The Region’s Microbrews Runneth Over

When you see something every day - a child, a tree, a stomach - you may not realize just how fast it’s growing.

It’s the same with the Spokane beer scene. By now, most of us probably think nothing of being able to find a decent draft most everywhere we go.

But when Seattle beer expert Larry Baush came to town last month for the first time in a year, he was impressed by how much things have changed.

More brands are available in more places, including hotels and restaurants as well as taverns. Servers are wearing microbrew T-shirts. The ambitious Birkebeiner brewpub is doing a booming business.

“You’ve really come of age,” Baush told a luncheon audience at Hill’s Someplace Else restaurant and pub.

Baush, who publishes The Pint Post, recently had the honor of escorting British beer authority Michael Jackson on a whirlwind Washington tasting tour as research for an upcoming book.

Spokane area brews, delivered to Seattle for sampling, did well. Baush said Jackson called Fort Spokane’s Red Alt “the most authentic Dusseldorf-style alt beer he has tasted from an American craft brewer.”

That’s high praise indeed, says Fort Spokane brewer Brian Johnson, “especially since I’ve never been to Germany and had one of those beers.”

Jackson also had kind words for Northern Lights products, which Baush agrees have come a long way since he sampled them in early 1994 when the brewery was brand new.

“I think he’s going to be surprised by the tidal wave of interest he’s going to experience with his beers,” Baush said of Northern Lights brewer Mark Irvin.

There are more budding brewers on the horizon. Three dozen showed up for an advanced all-grain brewing class Baush taught at Jim’s Home Brew Supply - more than double last year’s total.

Berry, berry good

Both Northern Lights and Fort Spokane should have new brews on tap by the time you read this.

Irvin has decided on a blueberry creme ale as his first fruit beer, fermented with whole blueberry puree to create a taste he describes as “tart, not too sweet.” Look for it on special at The Viking.

Following a few false starts, Northern Lights’ long-awaited pale ale also should be available by the middle of the month. “I really want it to be excellent,” Irvin says.

And over at Fort Spokane, the latest seasonal offering is a repeat of the rye beer that proved so popular last summer.

Beer budget

Across the state line, Kent Roberts’ plans for Post Falls’ first brewpub are hung up on a familiar hurdle - financing.

“We’ve got a location, we’ve got the recipes, we’ve even got a couple of people who want to come to work for us,” says Roberts, an assistant brewer at T.W. Fisher’s in Coeur d’Alene.

While a couple of prospective investors are in the works, he says, “We’re still offering stock, trying to get people involved.” If anyone is interested, Roberts can be reached at (208) 773-1470.

Drink your dinner

On the beer dinner scene, Hill’s Someplace Else, 518 W. Sprague, weighs in with a menu featuring Oregon’s distinctive Rogue ales next Tuesday.

The lineup includes stuffed pork chops served with pears marinated in Rogue’s Mogul winter seasonal brew. But it’s not your run-of-the-mill Mogul; it sat around at the distributor for a full year and aged beautifully, according to chef Dave Hill.

Cost is $17.95. A $10 deposit is required, with no refunds for cancellations less than 24 hours in advance. Call 747-3946 for reservations.

The Cannon Street Grill, 144 S. Cannon, which experienced sold-out success with its first-ever Hale’s beer dinner last month, is doing it again with Redhook offerings on April 25.

Cost of the four-course meal is $19.95. Reservations are limited to the first 55 people paid in advance; call 456-8660.

Beyond the pale

Speaking of Redhook, you may have noticed that its Ballard Bitter label has evolved from one of the paler pale ales on the microbrew market into a hoppy India pale ale.

The bolder new recipe is one that was previously available only as part of Redhook’s seasonal “blueline,” which was rarely found around these parts.

“Sales were lagging in the (Ballard Bitter) brand,” says Pamela Hinckley, Redhook’s marketing manager. “There was room for improvement. We figured if we dialed up the beer, people would come back to it.”

The move may also help quiet some of the skeptics who predicted Redhook would make more boring “Budhook” beers after it sold a 25 percent interest in the brewery to Anheuser-Busch in return for access to the Busch distribution network nationwide.

Groundbreaking is scheduled May 1 for the first of a planned series of Redhook regional breweries outside the Pacific Northwest, in Portsmouth, N.H. Sam Adams, look out!

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