What's Hoppin' This Week? 6/27

An abbreviated version of WHTW. I'm still out of town and it looks to be fairly quiet on the event front overall. Must be everyone prepping for the July 4th Holiday. I'll keep an eye out throughout the rest of the weekend and make additions as I see them, but we don't need a reason to get out and support our favorite local breweries, do we? Drink well.

Wednesday, June 27th

- Slate Creek is hosting this months CDA Full Moon Bike Ride. This coincides with a tap takeover featuring seven beers from Kellogg's Radio Brewing Company. There will be pre-ride food, music and $3 pints throughout the night. Event starts at 7:30 the ride takes off at 9. Instagram.

Thursday, June 28th

- Bellwether is releasing the latest of their "Sainted" beers. This one, named after St. Benno, is a spiced apple ale. This small batch is expected to go quickly, so get down there from 3-9 pm. Facebook.

Saturday, June 30th

- Several Spokane Valley breweries are hosting a brewery bike crawl in association with Mojo Cyclery. Riders will meet at Badass Backyard Brewing's taproom around 5 pm then the group will ride to Hopped Up Brewing, 12 String Brewing, Millwood Brewing and V-Twin Brewing before finishing back up at Badass. Overall the ride is about 2 miles. Instagram.

What's Hoppin' this Week?

Hey everybody - Here's what's going on this week. I will be spending the week down in the Bay Area going to a wedding and spending some time with my parents, so hold down the fort up here while I'm gone. I''ll likely be visiting a few breweries while I'm down there, so I'll be keeping my IG and Twitter updated with any cool stuff I come across. I'll also still be keeping an eye on what's going on up here, so as always, if you know of any events that I've missed, please let me know and I'll get them added. Thanks and drink well!

Thursday, June 21st

- Modern Times is continuing their northwest swing and will be hosting a tap takeover at The Filling Station on 5th in Coeur d'Alene. It kicks off at 5 pm. Instagram.

- Nectar in Kendall Yards has their bi-weekly flight night from 6-8 pm. This week they are featuring a themed flight of sour beers. Instagram.

Friday, June 22nd

- Beerocracy in Spokane's Garland District is having a second anniversary "Hootenanny" starting at 6 pm. They'll be breaking out some rare beers from their cellar and will have featured taps from Fremont and Firestone Walker. Congrats on two years! Here's to many more.🍻Facebook.

Saturday, June 23rd

- If you're into Cribbage, you'll want to be at English Setter this Saturday starting at 1 pm for their first ever Cribbage tournament. Registration ($5 in advance, $10 at the door) gets you entry into the tournament and your first beer. Preregistration is highly preferred. Facebook.

- The anniversary party continues at Beerocracy at 6 pm.

Tuesday, June 26th

- The Newport Highway Growler Guys will be hosting an event featuring several beers from 10 Barrel Brewing from 6:30 to 8:30. They will be giving out swag and offering special discounts on fills. Instagram.

What's Hoppin' this Week?

Welcome to "What's Hoppin' this Week?," your weekly look at what's going on in the Inland Northwest beer scene. The name may be kinda shitty, but the information should be good. This will mostly be focused on specific, one-off events going on around the area in the upcoming week, but you can follow the blog on Twitter, I tend to retweet smaller events (trivia nights, etc.) if I see them. Also, if you know of any events I may have missed in the post, please don't hesitate to reach out via email (509beerblog at gmail dot com), Twitter, Instagram or wherever. I'll update these weekly posts as I hear about things. Drink well.

Thursday, June 14

- As mentioned in my earlier post, Orlison will be ceasing operations and begin brewing full time as a contractor for No-Li. This means that Thursday evening is your last chance to visit their downtown Spokane taproom. They will be open from 4-9, slinging pints, filling growlers and selling merch. 

- Bellwether Brewing's twice monthly "Sainted Beers" release event goes from 3-9 at their brewhouse, where they will be tapping two new brews. "St. Boniface" is a "brown amber ale" brewed with cold-steeped dark grains and "St. Medard of Noyon" is a Spokane appropriate, "lilac sour." Both beers are small batches and are expected to go quickly. More details can be found on their Facebook page.

- From 5-8 pm, $1 of every pint sold at Perry Street Brewing will be donated to the Inland Northwest Chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters.

- Manito Tap House is hosting a tap takeover by Portland's Breakside Brewing. They will be tapping 7 beers from 6-8 pm.

Friday June 14th

- New South Perry spot, The Grain Shed is celebrating their official grand opening. This unique bakery/microbrewery will have two brews on tap, a "Single Malt Bere"and a "Red Russian Wheat." Both beers are brewed with locally sourced ingredients. They apparently sold out of beer pretty quickly during their soft opening last weekend, so get there early. They are open from 7 am to 10 pm. Instagram.

Saturday, June 16th

- The Lantern Tap House will be hosting a record exchange, featuring beers from Idaho's Grand Teton Brewing, including a new Raspberry and Blueberry Barrel Aged Gosé. Bring your vinyl in to trade or play. Instagram.

Wednesday June 20th

- Community Pint is hosting a tap takeover by San Diego-based Modern Times Beer, featuring 8 brews. Facebook.

Orlison Taproom Closing

This evening, Orlison Brewing announced the closure of their downtown Spokane taproom. Per their Instagram, they have contracted their production facility to brew for No-Li Brewhouse. Hopefully the partnership will be fruitful for everyone involved. The taproom, located at 1017 W. 1st Ave, will be open for two more days, June 13th and 14th from 4-9 pm, if you'd like to stop by and raise a glass. See their full post below.

To our valued customers, As of Friday, June 15 the Orlison Brewing Co taproom will close. Our last days open will be tomorrow, June 13, and Thursday June 14. We will be open both days from 4pm until 9pm pouring pints, filling growlers, and selling merch. The team at Orlison thank all of you, our customers, for supporting us as we grew our brand. We have loved being a part of the downtown beer community and meeting so many wonderful people along the way. Growing our production facility from its birth as Golden Hills to our current life as Orlison Brewing has been amazingly fulfilling. We have decided to change tactics, and have entered into an exclusive contract at our production facility to brew for No-Li Brewhouse. The Orlison brand and recipes are not being sold to No-Li. Our products will remain in the market at stores and as kegs for as long as our distributor partners have inventory. For any summer keg or package sales, please message us to set up a purchase directly from the brewery. Thank you again, and cheers! The OBC team

A post shared by Orlison Brewing Co. (@orlisonbrewing) on Jun 12, 2018 at 9:32pm PDT

Happy 6th, Iron Goat

Iron Goat is celebrating their 6th anniversary with a party today. $5 gets you in the door plus a commemorative glass and a donation to 2nd Harvest Food Bank. It kicks off at noon and music starts at 2. I wish the weather was a little nicer for them today, but congrats on six years.

Post Number One

Hey everyone and thanks for stopping by. My name is Greg and I like beer. I grew up in the Bay Area and have lived in Spokane since I came up to Gonzaga in 2004. In the (yikes, time flies😳) 14 years I’ve been up here, I’ve watched as the craft beer scene has exploded in size and popularity. I can now step out the door of my apartment on the west side of downtown and walk to 10 independent breweries or tap rooms within a mile, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Throughout the Spokane - Coeur d’Alene region, there are craft breweries of all sizes putting out virtually any kind of beer you can think of. But honestly, if you’re here, this is probably nothing you don’t already know. If you’ll indulge me for a few paragraphs, I’d like to lay out my reasons for starting this site and what I hope to provide. 

First, despite looking like what would pop into most peoples heads when they think of a “Northwest Beer Guy” - 30’s, very white, bearded, bespectacled, with a ever-growing collection of both flannel and beanies - I actually know shamefully little about beer. I’m not a person who is going to be having long conversations about the benefits of dry hopping vs wet hopping or whatever else may be burning up the forums on Beer Advocate. Don’t get me wrong, I love that there are people out there who think about this stuff because many of them are the ones brewing the great beer I get to drink, but despite my interest, I have invested neither the time nor the mental real-estate to becoming a “beer nerd” for lack of a better term. I know enough to know what I like and what I don’t like, but I am in no way qualified to judge a beer based on its merits, which is really just a long way of saying that this will not be a review site. I'm a firm believer in drinking what you like and figuring the rest out as you go along. 

Really, my vision for this site is to pick up where the dearly departed On Tap Blog left off. I was a devoted reader of Rick’s blog for a while and always loved the fact that it was a one-stop shop to see what was going on in the world of beer in the area. From things that were being tapped to the invaluable weekend-planner section that clued me in to events I wouldn’t have heard about without spending my half my day scrolling through Twitter or Instagram. When he announced that the blog was ending, I started looking around to see if I could find anything similar and it didn’t seem like there was, so I figured “what the hell, I might as well do it myself.”

To start, my goal will be to put out a weekly guide, probably on Thursday nights, that will list the various beer-related events happening in the area and maybe occasional other posts if the mood strikes. Please follow the blog on Twitter and Instagram, where I’ll be retweeting (and whatever the instagram version of retweeting is) informative posts from local breweries and craft beer bars. You can also add me on Untappd (GWild85), where I hope to be more stringent about actually tracking the beers I drink.

Also, if you have any thoughts, tips, suggestions or events you want me to be aware of, don’t hesitate to send me an email at 509BeerBlog@gmail.com. Thanks and drink well. 🍻