Victory at XC

Victory Sports Hall is taking its game to a new level.

The sports-themed Coeur d’Alene gastropub has nearly doubled its number of taps starting today – from an already impressive 50 to a whopping 90. That’s in addition to another 50 at neighboring Crafted Tap House , run by the same owners (all the beers are available at both places).

The idea is to carry more mainstream selections at Crafted and focus the Victory taps on more exotic offerings, says bar manager Mike Detar.

“We’re trying to use Crafted for core beers from breweries, give them some love and make sure they’re properly represented in the market,” Detar says. “By doing that, I can get my hands on some specialty one-offs.”

Some intriguing selections are on the new taplist, including the likes of:

– Mikkeller’s Spontaneous Cherry sour and Almanac’s Vanilla Cherry Dogpatch Sour.

– Propolis’ herbed Litha saison and Achillea dubbel.

– Firestone Walker’s Bretta Weisse sour and Stickee Monkee quad.

– Grand Teton’s Oud Bruin sour brown and chardonnay barrel-aged American Sour.

– Epic’s Tart ‘n Juicy sour IPA and Heretic’s Cruel Beauty sour porter.

– Belching Beaver’s two IPA collaborations with metal band Deftones – Phantom Bride and Swerve City – plus the Viva La Beaver Mexican chocolate peanut butter stout.

– Black Raven’s Three Sundays Oaked Tripel.

– Deschutes’ Black Butte XXIX imperial porter.

– Selkirk Abbey’s barrel-aged Guilt imperial porter.

– Green Flash Spanish Trampoline IPA.

– Silver City’s New England-style Tropic Haze IPA.

– Uinta’s Cucumber Farmhouse saison.

– Anderson Valley’s Wild Turkey Bourbon Barrel Stout.

Detar has several upcoming events at Victory in the works (some in conjunction with Crafted). Those include an Epic tap takeover that will feature a four-year vertical of Big Bad Baptist imperial stout, and an Aug. 16 stop by Firestone Walker’s traveling sour beer educational seminar, “Jeffers Drops Acid Knowledge.”

And while things slow down in Coeur d’Alene over the winter, he’s not worried about turning over all those taps often enough to keep the beer fresh. Victory has a loyal following, he says, bigger beers and sours hold up well and everything is served from smaller quarter-barrel kegs (about 8 gallons) instead of the standard half-barrel.

“I walked into work the other day and changed 19 kegs,” he says.