A pilsner anniversary

Hopped Up is welcoming a new year with a new beer.

For its second anniversary celebration Saturday starting at 2 p.m., the Spokane Valley brewery is releasing a Valley Pilsner brewed with all pilsner malt along with Magnum and Zythos hops.

While it’s big for the style, at 6.5 percent alcohol by volume and 50 International Bitterness Units, owner/brewer Steve Ewan says it’s still refreshing.

“It’s still really light and crisp,” he says. “It fermented down even past what I was expecting. It finishes plenty dry, like a pilsner should.”

Ewan made a full 10-barrel batch, so it should be around for a month or two if you can’t make it tomorrow.

But if you don’t show, you’ll miss out on live music on the patio by The Stinkin’ Beatles at 5 followed by Spokane Dan and the Blues Blazers at 7, the Tacos El Guero food truck and merchandise door prizes.

Looking to the year ahead, Ewan hopes to take advantage of that 10-barrel system and further expand his distribution around town, when he can get time between brewing and running the taproom.

In-house, another wood-aged beer is in the works using Black Swan strips , a Hickory Stout that should be ready for fall. (Ewan previously did a Maple Cream and Oak Stout.)

Also look for the continuation of Hopped Up’s eclectic event mix. Along with live music, the brewery has hosted everything from car shows to belly dancers to last Saturday’s drum circle . That was the idea of an 80-something couple who frequent the brewery, says Ewan, who plans on a repeat next month.

“It was a pretty mixed-culture event,” he says. “It was really energetic. They were letting anybody sit in, so a lot of our customers ended up getting out there.”

Above all, Ewan says, “We just like to see everybody having a good time. The main thing is to have people come in and relax.”