New Brewpubs Are Bubbling Up

It looks like 1996 is shaping up as the Year of the Brewpub in the Inland Northwest.

By year’s end, the number of microbrewery/restaurant combinations in the region could double, with new ones planned in Sandpoint, Post Falls and Spokane.

Sandpoint’s Pend Oreille Brewing Co. is off to the fastest start. While work on the pub portion won’t begin until March, beer is already in the fermenters and should be available for sale in half-gallon “growlers” at the brewery behind the General Store by the end of the month.

Pend Oreille beers also will be kegged for draft distribution throughout the area, with bottling scheduled to begin this summer.

Hefeweizen (unfiltered wheat beer), red ale and a chocolatey porter will be on tap first, followed by an authentic pilsner - a floral, hop-accented lager that few microbreweries make. (American mass-produced beers are pale imitations of the true style.)

Brewmaster Chris Campbell says Sandpoint’s water is almost a dead ringer for that found in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, home of the world-class Pilsner Urquell.

“I’m excited about it,” Campbell says. “It’s one of the most difficult beers to try to get right.”

In fast-growing Post Falls, after struggling for more than a year to firm up financing, Kent Roberts hopes his Casey’s Pub at Highway 41 and Seltice Road will be open by the end of June.

Roberts, an assistant brewer at the T.W. Fisher’s brewpub in Coeur d’Alene for the past two years, promises a “couple of surprises” in his rotating lineup of lagers and ales.

“We’re going to throw a few kinks in there,” he says. “There are some seasonals that I don’t think people have seen around here before.”

Roberts figures on 12 to 15 taps at the pub, including five of his own selections. He also plans to eventually sell some beer to other establishments under his Falls Brewing Co. label.

Turning to Spokane, a traditional British pub is the theme for Solicitor’s Corner, in the former O’Murphy’s restaurant at Division and Francis. March is the target date for opening, says manager Doug Devine.

Along with a full-service menu, Solicitor’s Corner will feature English-style ales from its small, in-house Sweetwater Brewing Co.

Devine says the pub’s 12 taps will include six to eight of its own beers from a varying lineup, which will include an authentic cask-conditioned ale served through a hand-pumped beer engine to create the lightly carbonated British character.

And the Ram Family Restaurant planned in the Park Center Building on North Howard, near the new Arena, will serve five or six beers made on the premises, along with four or five other micros.

Work on the casual restaurant, part of a Tacoma-based chain, is scheduled to begin in May, with the doors expected to open in August or September.

Eastward ho!

One of the area’s existing breweries, Northern Lights, is looking to move from Airway Heights to a more visible Spokane location and offer an appetizer-type menu along with its beer.

“We would like to have more of a relationship with Spokane,” says Northern Lights owner Mark Irvin. “Sitting out here in Airway Heights, people really don’t view us as a Spokane brewery. We’re trying to get visibility from I-90, kind of position ourselves as a landmark.”

Making the move will take at least a year, Irvin says.

Crossing the line

Beer from the M.J. Barleyhoppers brewpub in Lewiston, previously available only in North Idaho, has arrived in Spokane.

The initial brews include Rattlesnake Red, already on tap at The Viking, and a huckleberry-flavored wheat beer called Huckleweizen.

Holding the fort

A major facelift is in store for Spokane’s original brewpub, the Fort Spokane Brewery, including new carpet, paint, tables, chairs and lighting.

“It will be a real different look for us,” says general manager Carl Siler, who hopes to keep at least a portion of the pub open while the work goes on.

Siler says the project “absolutely has got to be done before March 1” - March being Fort Spokane’s biggest month, thanks in no wee part to its location along the St. Patrick’s Day parade route.

Hopping to it

Spokane’s Birkebeiner Brewing Co., which has talked of finding a new home, also has some major changes in the works, although owner James Gimurtu says he isn’t yet at liberty to discuss details.

As for the beer itself, Gimurtu says he’ll have a more consistent lineup of seasonal brews than in the past, with one maltier and one hoppier specialty on tap at various times of year. For example, in the fall, along with a more traditional Octoberfest, he’ll also offer an enormously bitter beer to “clear out the hop cabinets before the new crop comes in.”

In season

Speaking of seasonals, T.W. Fisher’s annual spring bock, due out in mid-February, promises to be even more potent than usual.

And Hale’s Ales will start rolling out its Irish ale next month. In the meantime, look for Hale’s Schweitzer Peak around town - particularly appropriate, now that there’s snow on the slopes.

, DataTimes MEMO: On Tap is a monthly feature of IN Food. Rick Bonino welcomes reader questions and comments about beer. Write to: On Tap, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. Call 459-5446; fax 459-5098.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rick Bonino The Spokesman-Review