Falls Brewing Pours Easy-Drinking Lagers

Kent Roberts knows that good things take time.

His new Falls Brewing Co. and Casey’s Pub in Post Falls mainly makes lagers, beers that take three weeks or more to condition, compared to a week or two for the more common microbrewed ales.

But that’s nothing next to the three years that Kent and his wife, Cheryl, worked to make the business a reality.

“I’m glad we did it, but I never want to do it again,” chuckles Roberts, a former home brewer who worked at T.W. Fisher’s in Coeur d’Alene before striking out on his own.

Casey’s finally opened three weeks ago. On Oct. 25, there’s a grand opening and Oktoberfest celebration, featuring representatives from various regional breweries, beer specials and German food. (It’s easy to find from Spokane; take Interstate 90’s Idaho exit 7, Rathdrum/Spirit Lake/Highway 41, turn left on Seltice Way toward Coeur d’Alene, and the pub is right there behind KFC.)

Roberts says the emphasis on lagers, typically smoother and cleaner-tasting than ales, helps give Falls Brewing an identity as the only lager-leaning craft brewery between Seattle (Thomas Kemper) and Missoula (Bayern).

But because ales are more familiar to many people, he bends the rules (and may raise the eyebrows of some purists) by naming some of his lagers after ale styles - such as Falls Special Bitter, which is actually more of a hoppy pilsner.

The Special Bitter, with a slow-developing, lingering hoppiness from dry-hopping with Hallertauers, is the most adventurous of the three beers Roberts and head brewer Laurie Kraus produced for starters. There’s also a soft, spicy, citrusy Falls Gold (which customers compare to a hefeweizen because it’s unfiltered, although it’s not a wheat beer) and a smooth, amber Falls Autumn Lager.

“We started off with some more easy-drinking beers, to get people to try them,” Roberts explains. Adds Cheryl: “Once we get going, they can show off a little bit.”

By the time of the grand opening, the list should also include a ruddy, malty Amber Alt and a lighter Treaty Rock Bock in the Maibock style. The bock was Falls Brewing’s early claim to fame, with a test brew winning a bronze medal in the World Beer Championships, an ongoing, Chicago-based beer rating contest. (A barley wine finished with raspberries has since captured a silver medal.)

By next summer, Roberts plans to have a half-dozen Falls beers among Casey’s 18 taps. There’s also a selection of bottled beers, including some German imports - such as Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse, Paulaner Oktoberfest and Spaten’s Optimator doppelbock - in honor of Post Falls’ German roots.

Historical photos dot the walls of the bright, airy, nonsmoking pub, which has a couch and a fireplace in one cozy corner. “We really want to gear this place to local people,” Cheryl says.

Along with beers, Casey’s offers 14 wines (ambitious by brewpub standards), a selection of $4.95 lunch specials along with a regular menu of upscale pub grub, soft drinks and a kids’ menu.

For purely adult entertainment, you can order beer in tall, skinny yard (47-ounce) or half-yard (27-ounce) glasses. Some tables share a yard, while braver drinkers go it alone - although Roberts warns that they shouldn’t expect to be served a second one.

Around the Horn

Spokane’s next brewpub, the Big Horn Brewing Co. and Ram Family Restaurant, is scheduled for an Oct. 28 opening at 908 N. Howard, across from the Spokane Arena.

The initial beer offerings will include Total Disorder Porter, which won a silver medal at the recent Great American Beer Festival in Denver for Big Horn’s sister brewery in Englewood, Colo.

Plans also call for a brewing system to eventually be installed at C.I. Shenanigan’s, which is owned by the same company as the Big Horn/Ram chain.

Medal play

In case you were wondering, Deschutes’ Black Butte Porter took the gold medal for porters at the Great American Beer Festival, while Rogue grabbed the gold in smoke beers and Thomas Kemper came home with a bronze in the dark lager category for its Bohemian Dunkel.

Alaskan Brewing Co. in Juneau was the top medalist among Northwest craft breweries, with silvers for Alaskan Smoked Porter (smoke beers) and Alaskan Pale (golden ales), as well as a bronze in American amber ale for Alaskan Frontier. (The Frontier and Pale are available around here, but you’ll probably have to go to Alaska for the seasonal Smoked Porter.)

And among the big boys, Coors was the big winner with a gold medal for Original Coors (in the American premium lager category) and silvers for Coors Light, Coors Extra Gold, Killian’s Irish Red and Blue Moon Honey Blonde. As for plain old American lager, Budweiser and Pabst Blue Ribbon finished first and second, with no third place awarded.

To the dogs

I approached Two Dogs Lemon Brew, the second entry in the growing “lemon malt” category to reach area stores, with a bit of trepidation, given my previous experience with One-Eyed Jack. (For the uninitiated, these aren’t beers, but beverages made from a clear malt alcohol base flavored with lemon.)

Fortunately, Two Dogs’ bark is worse than its bite. It’s less cloyingly sweet than One-Eyed Jack and is actually fairly refreshing when served over ice with a slice of lemon, as the label suggests. I might even have one again, next summer; after all, those are the dog days.

, DataTimes MEMO: On Tap is a monthly feature of IN Food. Rick Bonino welcomes reader questions and comments about beer. Write to: On Tap, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. Call 459-5446, fax 459-5098 or e-mail to rickb@spokesman.com.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rick Bonino The Spokesman-Review