No-Li, Spokesman-Review collaborate on limited edition beer: ‘What’s more American than the First Amendment?’

No-Li Brewhouse has whipped up a concoction that can quench one’s thirst for tangy craft beer and timely local news in one 12-ounce can.

The craft brewers designed a specialty beer in collaboration with The Spokesman-Review in celebration of the announcement of a nonprofit that may soon absorb publishing rights for the newspaper as long-time publishers the Cowles family prepare to donate the asset.

1AB, or First Amendment Beer, is a juicy, hazy IPA selected intentionally to appeal to drinkers ages 21 to 35. It leans toward fruity and refreshing, said brewmaster Ty Lindquist, who crafted the beer’s recipe in collaboration with Spokesman-Review and nonprofit Comma staff.

“We want to help cultivate active adult readers of 21 to 35, and so we created a recipe of beer that was designed for 21 to 35, which is citrusy. It’s a little lighter, it’s sweet, it’s sessionable,” said John Bryant, No-Li co-founder and owner, using an industry term for drinks with lower alcohol content. “It’s got a lot of flavor, an aromatic nose.”

Lindquist used three main hops to craft the “experimental” beverage: Nectaron, a tropical New Zealand hop; Citra, a common hop grown in the Yakima Valley that exudes tropical and citrus flavors; and El Dorado, which gives off pineapple and mango flavors. This is included with a proprietary juicy yeast and three malts: two-row pale, aromatic and Munich, all grown in Washington. Each component mixes in the brew with 6.1% alcohol content and an international bitterness unit of 30, relatively low for beers.

“This is made to be more of an aroma and flavor with the hops, as opposed to like a bitter coffee,” Lindquist said.

“It’s the wheelhouse of what that generation is looking for; it’s the same generation we want to try to keep journalism alive in,” Bryant added.

Partnering with The Spokesman-Review felt natural to Bryant: a Spokane newspaper and a Spokane brewhouse that both build, preserve and reflect the local culture, he said. Much like the newspaper covers news specific to the Inland Northwest, No-Li brews drinks with a regional flair, like their Born & Raised India pale ale featuring Washington-grown hops and cans embellished with Spokane landmarks, like the Monroe Street Bridge or the Great Northern Clocktower.

A mock-up for 1AB’s can features a stylized bald eagle clutching a rolled-up edition of The Spokesman-Review, flanked by the iconic downtown brick tower that has housed the paper’s newsroom since its inception in 1883.

It was important for Bryant to keep his brews with a local emphasis so they stood out on shelves among national beers like Miller Lite or Corona, which dominated the market when he founded No-Li 13 years ago. Since then, he’s seen a surge in craft breweries in the region.

“The local populace now begins drinking local craft beer that’s as good as any beer in America, and that becomes a sense of social pride, which is called culture,” Bryant said. “It’s why you preserve music. It’s why you preserve the symphony. It’s why you preserve education.”

Local journalism is essential to documenting and building that culture, Bryant said.

“You can get your national news. I get it. Everybody watches, like, pick your news station,” he said. “But I think it’s local journalism, local editorial that gives you a flavor of your local culture.”

The partnership was also clear for Spokesman-Review Executive Editor and Comma President Rob Curley, who sees the “power to unite” in both storytelling and enjoying a beer.

“When you’re trying to do things differently, and you see how involved a company like No-Li is throughout the Pacific Northwest, it doesn’t seem that strange that a local brewery and a nonprofit news organization would come together to talk about the importance of the freedoms of speech and of the press, especially as they relate to community,” Curley wrote.

The beer will be available for a limited time, coming soon as No-Li brewers perfect the experimental recipe from a small batch created for The Spokesman-Review staff to sample.

For Lindquist, who was born and raised in Spokane, whipping up the 1AB brew is a patriotic endeavor.

“What’s more American than the First Amendment?” he asked.