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

Former Coeur d’Alene Brewing owner opening new pub, but not brewing

Local craft beer pioneer T.W. Fisher is getting back in the business, though not as a brewer.

Thomas W. Fisher opened Coeur d’Alene Brewing and its accompanying T.W. Fisher’s brewpub in 1987 and scored a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival for his Centennial Pale Ale in 1988.

Now Fisher is launching The Midtown Pub at Fourth and Dakota in Coeur d’Alene, which he hopes to open in June. But he won’t be brewing again, as some have speculated.

“My beer-making days are done,” Fisher said. “It’s just going to be a little neighborhood pub.”

Well, not just any neighborhood pub. “I want to make it like a 100-year-old bar,” he said, with plenty of glass and dark cherry wood accenting the old wooden floors from the building’s early days as Woodcock’s Drugs.

And there will be much memorabilia from the former T.W. Fisher’s and more. “There will be a lot of things to look at,” Fisher said. “I tell people, you’re going to have to come in and see it because you won’t believe it.”

He’s already painted the building bright red with black trim, and restored the Woodcock’s-era windows that later were removed when the building became Empire Cleaners.

Plans call for 14 taps with a selection leaning toward local craft beer, plus wine. There also will be a small kitchen turning out the likes of salads, soups and sandwiches; Fisher has hired Tony’s chef CJ Fox-Lopp, who also set up Daft Badger Brewing’s food operation, as a consultant for that.

Fisher has worked in real estate the past 15 years after selling Coeur d’Alene Brewing, which later closed. He’s also continued to dabble in the bar business, most recently in Post Falls with Club 41 (now Lounge Fly), which he opened in 2010 and sold two years later.

Good Brews news

Good Brews Radio is moving from the airwaves to the Internet.

Host Adam Boyd, who started the craft beer program on KYRS-FM in March 2015, says he’s simply too busy to keep it going on a weekly basis. Active in the local film community, he’s also an assistant brewer at Iron Goat, a freelance beer writer and incoming president of the Inland Brewers Unite (IBU) homebrew club.

“I do them for the love of them, but at some point … there’s only so much love I can give,” Boyd told listeners during his final broadcast.

So he’s reinventing Good Brews as a twice-monthly podcast, with co-hosts. He hopes to have the first episode up next week; a website will be set up for that, but in the meantime you can follow his progress through Good Brews Radio on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Boyd also is asking for input on what listeners would like to hear on the podcast. You can tell him at feedback@goodbrewsradio.com.

Meanwhile, KYRS (Thin Air Community Radio) is seeking someone to host a new beer show. While Good Brews aired Sundays from 5 to 6 p.m., the time slot, length (30 minutes or one hour) and format all are open to discussion, said station manager Lupito Flores.

If you’re interested in the volunteer position, contact programdirector@kyrs.org.

Reuben’s arrives

Seattle’s acclaimed Reuben’s Brews began distributing in Spokane this week.

The brewery has won more than 100 medals in various competitions since opening in 2012, including gold at the Great American Beer Festival the past two years for its sour Gose wheat beer. It more than doubled production last year, allowing for expansion into the Portland area, Eastern Washington and North Idaho, and is beginning a barrel-aged sours program.

Launch parties continue today at 5 p.m. at Pints Alehouse and from 6 to 8 at Nectar Wine and Beer in Kendall Yards, which will have full pints as well as $10 taster flights of the Gose, Pilsner, Daily Pale, Crikey and Azacca IPAs and Bourbon Barrel Breakfast Stout.

Freshly tapped

The latest in Orlison’s Adventure Ales series is Hill Climb Honey Wheat (5.1 percent alcohol by volume, 31 International Bitterness Units), finished with Northwest amber honey.

Perry Street’s Amarillo single-hop pale (5.4, 40) is fermented with the yeast used in the brewery’s hazy New England-style IPA series but biofined for a clear beer with a clean fruitiness and slight dankness.

Black Label is pouring a fruity, sessionable Hop Hash IPA (5, 63) made with concentrated El Dorado hop matter and Amarillo pellets.

Young Buck’s Warp 1, the first in a series of 10 variations on a basic IPA recipe, is double dry-hopped with Cascade, Chinook and Nugget for fruity, resiny, spicy notes.

Iron Goat has tapped a spicy imperial Rye Not IPA (9.5, 90) bittered with Chinook and late-hopped with Cascade, Simcoe, Amarillo and Citra.

Bellwether’s Garden Gnome Session IPA (4, 40) is brewed with Vienna malt, hopped with Azacca, CTZ and Galena and finished with strawberry and raspberry leaf for a fruity, herbal character.

Daft Badger has a crisp new pilsner dubbed Day Drunk (4.5, 20).

Save the date

A Founders tasting at Bottles in Millwood today at 5 features Rubaeus raspberry ale, the All Day session and regular Centennial IPAs, Dirty Bastard Scotch, coffee-spiked Sumatra Mountain Brown and barrel-aged, chocolate/coffee KBS imperial stout.

Downdraft celebrates Cinco de Drinko on May 5 from 7 to 10 with giveaways, live music, food from Las Brasas Mexican Grill and a costume contest.

Daft Badger’s “Time for Another Party” on May 6 will include jalapeño cheddar brats, music by the Devon Wade Band from 4 to 8 and bottled beer specials.

The Inland Brewers Unite club marks National Homebrew Day with a joint brewing demonstration at Nu Home Brew in Spokane Valley starting at 10 a.m.

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