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It’s been a few weeks since our last post, but not for lack of content. We’ve got a lot to tell you about since we told you about Nashville’s Girls’ Pint Out kicking off.
Just a few days after that, June ran her first half marathon. Yay, June! After an effort like that, you’d think I’d let her go home and sleep. Nope, we had a beer fest to get to! June was a trooper and took the opportunity to replace some of the 1,500 calories she’d just burned! We’re working on a post about Nashville’s Flying Saucer BeerFeast.
However, before we could get that post done, we were jetting away to Spokane, WA for a little vacation and family time with June’s grandma. We love going to the Northwest and Spokane is a great place to visit. We also had time to head over to the Idaho panhandle. There’s a lot of good beer in the region and we’re working on posts for all of it.
We started the trip with a lunch at Spokane’s No-Li Brewhouse, formerly Northern Lights (more about the name change later). The next evening we had a sampler at the Steamplant Brewery. If you find yourself in Spokane, check both out.
The next day we dropped in on Bi-plane brewing, a great nano-brewery in Post Falls, ID. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve been to a nano-brewery before, but I was drooling over their Sabco system and Blichman conical fermenters. What I could do with those in my garage! We also dropped by Selkirk Abbey, a new Belgian micro-brewery in Post Falls. Too bad they were closed. Still, later in the trip we did get to taste some of their beer. Good stuff.
We spent the next two nights in Ponderay, ID, right down the road from popular tourist destination Sandpoint. June’s got an Aunt and Cousin there, so we had some family time, and you guessed it, more beer. In Sandpoint we had a sampler at Mick Duff’s Irish Brewpub. The next day we took a drive up beautiful US Highway 95 to Bonners Ferry, ID, just 20 miles south of the Canadian border. Yeah, we were pretty far up there. We had lunch, a sampler and a good time at Kootenai River Brewing.
The highlight of the trip was the 2 evenings we spent in the taproom at Laughing Dog Brewery. Fred Colby, his staff and friends made us feel right at home. Fred and his crew make some great hoppy beers. If you’re not a hop fan, they also have a great cream ale, and even better, a huckleberry cream ale. I had no idea, but huckleberrys are native to the region and every brewery had some type of huckleberry beer.
After a week in the great Northwest, we returned home to Nashville with 16 bombers in our suitcase. We don’t get Firestone Walker, Bruery or many other fine beers in TN, so we brought some home. Upon returning, I promptly got sick. Luckily I got better just in time for the annual Nashville Beer Fest. Very fortunate timing, indeed! We got in early and walked around the festival grounds and guess what we saw? A Laughing Dog tent! Woo hoo, even more Dogzilla, Rocket Dog and other great beers from the Northern Idaho panhandle.
After the beer fest, we headed over to celebrate Yazoo’s 9th Birthday and pick up a case of the Bell’s Bend Preservation Ale. It might last long enough to write a review! Very delicious. It’s a fresh hopped pale ale dryhopped with hops grown right here in Middle Tennessee. So much fun in the last two weeks. Stay tuned for more details.
Cheers!