Visiting Spokane/Coeur d'Alene

Finally hit Republic.Pi. on Friday. Really solid draft lineup and the food was quite tasty, and it comes with the ability to stroll over to Manito Tap House, maybe 50 feet away. I could see myself beer grazing back and forth between the two.

 

Appreciate all Spokane info Northwest BA folks. Found some 8 day old cans of Top Cutter at Yokes. Lived up to the hype in my opinion.

Blackbird was very solid and I liked that there were sampler size options, especially with all the options there. They had Boneyard Notorious on tap Thursday.

Hit up a few breweries as well. Iron Goat was my favorite, being a hop head.

Sneaky nice beer scene here.

 

Last time I was in Spokane I ran over to CdA and got some Odell at Pilgrim's. I'll be over again soon but won't have much extra ticket me. Is it possible to get Odell IPA and Myrcenary at Safeway or whatever in Post Falls?

 

Don't know about the PF Safeway, but I imagine Enoteca would have some Odell beers (Enoteca's prices tend to be a little higher than everyone else's, so I'd check Safeway first).

 

Thanks for the info in this thread. I will be flying in to Spokane on Christmas Eve and was interested in how the beer scene up there.

 

Didn't want to make a seperate thread for it, but figured some of you guys would be interested: The Steel Barrel brewing incubator is finally opening tomorrow. (https://www.facebook.com/thesteelbarrel/?fref=ts) Last I heard it was going to be at the public market on third but apparently I missed the memo that they're actually opening in the old Empyrean Coffee House location on Madison.

Will be home to Young Buck Brewing (who I'm pretty stoked about, they've been posting on facebook about having a big barrel-aged sour program), and Little Spokane Brewing.

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2016/jun/09/on-tap-luminaria-building-about-to-open-the-taps/

 

Spokesman article made it seem like they opened wednesday, but I just contacted them on Facebook and they confirmed they'll be opening to the public tomorrow at 3pm

 

They wanted to low-key this weekend for media purposes, so I agreed to say Wednesday (which will be June 15) in the article.

 

Figured it had to be any moment now. I might be wandering by in an hour or so and will check them out if they let me! I had a Cucumber Cream Ale from Little Spokane at Beerocracy last weekend. I basically ordered it to show a little love to a fledgling local brewery and was prepared to tolerate it, but I wound up finding it quite enjoyable, with just the right amount of cucumber flavor for it to be interesting and refreshing without it being either bland or a vegetable kick to the head.

 

Is the vaunted ceviche place opening at the same time, or will that be later? I'm rather curious about that, as I believe I've never had ceviche in my life.

 

Yeah, Zona Blanca's open too, with a limited menu. They're gearing up slowly, last night was family/friends, tonight is industry, then general public through Facebook/word of mouth tomorrow, followed by two more weeks of soft opening before the grand opening on the 30th. Would imagine you could sneak in tonight (starts at 7).

And while it's obviously polite to try the house beers, I also understand they've tapped the first keg of 3-Way IPA to make it out around these parts.

 

I popped by around 3:15, and was told politely but firmly tonight was family/friends, and to come back tomorrow. Looked like a nice place, with a number of guest taps. I didn't notice a tap handle for 3-Way, but it's good to know it'll be available there.

 

Thanks for the heads up! I'll definitely be swinging by tomorrow to try some of the house beers and hopefully a growler of the 3-way.

 

Did you stop by? I wound up declining to as I'm going to a show at the Observatory on Thursday and will probably consume considerable beverages then. Curious if Steel Barrel can handle large groups of people, as the space didn't look that big.

 

I went Saturday and it was really cool. Not a huge space, but it was fun and the 3-way was super good. The Young Buck Farmhouse was nice too. Oh, and the Civeche was on point. I had to order a second, becasue the first was so good.

If you are doing Observatory Thursday, I will see you there! Should be a great show.

 

Helm's Alee have been on my radar for about 6 months-1 year now, so I was stoked to see they were coming to town, at a perfectly reasonable price and are playing a place I like to go to. The downside is that I'm working a double shift before the show and have to show up at work at 6AM the next morning, so things could get brutal.

And...dammit! Totally forgot about 3-Way! Maybe some will be left if I can get in soon. At the very least, I hope to pick up a couple cans the weekend after next when I'm on the west side.

 

Apologies if these had been mentioned & I just missed them. By way of bottle shops in the Spokane area, I'd recommend:

JB's Food & Bottleworks - 5503 N Alberta St - Keep an eye out on their IPAs - they're not always the quickest to rotate out if things get less than fresh. Otherwise, a solid selection of bottles & draft.

Bottles - 3319 N Argonne Rd - this is more of a wine shop than beer, but they do have a respectable little selection of beer in the back that is thoughtful. A few drafts available as well.

 

For the space they have, Bottles has some really great beers available, plus the guy who seems to be the manager really knows beer and is a pretty cool guy to boot.

And yeah, J.B.'s has some real gems and is worth checking out when trying to locate something special that is already gone from places like Huckleberry's, but always look for dates on bottles when there.

 

Just to clarify, "a few drafts" at Bottles = 18 taps, pints or to go (JB's has 20, growlers only)