SCBW: Day 1

The first official Spokane Craft Beer Week is getting out of the gate with a bang.

The week’s centerpiece is six special collaboration beers by a dozen area breweries, and four already are on tap today for your drinking pleasure:

Jazzywag: When you hear that hopheads Terry Hackler of Twelve String and Fred Colby of Laughing Dog are combining on a beer, you probably expect some sort of gnarly IPA.

That was discussed, Hackler acknowledges, but Colby concluded, “If we’re going to do this, we need to do something completely out of character for both of us.”

A Laughing Dog assistant offered an idea he’d been wanting to try: a Belgian golden strong ale with lavender and sweet orange. At 8.2 percent alcohol by volume and 50 International Bitterness Units, the result is big but easy-drinking.

“The lavender aroma really comes through – I wish could get that kind of aroma with hops,” Hackler says. But both the lavender and orange flavors are fairly subtle, he assures, as is the fruity/spicy Belgian yeast character.

It’s on today at Twelve String, with a successor of sorts on the way as well. Hackler used some of the same yeast to make a strong dark ale that’s headed into bourbon barrels for aging.

Barn City Flower Power: Lavender also takes center stage in this collaboration between Green Bluff’s Big Barn and River City , which debuts the beer today at its downtown tasting room.

It was inspired by Big Barn’s previous Miss Maggie’s Lavender IPA, which also was hopped with Amarillo and used lavender from a neighbor on the bluff, Fleur de Provence , operated by Stan and Maggie Smith. But there’s a twist this time with the addition of rye, says Big Barn’s Craig Deitz.

While the original concept from River City’s Moose Sanders and Todd Grove was a session IPA, he says, it ended up a hefty 6.6 percent ABV along with a more modest 40 IBU.

“It’s not a session in terms of alcohol content, but hopefully in terms of balance,” Deitz says.

Steam Setter Red IPA: Five minutes into their planning session, English Setter ’s Jeff Bendio and the Steam Plant ’s Ben Quick knew what they wanted to do.

“We didn’t want to do anything too exotic, but we didn’t want to do anything that either of us already brews,” says Quick. “We both have ambers and IPAs, let’s combine those.”

Despite a healthy dose of caramel malt, Steam Setter (5.9, 63) is on the dry side thanks to Bendio’s clean American ale yeast (the Steam Plant typically uses a fruitier English yeast).

The bitterness builds nicely from a combination of Columbus, Centennial and Cascade in the kettle, rounded out by dry-hopping with more Centennial and Challenger, which lends what Quick describes as a minty note.

It’s on today at the Steam Plant and tomorrow at English Setter when it reopens for the week, with souvenir logo glasses available at both places.

SMaSH Bock: Bryan Utigard from Waddell’s Brewpub is a big fan of German-style beers, so it’s no surprise the discussion turned that way when he got together with the Wallace Brewing crew.

Wallace’s Jack Johnson suggested a SMaSH – single malt and single hop, a popular buzzword in brewing these days – and they soon settled on Bonlander, a particularly rich version of Munich malt, and classic, spicy Saaz hops.

Lots and lots of Saaz hops, to get to 32 IBU along with 6.3 percent ABV.

“Czech Saaz is usually 3.5 to 5 percent alpha acids, so you have to use quite a bit to get it to that (IBU) level,” Utigard says. “There was like 12 pounds of Czech Saaz.”

Look for it on tap today at Waddell’s. And all four collabs – plus a raspberry gose from Ramblin’ Road and MickDuff’s, and a sour blend from Iron Goat and Paradise Creek  – will be poured in a special event Tuesday at No-Li (more on that to come).

Along with those official collaborations, there’s one more being released today: a kumquat-infused single-malt IPA (6.8, 65) jointly cooked up by Perry Street ’s Ben Lukes and Manito Taphouse owner Patrick McPherson.

Lukes calls it a mashup of one of McPherson’s favorite beers – the highly-touted Yellow Rose IPA from Lone Pint Brewery in Magnolia, Texas, which is a pilsner/Mosaic SMaSH – and the Fortunella kumquat wit from his pals at Portland’s Breakside Brewing.

It’s bittered with Columbus, followed by flavor and aroma additions of Amarillo and dry-hopping with Mosaic, and infused post-fermentation with 40 pounds of kumquats. With the pilsner malt, Lukes says, “It has a very light, beautiful color.”

It goes on tap today at 5 p.m. at Manito and on Tuesday at Perry Street.

Also on the schedule today for Craft Beer Week openers:

– River City has the first of its daily tap takeovers, at Pacific Avenue Pizza from 5 to 7 p.m.

– All-local beers will be pouring at The Lantern Tap House and the Hop Shop .

– The South Hill Growler Guys is featuring beers from the greater Inland Northwest Ale Trail, with several also on tap at the North Side location.

– Manito Tap House is pulling out rare and cellared kegs throughout the week.

– Perry Street is offering flights of three artisan cheeses and three beer samples all week long.