Hoppy Celebration

For the second year, the Inland Northwest Craft Beer Festival is taking the field at Avista Stadium, the home of the Spokane Indians, for a two-day celebration of our region's brewing industry.

As the craft beer scene has grown, so has this festival, which now takes place over the course of two days (Friday and Saturday) and includes 31 breweries from the state of Washington. Here are a few of the beers that caught our eye and are worth saving a few tokens for.

• Big Barn Brewing: Mead Honey Lager (4.6% ABV)

While this festival takes place in October, the weather is going to be almost summer-like, and this sweet and crisp beer looks like it will pair well with sunshine

• Black Label Brewing: Pink Grapefruit Fresh Hopped Session IPA (5.4% ABV)

They've managed to combine a number of brewing trends in one beer — you've got fruit-brewing, fresh-hopping and also the popular lower-alcohol philosophy of session beers, all in one creation.

• Hopped Up Brewing: Autumn Smash Sour (5% ABV)

This Spokane Valley brewery has taken a brown ale, infused it with apricots and let it sour, making for one of the more experimental beers you'll find at the festival.

•Iron Goat Brewing: Goatnik RIS (12% ABV)

This stout has been aged in whiskey barrels, adding even more richness to its chocolate and coffee notes. At 12 percent, watch out for what this one could do to your afternoon.

• Orlison Brewing: 2 Finger Pour (8% ABV)

When Orlison told us that they were going to make a beer that mimicked the flavor of an Old Fashioned cocktail, we didn't know what to expect. But once you taste the orange peel, whiskey-barrel notes and bitters used in this brew, you'll realize they totally nailed it.

• Top Frog Brewery: Saison IPA (4.8%)

The majority of Inland Northwest beer fans haven't been out to Newport to try Top Frog. This dry-hopped, sessionable IPA seems like a good place to start. ♦