Ales of Avista: IPA/fresh hop

This is the first in a series of posts exploring the beer lineup for this weekend’s Inland Northwest Craft Beer Festival.

It’s no surprise that India pale ale is the single biggest category at this year’s Inland Northwest Craft Beer Festival , or that this time of year, several of the entries are brewed with freshly harvested hops.

Here’s a closer look at what hopheads can expect to find on the field at Avista Stadium:

Usual suspects: Several breweries are bringing their standard selections, including Fremont Interurban (6.2 percent alcohol by volume, 80 International Bitterness Units), Icicle Creek Bootjack (6.5, 64), Iron Goat Head Butt (6.7, 90), Riverport Bullseye PA (5, 87), the Steam Plant’s Firebox (5.8, 69), Ten Pin’s Head Pin (7.4, 70), Three Magnets Little Juice (6.6, 75), Twelve Bar Brews’ Wicked Riff (6.9, 80), Twelve String’s Batch 201 (6.7, 79), Waddell’s Left Hook (7, 70) and Top Frog’s Rye IPA (6.2).

Big boys: Imperial IPAs on the roster include Diamond Knot Industrial (7.3, 80), Elysian’s Space Dust (8.2, 73), Fremont ‘s The Brother (8.5, 1 billion – hey, that’s what they say), Iron Goat Impaler (8.5, 72), and Twelve String’s Electric Slide (8.3, 120) and a bourbon barrel-aged version of its Volume 3 anniversary imperial red IPA (8.5).

Seasonals/specialties: Schooner Exact’s summer seasonal Hopvine (6.1, 60) is hopped with Chinook, Columbus and huge late additions of Citra, while Top Frog’s easy-drinking Sasion (4.8) is dry-hopped with Cascade, Citra and Columbus. Big Barn’s fragrant Miss Maggie’s Lavender IPA (6.1, 81) is brewed with lavender from a neighboring Green Bluff farm.

Boundary Bay’s Mosaic-accented Cedar Dust (6.5, 66) is in its rotating Galbraith Mountain series, named after popular mountain biking trails near the Bellingham brewery. Pike’s sessionable No. 4 Alba (4.2, 26), part of the statewide Ales for ALS benefit series, is one of its handful of beers using locally produced Skagit Valley Alba malt.

Fresh hop: Local versions include Iron Goat’s Simcoe-Citra and community-sourced Spo Hop (using an array of hop varieties contributed by customers), Perry Street’s Simcoe-Citra, River City’s all-Mosaic Funkadelicious (6.3, 70) and a Black Label release brewed with homegrown Chinook hops and accented with freshly grated grapefruit peel (5.4, 45).

Outside offerings feature the always-popular Cowiche Canyon organic from Fremont and Paradise Creek’s Alpha Madness (this year with Citra, Mosaic and Equinox), as well as Riverport’s Alpha Reign, Three Magnets’ El Dorado/Amarillo (5.8, 50), Twelve Bar Brews’ Cascade/ Centennial/Simcoe/Citra rendition (6.3, 50) and Two Beers’ version combining Centennial, Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade and experimental hops (6.2, 80).

Der Blokken, meanwhile, will be pouring its Praetorian Pale (5.8, 23) through a Randall of fresh hops.

Lighter shades of pale: Other more dialed-down pale ale offerings will include Diamond Knot’s Above Board (5.5, 25), Fremont’s Session Pale (4.5, 50), Georgetown’s flagship Manny’s (5.4, 38) and all-Citra Johnny Utah (5.6, 50), and Iron Goat’s Garbage Pale (5.2, 43).