Craft Brewers Hope For a Share of Local Hop Crop

I simply wasn’t prepared for what I saw when Fred Colby, co-owner of Laughing Dog Brewery in Ponderay, pulled open the heavy door to his walk-in cooler. Instead of setting eyes on cases of craft beer, I caught the cold gaze of six very pink pig carcasses. “Pig beer!” I blurted out reflexively, in order to suppress what would have been a high-pitched, porcine-like squeal. “No,” Colby said, drawing out the word in a calming, cooing way. “At our annual anniversary party, we barbecue six whole pigs.” Laughing Dog, it turned out, was on the eve of its sixth anniversary barbecue, and the next day, this large brewery would be filled with friends, fresh beer and the scent of spit-roasted pork. But this day, Colby was more interested in showing me why he believed his North Idaho brewery had become so popular. To the right of the pork six-pack, he grabbed a bag and opened it under my nose. “The best thing is really stick your nose in there and smell,” Colby suggested. Suddenly I was flung into a forest after a warm rain. I breathed in deep, earthy aromas, a hint of wildflowers and the slightly bracing bite of pine. “They [...]