Westwood Brewery wins inaugural North Idaho Brewers Cup

Westwood Brewing Co. took home the first North Idaho Brewers Cup Monday night after Bryan Johnson’s Dark as Helles, a collaboration with Kaniksu Brewing, drew the most votes at Capone’s Pub and Grill in Midtown Coeur d’Alene. A total of 113 people cast ballots in the debut contest, which paired tasting with direct consumer voting.

Nine breweries entered the competition: Outpost Brewing, Brewscape Beer Co., Chalice Brewing, Trails End Brewery, Bombastic Brewing, Vantage Point Brewing, Knucklehead Brewery, Westwood Brewing Co. and Kaniksu Brewing. The format pushed each brewery, or brewery team, to put a beer on sale, let customers sample it and then choose a winner by ballot, giving the event the feel of a downtown beer crawl with a built-in final round.

Kris Herambourg, owner of Kaniksu Brewing and a brewer for 20 years, organized the event with a clear local aim: build more connection among North Idaho brewers and beer drinkers and give people another reason to move from one taproom to the next. He said the competition was meant to strengthen the community around local beer, not just crown a one-night champion, and he hopes to make the Brewers Cup a biannual tradition.

The timing also fits a changing market. Idaho Brewers United, founded in 2012 as a statewide craft-beer trade group, works on legislative and regulatory issues, consumer education and promotion of Idaho craft beer. Idaho had nearly 100 active craft breweries in 2024, about four times as many as in 2012, even as the industry faced changing tastes and rising costs. Nationally, the Brewers Association says craft brewers contributed $71.8 billion to the U.S. economy in 2025, a reminder of how much local taps matter beyond a single evening in Coeur d’Alene.

For Kootenai County, the win also put a spotlight on a beer community with roots on both sides of the county line. Westwood Brewing Co. operates in Rathdrum and Post Falls, while Kaniksu Brewing is based in Post Falls, making Dark as Helles an especially local collaboration. With Capone’s Pub and Grill hosting the final tasting in Midtown, the Brewers Cup gave downtown another event built around beer, turnout and regional pride.