SELKIRK ABBEY - PART 3 OF OUR NORTHERN IDAHO BREWERY TOUR

By Bob Hubler

Click on this weblink: The Story of the Beginning of Selkirk Abbey Brewing

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We were running late on our schedule of the Post Falls Breweries when we arrived at Selkirk Abbey Brewing, but we had a real hard time leaving once we arrived. And once we did leave, we left with a lot of beer to bring back home and a yearning to return.

Selkirk Abbey was the brainchild of Ron Wallace and Jeff Whitman.  They were fortunate to befriend Fred Colby, the founder of the Laughing Dog Brewery in Sandpoint, Idaho.  With Fred's help, including changing some antiquated Idaho laws, they made Selkirk Abbey Brewing Company a reality.  Details can be found in the article linked above.

Nelda in the front

The Logo

Dana Whitman, our Tour Guide

Dana Whitman, wife of Founder Jeff Whitman was kind enough to give us a tour of the brewery.  I was surprised to see the large space in the building behind their tap room.  Plenty of space for future growth.  The Brewery is a 15 bbl system with nine 15 bbl fermenters and two 15 bbl brite tanks.  Dana explained that their brewers take a little more time to brew to guarantee quality.  Therefore two 15 bbl brite tanks are adequate for their brewing process.

15 bbl brewing system

Look at all the beer fermenting

Empty Kegs and Bottles waiting to be filled

Much of the Selkirk Abbey Beer is Barrel Aged

Selkirk Abbey is different than most Northwest Breweries.  They specialize in Belgian Styles of Beer. They use special Belgian Strains of yeast that alter the flavor and aroma of the beer.


Selkirk Abbey Brewing has an amazing selection of great beer.   I liked every beer in our flight which is unusual for me.  And Nelda like every beer also which is really rare. That, plus the hospitality Dana showed us made this a place that definitely rates a return visit.

After the tour, we got to sample the beer and choose some of the bottles to take home along with a half growler of a beer that was not available in bottles. We were lucky enough to get to try several huckleberry brews on this trip and Selkirk's Huckleberry Chapel was one of our favorites. Nelda is a sucker for quadruples and was delighted to find a great one here.We took a half Growler of their Octavian Imperial Quadruple back home with us.  The Octavian was truly special and it did not last too long.

I really liked their Infidel IPA which did not have the strong citrus taste of most area IPA's. It had an piney earthy flavor that helped the hop/malt balance and for an Imperial IPA at 8% ABV, the high alcohol was not obvious.  Guilt, their Imperial Portor was another one of my favorites.  This 8% ABV  Porter is infused with Coffee, but the the coffee flavor is not overwhelming.

Many of the other brews we enjoyed are available at several  local bottle shops in the Treasure Valley.

Map shows how close this 8 breweries are to each other

Click on the map above to see the large version.  There are eight breweries within a 10 miles radius in the Coeur d' Alene/Post Falls area in north Idaho.  You really need two or three days to visit them all. Over the last 3 years, I have been to all of them except Down Draft, Slate Creek and Daft Badger. They are on our agenda for our next trip north.