On Tap: Get ready for GruitFest at Bellwether

Bellwether’s third annual GruitFest on Friday features more than a dozen gruit ales, an ancient style brewed with herbs and usually no hops.

The centerpiece again is a We Are Gruit collaboration (5.5 percent alcohol by volume), which this year saw Bellwether joined by Genus, Mountain Lakes and Whistle Punk along with Hierophant Meadery.

They began by brewing a Finnish-style sahti, but – instead of the traditional juniper branches – used the white fir that had been Bellwether’s Christmas tree. “We could burn it, throw it away or brew with it,” said brewer/co-owner Thomas Croskrey.

“I’ve always gotten citrus notes from these coniferous trees,” he said, “but this one just absolutely blew me away with how orange it was.” The bark contributed a similarly unexpected key lime character.

Two separate herb blends were added to complement those flavors, one of rose hips, juniper berries, yarrow, birch bark, orange peel and dong quai root, the other with black pepper, cardamom, rosemary and caraway seed.

“The goal really was to capitalize on the orange and balsamic flavor (of the base beer),” Croskrey said. “We tried to keep everything really balanced so it was one big, unified flavor, rather than getting too complicated.”

The beer was fermented in red wine barrels with a Norwegian yeast called kveik, which produces its own orange/tangerine character, along with wild Brettanomyces to accent the funk from the barrels.

Kveik, Brett and saison yeasts were used for this year’s new wrinkle: a Bellwether collaboration with the Inland Brewers Unite homebrew club.

IBU Gru-it To It (also 5.5 ABV) is an amber ale brewed with the wheat/rye hybrid triticale along with heather, yarrow, juniper, nepeta (catnip), Rama holy basil, lavender, star anise, chamomile and rose hips.

“You get that creamy spiciness from the triticale, floral and fruit from chamomile and a touch of tannins from yarrow,” said Croskrey. And in this case, he said, the kveik contributed a big pineapple profile from very warm fermentation.

“It was a ton of fun, and it turned out really good,” he said. “I feel like it’s one of the best gruit ales that we’ve put through Bellwether.”

The third featured beer, Bellwether’s new The Hero We Deserve (6.5), is a red ale brewed with birch bark, meadowsweet and heather and aged in Dry Fly gin and bourbon barrels.

Those will be joined by smaller-batch offerings from Genus, Grain Shed, Mountain Lakes, Republic Brewing and Whistle Punk, plus a botanical mead from Hierophant.

Bellwether will have a few of its regular gruits and another collaboration, with Bardic (a home-based Spokane Valley cidery that also plans a brewery): a saison with honeybush, chamomile, juniper, jasmine and maple syrup that Croskrey describes as floral with apple and pear notes.

The event runs from 3 to 10 p.m. at Bellwether, 2019 N. Monroe St. Admission is $15, which includes a tasting glass and five 5-ounce pours (extras are $3 each or three for $6).

And next week, Bellwether launches 2019: A Beer Odyssey. The follow-up to 2018’s Year of the Sainted Brewers specialty series will feature a new beer the first Thursday of each month, beginning with the return of a Bellwether original: Stargazer Rye, a malty amber ale with a grassy, grapefruit character from Comet and Galaxy hops.

More milestones

Brewery anniversary celebrations continue with River City’s five-year party Friday from 4 to 10 p.m., featuring a new double version of the flagship Red (9.1) along with 2018 Colonel Crusher Barleywine, 2017 Mad Latvian Baltic Porter, a wine barrel-aged blend of 2016 Congratulator Doppelbock and Midnight Marmot imperial stout, 2015 Congratulator and 2014 Marmot, plus live music and barbecue. River City Brewing is at 121 S. Cedar St.

And English Setter celebrates its fifth anniversary Feb. 11-16 with special releases each day including a Puppy Love strawberry/lemon/honey/basil blonde for Valentine’s Day. The brewery is in Spokane Valley at 15310 E. Marietta Ave., Suite 4.

Lester returns

A second Lester Cup competition Friday through March 16 features strong ales at Bellwether, Black Label, Grain Shed, Mountain Lakes and Whistle Punk, with customers voting for their favorite. Mountain Lakes won the first round in August. For details, visit www.facebook.com/lestercupbrewoff/.

Freshly tapped

The latest releases from local breweries include:

Whistle Punk’s Citizen Grain (5.4 ABV) collaboration with Yakima’s Single Hill Brewing and Spokane’s LINC Malt, a dry-hopped pilsner brewed with barley grown and malted throughout Washington. (Also look for Fremont’s British-style Grains of Cascadia pale using the new Lyon barley from WSU.)

Perry Street’s Troppin’ a Juice IPA (7), showcasing tropical Sabro hops.

The Grain Shed’s spicy Gazelle Rye lager (3.9).

Humble Abode’s Baba O’Rye’ly IPA (6) with both flaked and malted rye.

Mountain Lakes’ malty Fr. MacKenzie Scottish export ale (7.2).

English Setter’s slightly soured, Brett-style Jackal pale (9).

Post Falls Brewing’s easy-drinking, Simcoe-hopped So Majestical pale (5.7) and small-batch Cascadian Rebellion black IPA (7.9).

Trickster’s J-Box Jr. (6) pale ale version of its national champion IPA.

Look for a hoppy United Pils, brewed at MickDuff’s in Sandpoint with Idaho-grown barley and hops, at select North Idaho breweries and beer bars to benefit Idaho Brewers United.

Save the date

Badass Backyard, 1415 N. Argonne Road, launches a monthly book club Monday at 6:30 p.m. with Jenny Lawson’s “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened.”

Bellwether’s pint night at 5 p.m. Feb. 6 benefits the Centennial Trail.

Mobius Science Center’s “For the Love of Beer and Science” Feb. 8 at 6:30 p.m. includes beer by Mountain Lakes; tickets are $25 at mobiusspokane.org. Mobius is at 331 N. Post St.