INW Craft Beer Festival set to make Avista Stadium return

The Inland Northwest Craft Beer Festival returns to Avista Stadium in two weeks, bigger and more family-friendly than ever.

The event Sept. 23-24 will feature at least 41 breweries, up from last year’s 30. And for the first time, Saturday will be all-ages, including kids’ activities along with the adult attractions.

Eric Radovich, chairman of the sponsoring Washington Beer Commission, said that has proved popular at the commission’s largest event, the Seattle-area Washington Brewers Festival on Father’s Day weekend.

“We thought it might be nice for an event in the baseball outfield to have the ability to bring your family,” he said. “We just want to see if we can get some new folks to join us.”

Last year’s record attendance of 3,107 convinced the commission to allow more breweries this year for the seventh annual festival (which started in Riverfront Park as Spokane Oktoberfest), and the third at Avista.

“It’s been great watching this develop,” Radovich said. “It’s the second-biggest market in the state, and we knew that it certainly has potential; it just takes some time to build.

“There are some great large-scale events in Spokane with Hoopfest and Bloomsday, and we’d like craft beer to enter that scene. As people keep finding out what craft beer is all about, it’s certainly headed in that direction.”

All but five breweries are returning from last year, along with 16 additions (some of which have participated previously). Those include Spokane newcomers Bellwether, Bennidito’s and Whistle Punk plus Coeur d’Alene’s Daft Badger and Moscow’s Rants & Raves – the first Idaho breweries on the list since 2013, the final year downtown.

Given cross-state cooperative efforts like the Inland Northwest Ale Trail, Radovich said, “It makes good sense to include them.”

Others that didn’t attend last year but are making the trip in 2016 are Bale Breaker (Yakima), Everybody’s Brewing (White Salmon), Laht Neppur (Waitsburg) and Northern (Kettle Falls) from east of the Cascades, along with the West Side’s 7 Seas (Gig Harbor), Elysian (Seattle), Island Hoppin’ (Eastsound), Lowercase (Seattle), Puyallup River (Puyallup), Silver City (Silverdale) and Wingman (Tacoma).

Returnees include Badass, Big Barn, Black Label, Boundary Bay, Diamond Knot, English Setter, Fish, Fremont, Georgetown, Hopped Up, Icicle, Iron Goat, No-Li, Orlison, Paradise Creek, Perry Street, Republic, River City, Schooner Exact, Steam Plant, Ten Pin, Top Frog, Twelve String, Two Beers and Waddell’s.

The event makes a return of its own, moving back into September after switching to the first weekend of October last year to avoid a conflict with Denver’s Great American Beer Festival (which resumes its usual October dates this year).

Ticket prices remain the same: $20 in advance, $25 at the gate, which includes a tasting glass and six 5-ounce samples (extra tokens are $2 each or four for $5). Military personnel with ID are admitted for $15, while designated drivers get in for $5, including free water and soda.

Tickets are on sale online at brownpapertickets.com/event/2592200, and also at Badass, Bale Breaker, Bellwether, Big Barn, Iron Goat, No-Li, Paradise Creek, Rants & Raves, River City, Twelve String and Waddell’s.

The festival will run an hour later than before on Friday, from 4 to 9 p.m., and continue from noon to 8 on Saturday. Along with the beer, there will be live music at second base and food trucks along the left field line; kids’ activities Saturday in short right field will include slides, bouncy houses, obstacle course and toddler zone.

Look for more details, including highlights of this year’s beer list, in our next column Sept. 23.

Brewery watch

It’s hop harvest time in the Yakima Valley, and area brewers are busy cooking up fresh-hop beers with this year’s crop. Look for Simcoe versions from Paradise Creek, Perry Street, Trickster’s and Twelve String (which also will be brewing a Mosaic red), a Centennial offering from Orlison and mixed community-sourced collaborations by Laughing Dog, MickDuff’s, Slate Creek and Iron Goat (see “Save the date” item below).

Slate Creek has begun bottling its Norse Nectar juniper pale ale in 22-ounce bombers, while Daft Badger has added Scotchy Scotch Scotch to its bottled lineup.

No-Li will release limited 22-ounce bottles of its usually draft-only amber ale next week in conjunction with the Chinese Lantern Festival, which returns to Riverfront Park starting Sept. 16.

Freshly tapped

The sessionable Afternoon IPA (4.6 percent alcohol by volume, 65 International Bitterness Units) has returned to River City’s year-round lineup, with a complex hop character from a combination of Equinox, Amarillo, Bravo, Cascade, Centennial and Palisade balanced by a light yet flavorful body from Maris Otter malt.

Post Falls Brewing’s Double the Double IPA (9.2, 138) is full of fruity El Dorado hops.

A traditional German-style Oktoberfest lager (6, 9) is back for the season at the Steam Plant.

Save the date

The Lantern Tap House’s third annual Sour Fest Friday from 4 to 10 p.m. and Saturday from 2 to 10 features a rotating selection of 24 sour beers (including Friday’s tapping of the first barrel-aged Brett release from Iron Goat) and six ciders along with games, music and food specials; drink tokens are $1 each, with a 4-ounce pour for two tokens or 10 ounces for five.

The hop-picking party for Iron Goat’s annual Spo-Hop community fresh hop beer runs Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the patio, with music by Wyatt Wood; bring your own hops or just come and help harvest.

The Steam Plant’s Blues & Brews Festival on Saturday from noon to 5 includes beers from New Belgium, New Boundary and Orlison along with the house offerings, plus live music and food trucks. Tickets are $10/adults (includes two drink tokens), $5/under 21, $20/family of four; a portion of proceeds benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Daft Badger’s Oktoberfest on Sept. 17 will feature both its own beers and Orlison’s along with live music and food including German sausages and beer-cheese pretzels.

Oktoberfest fun continues Sept. 22-23 at Perry Street with beer specials in souvenir 32-ounce steins (available for presale in the taproom) and a German-themed menu.

Area Girl Scouts are presenting a Craft Beer and Cookie Fest on Sept. 22 at the Bluebird in Midtown Coeur d’Alene; cost is $15/advance (brownpapertickets.com/event/2592389), $20/door including four 4-ounce beer samples, appetizers and a box of cookies.

Send beer news, comments and questions to senior correspondent Rick Bonino at boninobeer@comcast.net