As mentioned many (many) times before, we don't quite see why we need to sustain September and make it longer than thirty days. We're more into the tradition of celebrating October. One way of doing that is to attend Spokane's Oktoberfest -- yes, the beer festival has made it into its second year, and this year it sounds promising.
Set for Friday and Saturday, September 23 and 24, in Riverfront Park, tickets are $15 online or at various outlets, including Brews on Washington, Northern Lights, The Elk, and Swinging Doors. ($20 at the door.) Ticket includes five 5.5 oz samples.
So what can you look forward to this year? Well, there are definitely a good turn-out of local and semi-local breweries, including Northern Lights, Palouse Falls, and Golden Hills.
Perhaps more interesting to some are giants like Redhook, which we hope will bring some of its special ales. (All respect to the ESB of course, but it's not something you really want at an Oktoberfest.) Two Beers Brewing, the relatively new and rather excellent brewery from Seattle, will also be showing up, as will perennial favorites like Iron Horse and Pike.
Twenty-two breweries will be there for you to enjoy, and seeing they'll all have multiple beers with them, then, yeah, how can this not work out?