Always Room For One More

Today’s On Tap trivia question: Solicitor’s Corner is

a) where the panhandlers hang out downtown.

b) where lawyers have to stand when they’re bad.

c) Spokane’s newest brewpub and restaurant.

The answer, of course, is (c) - and what it brings to the local beer scene is anything but trivial.

The big building at the northwest corner of Francis and Division, full of dark, warm wood, is intended to capture some of the homey feel of a British “public house,” or “pub” for short.

It most recently was O’Murphy’s, but for many years before that housed the Country Cousin, which moved just up the street. Solicitor’s brewing operation is dubbed the Sweetwater Brewing Co., in memory of Country Cousin’s old Sweetwater Saloon.

Following some bureaucratic brewery license delays, Solicitor’s has already filled half of its 14 taps with its own beers (there’s also a house root beer). Several are on the lighter side in both body and alcohol, to appeal to craft beer beginners.

“Many people still aren’t familiar with the (higher) alcohol content of microbrews,” says brewmaster Brennan Cahill, a former construction worker and commercial fisherman who started home brewing as a hobby. “We didn’t want to overpower them.”

There’s the crisp, tart Sweet Wheat; the smoother Wandermere Hefeweizen; a golden Tall Tale Pale Ale, with a hint of hoppiness in the finish; the fairly dry, somewhat hoppier Cock and Bull Amber Ale; the mild Friar Brennan’s Brown Ale (named after the Tuck-like Cahill); the more full-bodied, dryish Pot Belly Porter, and a mellow, relatively light Laughing Horse Stout (which Cahill plans to beef up a bit). All except the hefeweizen are aged at least seven days, to help round out the flavors.

Some bigger beers are also in the works, beginning with Howdy’s Scottish Red, a malty brew, dry-hopped for a Northwest accent, that should be on tap shortly. So are a few fruit beers - first, a Raging Red Hag Raspberry, to be followed by a peach ale and possibly a darker beer flavored with boysenberry.

Cahill, a lager fan, plans to produce some of those cleaner, longer-conditioning beers (which most microbrewers don’t bother with because of the extra time they take), starting with a light lager that could replace the pale ale for a while. He’s even talking about an Anchor-style steam beer, a cross between ale and lager that’s fermented with lager yeast but at warmer, ale-like temperatures.

The house beers do kitchen duty in the tempura batter and the bangers (a mild, veal-based British steamed sausage). Look for more dishes made with beer on future menus, as well as some full-scale beer dinners.

For now, a big part of Solicitor’s job is educating its clientele - like the pair of 80-something ladies who recently ventured in. After some samples, says a smiling manager Doug Devine, “They each ordered a pint.”

Bottle stations

Among the latest entries in the ever-expanding array of bottled beers fighting for supermarket shelf space:

Three selections are available from TableRock, a Boise microbrewery - White Bird Wheat, which starts smooth but builds to a tangy finish; RazzBerry Ale, intensely fruit-flavored but not overly sweet, and a complex, malty, toffeeish Nut Brown Ale.

Pyramid Rye, the year-round replacement for the Western Washington brewery’s former Amber Wheat, is copper-colored and extremely flavorful, full of fruity, spicy, tangy notes.

Killian’s Wilde Honey is billed only to “UniBev Ltd., Golden, Co.,” but Coors should take full credit for this pleasant, light mahogany beer, with lots of clover honey flavor up front and a soft, malty, slightly sweet finish.

Full Sail’s spring seasonal Equinox Extra Special Bitter is nothing short of superb - assuming you like hops, that is. The light reddish brew blends the bitterness of English Target hops with the floral spiciness of Saaz, an unusual addition for the British-bred style.

And by the time you read this, the first-ever bottled beers from Widmer Brothers should have started showing up in stores, including the Portland brewer’s flagship Hefeweizen, arguably the most popular draft microbrew around these parts. “The biggest event in the short history of the Northwest craft brewing industry,” as The Oregonian puts it? Well, no. But it will be interesting to see who the Hefe ends up crowding out of grocery coolers.

Reel ale

And speaking of new arrivals, Olympia’s well-crafted Fish Tale ales, formerly found around here only in North Idaho, have showed up in Spokane. Hopheads will be hooked on the Fish Eye India Pale Ale, the brewery’s biggest seller, an authentic interpretation of the boldly bitter style that features British Kent Golding hops.

While Fish Tale is only available on draft for now, there’s a stock offering underway to build a new brewery and add a bottling line.

, 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 or e-mail to rickb@spokesman.com