The 25th annual Oregon Brewer's Festival is less than a week away and if you haven't made plans yet to attend I think you should consider it. I'm really looking forward to this year's OBF because there are all sorts of tasty beers that I haven't tried yet on the lineup. This year OBF will host 85 craft breweries from around the country and serve more than 30 styles of beer. The expected attendance is 80,000 so be ready for the madness, 130-plus beers to try and the festival's debut of a sour beer tent if you like the winky beers.
A few facts about this year's Oregon Brewers Festival:
The highest alcohol content beer this year will be Dogfish Head's Positive Contact at 9 percent ABV.
There will be more fruit beers this year -- 21st Amendment's watermelon wheat has been the festival's top seller for years.
There are six breweries bringing organic beers: Bison Brewing Company, Eel River Brewing Company, Fort George Brewery, Hopworks Urban Brewery, Logsdon Farmhouse Ales, Mt. Emily Ale House and Old Market Pub and Brewery.
Here's the gist of the festival straight from the press release:
Better known as the OBF, the festival was the brainchild of Art Larrance, co-founder of Portland Brewing Co. Art had traveled to the original Oktoberfest in Munich and knew what a big beer party was like. His goal was to re-create a similar atmosphere here in Portland and bring attention to the resurgence of microbrews.
Art collaborated with craft beer veterans Dick and Nancy Ponzi of BridgePort Brewing Co. and Kurt & Rob Widmer of Widmer Bros. Brewing Co. to produce the first Oregon Brewers Festival in 1988. Despite the limited number of microbreweries nationwide at the time – or perhaps because of that fact– the festival was overwhelmingly successful and has never looked back.
25th annual Oregon Brewers Festival www.oregonbrewfest.com July 26-29, 2012 Tom McCall Waterfront Park Main entrance at SW Oak Street and Naito Parkway Thursday through Saturday taps are open noon to 9pm; Sunday taps are open noon to 7pm. Admission to the festival is free. In order to drink beer you must purchase a $6 2012 mug. Beer tastes are purchased with $1 tokens. 4 tokens gets you a mug of beer and 1 gets you a taste. Cash only event -- ATMs are on-site. Minors are allowed into the event only if accompanied by a parent.