A good year to make, drink beer

The Inland Northwest’s skyrocketing craft beer scene kept picking up speed in 2014, and all signs point to even more activity in 2015. Here’s a look back, and ahead, at the local year in beer:

• For a second straight year, the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene area added five breweries. The arrivals of Ramblin’ Road, English Setter, Perry Street and Zythum brought the Spokane County total to 14, and Downdraft in Post Falls made it five for Kootenai County.

This year should see even more. Daft Badger in Coeur d’Alene (Jan. 20), Black Label in downtown Spokane (Jan. 31) and 238 on Green Bluff (TBA) all could be open within the month, while Bennidito’s Brew Pub (more on that below), the brewery incubator at the old Spokane Public Market and New Boundary in Cheney are shooting for spring.

Regionally, the Inland Northwest Ale Trail launched its second year with 27 stops on the map, up from the previous 16.

• Meanwhile, existing breweries continued to grow. Both Big Barn and Slate Creek made big brew system leaps – from 10 gallons to seven barrels, and two to 15 barrels, respectively – and started distributing to outside accounts.

Mad Bomber is scheduled to replace its one-barrel system with a seven-barrel next month, while Iron Goat, No-Li and Twelve String are mulling growth that could involve new locations.

• Taphouses kept cropping up to pour all those local and other beers, including Crafted in Coeur d’Alene – which matched Manito Tap House’s 50 handles – and more recently Area 51 at the north Spokane Onion, which one-upped them both.

And for home consumption, the Oregon-based Growler Guys chain opened its first two Spokane locations.

• More area beers also appeared in bottles and cans. No-Li added Born & Raised IPA, Rise & Grind stout and Mosh Pit Tart Cherry Ale to its line of 12-ounce four-packs; Pilsner 37 joined Orlison’s canned offerings; and Northern Ales in Kettle Falls started canning its session lager, The Grouch.

Iron Goat and Twelve String plan to bottle some of their most popular styles soon in 22-ounce bombers. River City and Ramblin’ Road also are looking at bottles, while Trickster’s and Slate Creek are considering cans.

• Collaboration brews, a growing nationwide trend, took hold here. Iron Goat jointly produced an India session ale with No-Li for Craft Beer Week, and teamed with two prominent Oregon breweries: Ninkasi for a triple IPA dubbed Goatorhead, and Breakside for a gin-barrel-aged release expected this spring. River City and Waddell’s combined for a pair of fresh-hop ales.

• Two more national trends also blossomed locally. Ramblin’ Road and River City joined No-Li, Iron Goat and Twelve String in producing a variety of barrel-aged beers, with Trickster’s also starting to get in on the action.

No-Li released a pair in bottles: Blackfill, a whiskey barrel imperial stout, and Van Lambert, a wine barrel cherry sour. Its two small batch beer festivals featured several barrel-aged and other specialties, and Twelve String celebrated a dozen in its first Barrelfest.

Sours, a red-hot style across the country, also arrived. In addition to Van Lambert, Ramblin’ Road released a Sour Cherry Saison and a fruity, Brett-fermented Sour Red, Iron Goat debuted its Apricot Blackberry Sour, and Twelve String continued to sour several of its beers in naturally infected barrels.

• The Randall – a device that infuses beer with various flavors as it’s poured – also caught on, with River City and Ramblin’ Road using theirs weekly, and Iron Goat and No-Li on occasion.

• On the competitive front, No-Li brought home three awards each from Belgium’s Brussels Beer Challenge and Rhode Island’s Great International Beer & Cider Competition, and it swept the first-place people’s choice awards at Seattle’s Washington Winter Beer Fest (where Orlison took a third).

Kootenai River captured a bronze at the nation’s biggest beer event, the Great American Beer Festival, and also placed in Idaho’s North American Beer Awards along with Selkirk Abbey, Laughing Dog and Paradise Creek. Washington Beer Awards winners included Iron Goat, River City, Hopped Up, Paradise Creek, Republic and Riverport.

• The Inland NW Craft Beer Festival (formerly Spokane Oktoberfest) turned a profit for the first time for the sponsoring Washington Beer Commission after relocating from Riverfront Park to Avista Stadium.

The festival will be back at Avista next September – by which time we’ll be well on the way to writing another annual chapter in the local beer book.

Brewery watch

It’s been almost three years since Bennidito’s Pizza owner Chris Bennett bought a used 10-barrel brewing system from Seattle’s Schooner Exact and started scouting locations for his own brewery.

Plans for a location in the Garland District fell through, but Bennett has found a home in a pair of buildings at 1909 E. Sprague Ave. redeveloped by Dave and Cody Coombs, who also created the Perry Street Brewing space.

The brewing operation will occupy the former JB Motors showroom, while the previous Honeycutt Real Estate quarters, with its wood-beam ceilings, will house Bennidito’s Brew Pub.

Along with pizza, the restaurant will serve an expanded selection of sandwiches made with house-smoked meats. In charge of the beer is Zach Shaw, who ran Northern California’s former Pacific Hop Exchange brewery.

Freshly tapped

• The latest addition to No-Li’s seasonal Expo Series is its first barley wine: Big Bang (10.5 percent alcohol by volume), a strong, smooth, malt-forward beer with some syrupy sweetness balanced by a respectable dose of hops. Look for it in 22-ounce bottles as well as draft.

• Belgian-themed Selkirk Abbey has introduced its first non-Belgian-style beer. Selkirk Grace Scotch Ale (6.7 percent ABV, 40 International Bitterness Units) shows a wisp of smoke from cherrywood-smoked malt. It’s only on tap for now but will be bottled soon.

• Belgian-themed Ramblin’ Road is pouring a Sour Red (6.3, 5) that gets its ripe berry flavors and aromas not from actual fruit, but from fermentation with two strains of funky Brettanomyces yeast after being soured in the kettle with lactobacillus.

Save the date

Seasonals from more than 20 local and regional breweries will be poured outdoors in a heated tent at the Lantern Tap House’s second annual Winter Beer Festival, Jan. 15-18, with live music Friday and Saturday nights. For $15 you get a commemorative tasting glass and five drink tokens.