Four Beer Festivals in One Day: That's How Portland Rolls on a January Saturday

Writing on an assigned topic takes me back to high school and college classes and after having penned this blog for seven years without assignments I must admit that it's a lot harder than I thought it would be. However dangling the dual carrots of free registration to the 2014 Beer Bloggers Conference in San Diego and a free trip to the National Beer Wholesalers Association's Annual Convention in New Orleans was enough incentive for me to take a crack at a post on the wide topic of "America's Beer Renaissance: Consumer Choice and Variety in the U.S. Beer Market."

Portland, whether or not that other city believes it, is the craft beer capital of the U.S. and last Saturday was a perfect example to support that claim. January is historically a quieter time of year for beer goings-on with some people recovering from the hectic holiday season, others slogging their way through winter by hunkering down and a few determined souls sticking to their New Year resolutions to eat better/drink less/be healthier. You wouldn't have guessed that by the fact that the lucky beer ducks in Portland had a choice of four, yes four, beer festivals happening simultaneously.

1. Portland U-Brew Winter Brew Fest - The combination homebrew supply store/brew-on-premises facility/brewpub hosted a beer festival showcasing 10 beers, six of their own making and the rest from other local breweries. If that doesn't sound exciting enough, there was one beer brewed with gummi bears and another with candy canes and M & M's.

2. NW Coffee Beer Invitational - The organizers of this inaugural festival clearly didn't think a January date was undesirable to host an outdoor festival that brought together 12 breweries, all utilizing coffee in the creation of their brew. The offerings weren't just limited to the usual suspects - stouts and porters - but also included a berliner weiss and a couple of IPAs.

3. Bailey's Taproom CellarFest - One of the best taprooms in Portland, Bailey's annual festival digs deep, into their cellar that is. The beer list featured over 20 beers going back as far as 2008. Most of them topped 9% ABV, being imperials and barleywines, but there were also a few aged sour beers to keep things interesting.

4. Belmont Station Bigger Badder Blacker Week - One of the top bottle shops in Portland was in the midst of their week-long festival, an "annual trek to The Dark Side" that offered a multitude of rare, big beers. Saturday featured imported beers, a departure from the other festivals that were pouring beers primarily from Oregon or West Coast breweries.

Admittedly these festivals were smaller than the five-day extravaganza of the Oregon Brewers Festival held in July along the Portland waterfront and its winter counterpart, the Holiday Ale Festival. Nevertheless, I challenge you to find any craft beer lover that wasn't torn trying to decide where to spend their Saturday imbibing. In total there were over 50 beers available from these four events alone expressing the creativity of the brewers that so generously keep us from going thirsty. If that doesn't illustrate choice and variety I don't know what does.

Puckerfest

With sour beers being my most recent infatuation I thought I would be more excited by the weeklong Puckerfest at Belmont Station and more motivated to get over there, ensuring I was able to try as many of sour beers they planned to have on tap as I could.

The first day of Puckerfest was a Monday, the day of the week I’m least likely to make it anywhere. I was seriously jealous reading about the great sour beers people in my Twitterverse were trying. The same was true for the next couple of nights but my envy also came to be tempered by the “too many beer events going on that I just have to accept I’m not going to make it to all of them” understanding that has become part of my life since moving here.

Then Friday afternoon the opportunity to swing by Belmont Station presented itself. I almost didn’t stop, having just left the Cheese Bar after a delicious lunch with friends and being on my way home where there were things awaiting my attention. As it happened, my path took me directly by Belmont Station. Had I been a couple blocks north or south I probably would haven’t stopped but I figured it wouldn’t be right NOT to stop in since I was driving directly by it.

Once inside I think I probably spent a good five minutes deciding what to order. I had decided that I’d only order two of the smallest size so making the “right” ordering decision was critical. I finally narrowed it down to Block 15 Ferme de La Ville 2011, primarily because it was one of the offerings with Brett in it, and was debating my second selection when I heard a couple people at the bar raving about Walking Man Foot Funk. I had considered this beer, but in all honesty, it was the name that was turning me off as I find feet to be repulsive but I decided to put it out of my mind and go with the overheard recommendation.

The Ferme de La Ville was good, slightly dry and exceptionally drinkable, a great beer for the gorgeous, warm, sunny afternoon. But as soon as I had my first sip of Foot Funk I was in love. Tart, sour, a little funky, it was so good I don’t think I can even convey its awesomeness. And if you had walked by the table I was sitting at you probably would have wondered what was wrong with the short redhead with the stupid smile and slightly glazed look on her face.

It’s unlikely I’ll be able to make it back before Puckerfest is over. That means I’ll probably miss at least two or three other sours beers that would knock my socks off and many more I’d enjoy. But I’m ok with that because those three or four ounces of Foot Funk were that good.

A Weekend of Beer Gathering

Most of the time when I buy beer to restock the fridge, there isn't much of an advance plan. Maybe there was one beer I had in mind that drove the me but it's often a spur of the moment decision that I want something besides what is already in the well-stocked fridge. And usually my plan for moderation flies out the window when all the tasty choices are in front of me. This weekend was different; I had a solid, four part plan in advance.

Part I – Growler Fills at The Guild

As I mentioned last time around, the offer of $8 growler fills at The Guild Public House was a can't-pass-this-up type of deal. I knew I had to get there before the end of the month, when the promotion would end, and the coupling of an impending out of state work trip with the announcement that starting Monday (today) they were scaling back their hours, opening at 4 pm daily, put this on the must do list for the weekend. Although I didn’t know exactly what beers I would pick up due to the rotating nature of taps, I knew I’d be getting two growlers filled. (Any more would probably overload my limited fridge situation.)

Part II – Cascade Barrel House

Being in the flight path between The Guild and home, I knew a stop into Cascade would be an easy one. The hard part, I figured, would be getting a bottle of the already-a-week-past-the-release 2008 Apricot Ale. Lady Luck, who pinch hits for The Beer Gods from time to time, was with me. A quick call confirmed I hadn't missed my chance. I made two bottles mine, along with a pint of their freshly released, and very refreshing, Spring Gose.

Part III – Belmont Station 14^th Anniversary Sale

This weekend was the 14^th anniversary for Belmont Station and as a gift to their customers, they were offering 14% off all purchases on Sunday. 14% isn’t a lot, but when you buy good beer, beer that generally doesn’t go on sale at all, it’s worth making a point to take advantage of it. Knowing that I easily get distracted when I walk in there with all the choices and I could easily spend hundreds of dollars there on a day without a sale, I went armed with a list. There were four beers on it and it was four beers I walked out with.

Part IV – Four Play

Upright Brewing, was also celebrating an anniversary (their 2^nd) this weekend. A major component of the festivities was the sale of their much talked about Four Play. As you might guess with a name like that, they had fun with the artwork for the label. This year's artwork wasn't as racy as last years, yet there was still back and forth about it. I personally think it's much ado about nothing, especially in a town where there's at least one strip club in every neighborhood. As for the beer itself, it is Belgian in character, starting out with a wheat base, and then aging for a year in former pinot noir barrels with cherries, souring yeasts and bacteria. There were no limits on how much one could purchase but I practiced some rarely used restraint, bringing home just two bottles.

Weekend Total:

1 growler Everybody's Brewing Country Boy IPA
1 growler Prodigal Sun Rye

2 bottles Cascade 2008 Apricot Ale

12. 7 oz bottle Russian River Sanctification

6-pack Widmer W'11 KGB

22 oz Firestone Walker Double Jack

22 oz Laurelwood Espresso Stout

2 bottles Upright Four Play

In lieu of any photos from me, check out the links in Part IV. That should satisfy your eye candy cravings.