MORNING FOAM FOR MONDAY, SEPT. 19 2016: A seven-taster flight of craft beer and cider news, from the fluffy head all the way to the bottom envy. …
Ah, the unmistakable hum of fermenting grain and fresh fall air—that magical time when beer festivals erupt like hoppy geysers across the Pacific Northwest, and we find ourselves chasing foam across fields, zoos, parking lots, and the occasional underground Belgian beer pipeline. For the third glorious year, the Inland Northwest Craft Beer Festival is taking over Spokane’s Avista Stadium Sept. 23–24, transforming a minor league ballpark into a major league beer paradise with 41 Washington breweries and more than 150 beers on deck. Meanwhile, over at Woodland Park Zoo, it’s lions, lagers, and lemurs as the annual Brew at the Zoo returns Oct. 6 for its adults-only twilight safari of sips. There’s a new Fresh Hop Pop-Up Fest in the Burnside Brewing parking lot, where the hops are so fresh they might still be clinging to the vine, and the Pour Fool is out here anointing Crux Fermentation’s Better Off Red as the greatest American Flanders-style Red Ale to ever grace your slightly pretentious tulip glass. Oh, and in Belgium? They’re piping beer under the city, literally, because 500 years of brewing deserves a little sci-fi flourish. Strap in. Sip slow. Prost.
For the third year, Inland Northwest Craft Beer Festival is taking the field at Avista Stadium, the home of the Spokane Indians minor league baseball team of the Northwest League, for a celebration of the greater Spokane’s brewing industry Sept. 23-24. Presented by the Washington Beer Commission, the beer festival welcomes 41 craft breweries pouring more than 150 types of beer, all from Washington state. Read our recap of last year’s Inland Northwest Craft Beer Festival.
Salute to fall and cheers to wildlife conservation with a nice cold frothy mug of beer (or cider) at Woodland Park Zoo. The sixth annual after-hours, adults-only Brew at the Zoo beer-tasting event is Thursday, Oct. 6 from 6-9 p.m. Enjoy an evening at the zoo sampling imports, domestics, microbrews and ciders from a host of breweries, including local Northwest favorites, at several indoor and outdoor sampling stations at the zoo.
Video: Sarah from KZOK checked out Two Beers Brewing Co. and neighboring Seattle Cider Co. to talk Pumpkin Spice Cider and Fresh Hop.
The brand new Fresh Hop Pop-Up Beer Fest kicks off Tuesday, Sept. 20 in the parking lot of Burnside Brewing Co. With eight taps dedicated to beers made with hops picked within 24 hours of being added to the beer, you may take advantage of the once a year opportunity provided by the Pacific Northwest’s bounty as the center of the world’s hop growing industry.
The Pour Fool says Crux Fermentation Project’s “Better Off Red” [BANISHED] is the best Flanders-style Red Ale being made in the US today because of its drinkability.
Xavier Vanneste, heir to the six-generation Bruges brewing dynasty that owns the 500-year-old De Halve Maan brewery, pipe dream came true. He’s transporting his beer to its bottling plant underground through a plastic pipe instead of via tanker trucks.
Let’s watch video from the first day of the 2016 Oktoberfest in Munich.
