Your weekly roundup
Catching up with more local craft beer news:
• Advance tickets are on sale for The Lantern Tap House's fifth annual Winter Beer Fest on Jan, 12-13, featuring seasonal offerings from two dozen local and regional breweries. Presale price is $20, which includes a commemorative mug, pom beanie and five tasting tokens.
• Mark your calendar for more upcoming events in the new year:
– The Viking hosts a release party Jan. 13 for a doppelbock collaboration between Waddell's and Tumwater's Matchless Brewing.
– Iron Goat hosts its first in-house beer dinner Jan. 14; cost for the five-course meal is $55, and seating is extremely limited.
– Fremont's Barrels to Bottles event Jan. 18 at Community Pint will include the likes of Unicorn Tears imperial oatmeal stout with cherries, Rusty Nail imperial stout with licorice and cinnamon bark, Coconut B-Bomb winter ale and Brew 2000 barleywine.
– Daft Badger celebrates its third anniversary Jan. 20 with live music, food specials and a bonfire.
– The Steam Plant is scheduled to reopen Jan. 22.
– River City will be featured in a beer dinner Jan. 30 at Clover, and mark its fifth anniversary Feb. 2 with the first "garage party" in the brewery now that the taproom is closed.
– Bellwether's GruitFest returns Feb. 1 with more than a dozen herbed beers and meads from the host and eight guest providers.
• Voting is underway for this year's Great American Beer Bars poll by the Brewers Association. Manito Tap House was named Washington's top beer bar in last year's survey; online voting continues through Saturday at craftbeer.com.
• For the second straight year, Spokane has been named the 11th best city for beer drinkers nationwide by SmartAsset.com.
The financial website has released its list the past three years based on five factors including number of breweries (total and per 100,000 population), their average Yelp ratings and a pair of more general, noncraft criteria: bars per 100,000 residents and the average price for a pint of domestic draft beer.
Spokane finished just behind 10th-place Seattle, which was one spot behind last year at No. 12. In the first study in 2015, Seattle placed sixth and Spokane was tied for 20th.