For my next trick …

To say that Trickster’s has a few new ones up its sleeve would be an understatement.

As it prepares to celebrate its second anniversary, the Coeur d’Alene brewery is launching a weekly cask series, beginning a barrel-aging program and preparing to can its beers, all with a new head brewer on board:

– Trickster’s cask beers are a bit of a hybrid, naturally carbonated in the keg with added flavorings, but served through a regular carbon dioxide tap. The slightly creamier result is somewhere between a typical beer and a traditional cask ale served through a hand pump.

Currently pouring is a pineapple-juiced version of The Hoppit fresh hop ale (made with Simcoe, Citra, Chinook and Mosaic), which owner Matt Morrow says restores some of the brightness the Hoppit had when it was brand-new.

Both that and the regular Hoppit will be gone soon. A new cask ale will be tapped most Fridays from now on, starting next week with another fresh hop offering – Feel the Love CDA, a Cascadian dark ale – flavored with coffee and oak chips.

– Feel the Love, made with the same four hops as the Hoppit (though much heavier on the Simcoe) plus the lesser-seen Sorachi Ace, is a malty, opaque brown beer with coconut notes up front and a bit of bubblegum-like fruitness in the finish (a Sorachi hallmark).

It’s the first recipe developed entirely by new head brewer Evan Ruud, whose family owns Old Schoolhouse Brewing in Winthrop. After starting out there, he worked at Ska Brewing in Durango, Colorado – like Morrow, though they weren’t at Ska at the same time – before returning to the Northwest.

– Ruud’s presence allows Morrow to focus more on big-picture planning, like the line of canned beers expected to launch around the first of the year.

Shape Shifter IPA, Bear Trap Brown and the seasonal Soul Warmer Porter (which should start rolling out on draft next week) will be the first to go into six-packs of 12-ounce cans. The kolsch will replace the porter next summer, with Inspector Stonewall’s Amber also scheduled to join in at some point.

– Some of last year’s Naughty Nick winter oatmeal stout – made with cocoa powder, vanilla, cinnamon and brown sugar – will go into a wine barrel next week along with lactobacillus, to add a sour touch, as Trickster’s begins its barrel-aging program. Morrow says it will stay there at least six months before being bottled in 22-ounce bombers.

Beyond all that, the brewery is stepping up its Spokane distribution (particularly on the North Side); installing a new grain mill next week that will increase efficiency, paving the way for an imperial IPA; and planning on boosting its production capacity to handle the canning.

Oh, and that anniversary party? Mark your calendar for Nov. 29.