washington remains on top with 75.4 percent.

– Last year's hop harvest was up 20 percent from 2016, topping 100 million pounds for the first time. Yields per acre increased 14 percent thanks to maturing hop plants and better weather conditions.

– U.S. hop production and acreage both have increased close to 80 percent since 2012 in conjunction with the craft beer boom.

– Over that same period, the more aromatic hops favored by craft brewers have gone from 20 percent of overall production to 50 percent, compared to traditional bittering hops. Citra and Simcoe have climbed from the eighth and ninth most-grown varieties to third and fourth (behind Cascade and Centennial) while Mosaic is sixth.