You've waited, you've complained, you've cried, and now it has finally paid off: Oktoberfest, Spokane's first Washington Beer Commission endorsed beer festival, kicks off on Friday and goes until Sunday. Which is, in a word, awesome.
Tickets are $20 for a day pass and $50 for entry all days. With it you get a tasting cup as well as six 5 oz samples, which frankly is pretty generous.
20 Washington breweries are signed up -- Redhook is apparently back to its abusive neglecting ways -- but Spokane, Airway Heights, and Pullman are well represented. Local(-ish) favorites you should try, if you haven't already, are Northern Lights' "Chocolate Dunkel," Paradise Creek's "Postal Porter," and Golden Hills' "Clem's Gold."
Other than that anything from Elysian could be good, and hell... Just go crazy, it's beer, it's local or semi-local, and nothing shy of the Mac and Jack's is that bad.
In some sense it would have been more fun to have neighboring states in on the fun too. Deschutes and Laughing Dog come to mind. But whatever. Hopefully Spokane can prove it can support a local beer festival.