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

Crafted rolls out mini-kegs for first Firkin Festival

Crafted Tap House is making a big deal out of some smaller kegs.

The Coeur d’Alene gastropub on Saturday presents the area’s first Firkin Festival, featuring more than two dozen cask-conditioned beers by brewers both local and beyond.

Mike Detar, Crafted’s beverage director/bar manager, said he got the idea from a festival he attended at the Triple Rock brewery in Berkeley, California.

“It was just a super fun event,” Detar said. “I thought it would be really cool to bring it to this area. A lot of people don’t even know what a firkin is.”

A firkin is a container – traditionally 10.8 gallons (that’s 9 imperial gallons in England), or about two-thirds the size of a regular keg – used to create naturally carbonated beers containing active yeast. Additional hops or other ingredients often are added.

They’re tapped by driving a stake into one end of the cask with a hammer, a sometimes messy spectacle that’s part of the fun.

While there have been similar festivals in Seattle and Portland, firkins usually show up around here only on occasion, one at a time.

The lineup for Crafted’s festival features infused stouts from Trickster’s and Slate Creek, Selkirk Abbey’s Guilt imperial porter over whiskey-soaked oak chips, and River City’s Red with espresso beans and dry-hopped Clocktower imperial IPA, along with the likes of Bayern’s Citra dry-hopped Dump Truck Summer Bock, Pelican’s Scotch Ale and Odell’s Chocolate Crème Brulee Stout.

Other participating breweries include Iron Goat, No-Li, Laughing Dog, Paradise Creek, PostModern, Fremont, Epic, New Belgium and Sierra Nevada.

The festival opens at 11 a.m. in the parking lot, with live music throughout the day. Admission is $25, which includes a commemorative tasting glass and seven 5-ounce pours.

For more information, call (208) 292-4813.

Brewery watch

• New Boundary Brewing in Cheney has set an opening date for May 29, just in time for the town’s Mayfest.

• Airway Heights lager specialist Orlison is opening a downtown Spokane tasting room in the former Luxe Coffee House, 1017 W. First Ave. Look for it later this summer, with 16 taps pouring an assortment of Orlison standbys and specialties plus guest handles.

• Zythum Brewing in Fairfield is increasing its capacity by buying the former seven-barrel brewhouse from MickDuff’s in Sandpoint, which recently stepped up to a 20-barrel system. Zythum, which has been brewing on a tiny one-barrel setup, hopes to have the new equipment up and running by early August.

Freshly tapped

• River City’s seasonal Clocktower imperial IPA (8.5 percent alcohol by volume, 110 International Bitterness Units) returns for a third summer with a bigger hop character highlighting fruity Amarillo and pungent Apollo.

• Perry Street is pouring a single-malt Kumquat IPA (6.8, 65) collaboration with Manito Tap House, featuring a smooth, golden body from pilsner malt and flaked oats accented by fruity Amarillo and Mosaic hops and a light kumquat flavor.

• Waddell’s Timber House Scottish ale (6.7, 44), brewed in conjunction with Post Falls’ Timber House Gastro Pub, gets its smoky notes from peated malt.

• No-Li’s Defacto – a blend of whiskey-barrel aged Jet Star imperial IPA and Wrecking Ball imperial stout – is rolling out to specialty stores in wax-dipped 22-ounce bottles, as is Selkirk Abbey’s wine-barrel aged Guilt imperial porter.

Save the date

• Waddell’s Brewpub presents a release party May 29 featuring Dry Fly barrel-aged versions of the Fireman’s Amber, Shattered Glass imperial IPA and an imperial Alligator Oatmeal Stout (also on nitro). Admission is $10, which includes a drink ticket, raffle ticket for prizes and food.

• The annual Spo-Can festival returns to the Elk Public House on May 30-31 with more than 50 canned craft beers plus live bands. Spokes Mobile Canning also will be there that Saturday to can local homebrews; see their Facebook page for more info.

• Tickets are on sale for the Washington Brewers Festival, June 19-21 at Marymoor Park in Redmond, Washington, featuring 105 breweries from around the state. For details, see washingtonbeer.com.

Send beer news, comments and questions to Rick Bonino at boninobeer@comcast.net.