Jon Abernathy

Field guide to the Oregon Brewers Festival

In two short weeks the largest beer festival in Oregon kicks off: the Oregon Brewers Festival, in Portland’s Tom McCall Waterfront Park from July 22nd through 25th (the last full weekend in July). I know at least a few of you will be attending, and for some it may well be your first time. Now, I won’t be attending myself this year (a family birthday falls at a conflicting time), but I have been there in past years and have some words of wisdom to impart.

First, the official description:

The Oregon Brewers Festival exists to provide an opportunity to sample and learn about a variety of craft beer styles from across the country. Eighty craft breweries from all parts of the nation offer handcrafted brews to 70,000 beer lovers during the four-day event.

The festival’s focus is craft beer, but there’s more than sampling involved. The event features live music all four days, beer-related vendors, beer memorabilia displays, beer writers and publishers, homebrewing demonstrations, and an assortment of foods from a variety of regions. The Crater Lake Root Beer Garden offers complimentary handcrafted root beer for minors and designated drivers. Minors are always welcome at the festival when accompanied by a parent.

Admission is free, but of course you’ll need to purchase a tasting package consisting of the souvenir mug and tokens; there is a $10, $20, and $50 package, and additional tokens can be purchase for $1 apiece. One token will get you a taster and four tokens will fill the mug.

Tom McCall Park runs north-south along the Willamette River, and accordingly the venue itself is fairly long, stretching roughly a fifth of a mile along the park. The beer pouring is split into two sections, 40 breweries each represented on the north and south sides of the park; large outdoor tents are set up at each end, as well, and it’s a fair hike back and forth if you’re just browsing to see what beers are available—and on a hot day of beer drinking in Portland in late July, that will wear on you more than the beer.

Keeping that in mind, here are some guidelines I can give you based on my own previous years of attending:

• Get there as early as you can on Thursday and/or Friday; these will be the days where the crowds will be at a minimum and taps will not yet be blown. Later in the day, and especially on the weekend, you will believe every one of the 70,000 attendees are at the park at the exact same time as you, and you’ll be waiting in beer lines and fighting the crowd far more than actually sampling the beers. I’ve been on Saturday (after first going on Friday, of course), and it is far less fun with the thousands of extra people.
• When you purchase a tasting package, you’ll also get a Festival program that will list all of the beers in detail; if you haven’t already figured out which beers you must try from the online beer page, this will be invaluable as you can not only make that list, but you can also write notes on the program next to the beer listing itself.
• Once you’ve figured out which beers you absolutely have to try, pick a section—north or south. Figure out which beers are in that section and stick with it until you’ve hit all your “must haves,” then move on to the other side—this will save you a lot of walking. Plus, you can take more advantage of the shade provided by the tent and spend less time going back and forth in the hot sun.
• If you have a group of friends with you, stake out a table early: these fill up really fast, and if you plan to be there a long time, you will definitely want somewhere to sit to eat some food, recover from the beer sampling a bit, whatever. Getting space at a table later in the day as the crowds grow will be next to impossible.
• If you find a popular beer that you really like, go back for seconds, or even full mugs—the popular beers will blow their kegs early (even by Friday night, in some cases).
• It’s always a good idea to take a bottle of water with you—between the beer and the heat you will want hydration—but the Festival also has rinsing stations spaced periodically along the tents so patrons can rinse their mugs out between tastings. Don’t be afraid to fill up your mug and knock back some water while you’re rinsing—the water is perfectly sanitary and freely available.

Hopefully these few tips will be valuable if you’re planning your trip to the BrewFest—but I’m sure you’ll have a good time either way.

Next week, I’ll see about the next most important thing about the Festival: the beers! I’ll present my own list of must-tries and must-haves, so you can plan ahead.

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