What's Hoppin' this Week? 4/24

Welcome to What's Hoppin' this week, beer-lovers. I will be heading down to Las Vegas this weekend for some warm weather and irresponsible choices, but I've still managed to put together a solid list of events for your drinking pleasure.

Before we get to it, I posted this article from the Spokesman-Review on Facebook the other day, but if you missed it, Post Fall's Selkirk Abbey is merging operations with Spokane up-and-comer The Hidden Mother Brewery. The partnership will allow The Hidden Mother to increase their production and get Selkirk closer to their brewing capacity at their rather large facility. Both breweries are extremely well respected locally and brew complimentary styles without much overlap, so the partnership should greatly benefit both. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all shakes out. Best of luck!

Anyway, on the the events...

Thursday, April 25th

- Bellwether is celebrating the Spring by releasing the aged version of their annual garden beer, "Gru-it Ourselves." 3 to 9 pm. Facebook.

- The CD'A Growler Guys is hosting a blood drive where every donor will receive a $5 pint voucher from 3:30 to 5:45. They request that you call to reserve your spot. Facebook.

Friday, April 26th

- Steady Flow is hosting their next brewery battle and moving it to their Spokane Valley location. Come out and see if defending champ Humble Abode Brewing can hold off their challenger, Genus Brewing. They have also extended this to a weekend long affair so stop in to try the blind sampler, vote for your favorite before Sunday evening. Facebook.

Saturday, April 27th

- Spokane Young Life, a local non-profit that supports teen mothers, is hosting their annual Micros for Mama's fundraiser at Felts Field. Your $45 donation gets you samples from several local breweries, food and a live auction. Tickets can be purchased online. Facebook.

- If anyone is up for a bit of a road trip, the 3rd Annual Tri-Cities Craft Beer Festival is happening from noon to 6 pm at the Southridge Sports and Events Complex. More than 30 breweries will be on hand, including several that don't make their way over to Spokane very often. I went to the festival last year and had a great time. While you're there, make a weekend of it and visit some of the great Tri-Cities breweries like White Bluffs, Ice Harbor, and Atomic Ales. Facebook.

Sunday, April 28th

- The awards ceremony for the Steady Flow Brewery Battle will take place starting at 5 pm. Reps from both breweries will be on hand to hang out and talk beer and the winner will be announced at 7 pm. Facebook.

What's Hoppin' this Week? 4/17

Happy Easter everyone. The Easter Bunny isn't the only thing hoppin' this weekend, but first a bit of housekeeping. I just created an official 509BeerBlog Group on Facebook. Ideally, this will be a place for folks interested in local beer to share, recommend, chat and list events, big and small that sometimes get overlooked on my weekly posts. It will be community driven so the more folks that join, the better off we'll be.

On to the events...

Thursday, April 18th

- Beerocracy kicks off its four day long celebration of barrel aged beers starting at 4 pm. Every day between now and Sunday they will be releasing special, barrel-aged, beers from some of the biggest names in craft brewing. The release schedule can be found on their Facebook.

- Bottles is having a release party for Lagunitas Brewing's The Waldos' Special Ale from 6 to 9 pm. This beer is apparently very "botanical" and "dank" which could probably put you in the mood for whatever else you may be celebrating later in the weekend (possibly on Saturday?) Facebook.

- McClain's Pizzeria is hosting pint night featuring beers from Ellensburg's Iron Horse Brewing from 6 to 8 pm. Facebook.

Friday, April 19th

- Post Falls Brewing is celebrating their 3rd anniversary with a weekend-long party at their tap house starting at noon. There will be special beer releases, live music, food trucks and lots of fun. Full details can be found on Facebook.

- 12 String Brewing is celebrating the release of their very first pilsner from noon to 10 pm. Facebook.

- Badass Backyard Brewing is looking for help in naming one of their newest creations. From 2 to 9 pm, they will have this unnamed beer on tap for 4-oz samples. After you sample you will attempt to guess as many of the beers' qualities as you can. The person with the best guess wins. Facebook.

- Friday is also the start of the Spokane Home and Garden Expo, which is not something I'd normally post about, but from 5 to 8 pm they will be hosting a Barrel and Brews event. Several local breweries will be on hand your ticket gets you 5 sample tokens, a commemorative tasting glass and access to the rest of the home and garden expo. Facebook.

Saturday April 20th

- Westwood Brewing in Rathdrum, ID is having a party to celebrate their 2nd anniversary starting at 11 am. The event will feature live music, giveaways and a special menu. Facebook.

- Precious Thing Fermentation Project is the name of Spokane's newest nano brewery and they will be officially opening their doors at 2 pm. Please note that because they are so small, they are requesting that folks message them before heading over to ensure that there is room (and parking) for everyone. Facebook.

What's Hoppin' this Week? 4/10

Let's not waste any time this week and get right to the beer...

Thursday, April 11th

- It's the 10th anniversary of Perry Street stalwart The Lantern Tap House. They are celebrating all weekend long with beer releases and other special events. On Thursday, they will be hosting Oregon's Pelican Brewing for the release of their Pink Boots IPL which was brewed in collaboration with the Pink Boots Society, an organization that supports the many great women in craft beer. The beer will be tapped at 5 pm and a portion of the proceeds will be donated back to the Pink Books Society. Facebook.

- After almost two years, the 8th and final season of Game of Thrones premiers this Sunday. To celebrate, Community Pint has acquired six special beers brewed by New York's Ommegang Brewing  inspired by the books and show. They will be offering special taster flight of all six beers from Thursday to Sunday. Facebook.

- Up North Distillery in Post Falls is welcoming Wallace Brewing into their house to celebrate Idaho Craft Beer Month for a beer tasting from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Facebook.

Friday, April 12th

- The CD'A Growler Guys is working with local bakery Bean and Pie to offer a pie and beer paring from 6 to 8 pm. $25 gets you a special "frankenpie" (four different flavors) paired with four, 5-oz beers. Space is limited so call to reserve your spot. Facebook.

Saturday, April 13th

- Not to be outdone by opening their Post Falls location last week, the original Filling Station on 5th in CD'A is celebrating their 4th anniversary from noon to 10 pm. They have brought in Seattle's Fremont Brewing to help them celebrate and will have several rare Fremont beers available. Facebook.

- Several establishments in the Garland District, including Beerocracy, are coming together to celebrate the life of a friend who recently lost his battle with cancer. A portion of the proceeds from all of these bars will be donated to the family to help pay for medical expenses and funeral costs. Facebook.

Downdraft Brewing has closed

Per their (now discontinued) Facebook page, Post Falls’ Downdraft Brewing has closed its doors. Best of luck to the owners on all their future endeavors.

What's Hoppin' this Week? 4/3

Hey Folks! Here's what's going on this week in craft beer.

Thursday, April 4th

- Nectar is kicking off their featured flight this month which includes beers from two San Diego area favorites, Modern Times and AleSmith Brewing. The flight will have 3 beers from each brewery and they will also have a special collaboration on tap. 6 to 8 pm. Facebook.

- Coeur D'Alene Taphouse Unchained is hosting a tap takeover by Oregon's Rogue Brewing from 5 to 8 pm. Facebook.

- The Growler guys in CD'A are celebrating the beginning of Idaho Craft Beer Month with several Idaho breweries on hand to celebrate from 6 to 8 pm. They will be handing out special Idaho Brewers Unite stickers and if you put one on your growler, it's good for $2 off growler fills from any Idaho brewery the entire month of April. Facebook.

Friday, April 5th

- The Filling Station is opening their brand new Post Falls location and is celebrating all weekend starting at 11 am. Congrats on the new location! Facebook.

- It's the first Friday of the Month which means it's time for another River City Garage Party. There will be special beers on tap, music and art. Doors open at 4 pm. Facebook.

- Badass Backyard Brewing is celebrating nation caramel day with the release of their Caramel Apple Pale Ale. Stop in all day and grab a pint. Facebook.

- Every Friday in April, Community Pint is hosting food from Frankie's Wood Fired Creations and Catering from 6 to 10 pm (or 'til it's gone) with a different, special, menu each week. Facebook.

Saturday, April 6th

- Coeur D'Alene's Bombastic Brewing and Kellogg's Radio Brewing are getting together to brew a collaboration and decided it would be a good excuse to get people out to Bombastic's brewing facility for a day of beer and fun. There will be bottles from Bombastic on sale and $2 pints of Radio's beer on tap. Facebook.

INW Beer Business Spotlight: Spokane Brewery Tour

Hello beer lovers and welcome to the first of what I'm hoping will be an occasionally recurring series spotlighting some of the businesses, breweries and, most importantly, people that make the Inland Northwest such a great spot for craft beer. Feedback is always appreciated especially if there are additional questions you'd like to ask in future posts. Enjoy!

Today, we are focused on the Spokane Brewery Tour, a business founded by just last Summer by Spokane native Shelly Bailey. As you probably guessed, the company offers tours of craft breweries in the greater Spokane area.

I recently chatted with Shelly via email and asked her more about her company and her love of beer:

509BeerBlog: What inspired you to start your brewery tour business?

Shelly: I was born and raised in Spokane and have been fascinated the last few years with the emerging beer scene. All major cities have their own brewery tour so I figured, why not Spokane? And who better to start it than a local beer drinker?

509BeerBlog: What can people expect on a typical tour?

Shelly: We visit three breweries and sample several beers at each. At least one venue will give a us a full tour during our visit which is usually given by an owner.

509BeerBlog: What does the next year look like? Any future plans for the business you’d like to share?

Shelly: We would like to expand to winery tours within the next few years.

509BeerBlog: Thoughts about the Inland Northwest beer scene in general? Impressions you’ve gotten while traveling around to all these different breweries?

Shelly: It’s a very exciting time for craft beer in the Inland Northwest. I think Spokane is keeping up with the rest of the country as far as how many breweries we have seen pop up over the last few years.

509BeerBlog: You’re heading to an island and you can only bring one style of beer. What do you choose?

Shelly: A very light lager or possibly a gose.

509BeerBlog: Is there anything else you’d like people to know?

Shelly: We are a very small company that looks forward to growing over the next few years. Our goal is to provide safe, fun brewery tours for tourists and locals alike. We also provide custom tours where customers can choose to add more stops or even include a meal with their tour.

I would like to thank Shelly for taking the time to talk to me. For more information or to book your own tour, head over to brewerytourspokane.com. I have yet to take the Spokane tour, but I did take a similar tour when I was in Cincinnati last summer and I can tell you it is a great way to see a city and learn about craft beer. Also, not having to worry about driving is definitely a huge plus. Cheers everyone! 🍻

If you are the owner of a beer-based business or brewery in the Inland Northwest and would like to be featured in a future post, please send me an email (509beerblog@gmail.com) or reach out on social media (@509beerblog).