Now in its 8th year, the Portland Fruit Beer Festival returns to its original home at Burnside Brewing on the east side after a one-year excursion across the river. Pouring more than 50 interpretations of fruit beer/cider, the offerings will span a variety of styles from sours and lagers to IPAs and stouts, utilizing all manner of fruits from commonplace to obscure. We recently had the opportunity to try a sampling of the beers/ciders that will be poured at the festival and were impressed both by the brewers' creativity and their skills.
Juicy/Fruited
Cider Riot! Everyday Passionfruit - A back-sweetened, semi-dry cider, it is a less tart version than last year's and displays the mild flavor of passionfruit in an easy-drinking 6% cider.
Claim 52 Skrrrrrt - Using a mild Gose base, one could easily mistake this 4.2% pineapple and passionfruit beer for a glass of juice. A very tasty glass of juice.
Finnriver Berry & Bard - Combining heirloom, organic Washington apples with Olympic Peninsula rhubarb and aronia berries grown at Finnriver Farm the result is a fruity yet tanic/dry cider.
Hopworks Strawberry Milkshake IPA - Light-handed use of strawberries and lactose meld with berry-forward Australian hops and tropical Pacific NW hops in this 7.4% fruited IPA.
Reverend Nat's Blood Orange Viva La Pineapple - Taking things to another level, Nat put his festival-exclusive version of blended apple and pineapple juice into a slushy machine. So drinkable and fun, beware of a brain freeze!
Von Ebert Starcloud - Starting with their Sector 7 IPA made with Mosaic, Simcoe, Citra and Galaxy hops, tropical starfruit was added, resulting in a smooth and lovely 7.1% hazy IPA.
Hint of Fruit
Buoy Saison de Gewurtz - The buckwheat Saison base beer spent five months in Willamette Valley Pinot Noir barrels with house Brettanomyces cultures spiked with Oregon-grown Gewurztraminer juice. For the first mixed culture project released, Buoy is starting off with a bang. Make sure to have this delicate 4.9% offering early on.
Gigantic Brewing Gigantic & Juice - An updated version of the G&J made last year, the lightly juiced beer contains balanced amounts of pineapple, tangerine and grapefruit.
Widmer Strawbarbaric IRA - One doesn't see many India Red Ales in general and this version brings together strawberries and rhubarb with "red fruit nuanced hops" - Hull Melon, Mandarina Bavaria and more.
Tart/Sour
2 Towns Easy Peasy - The first citrus cider from 2 Towns, it's a limited release offering that drinks like adult raspberry lemonade with a tartness coming from the Meyer lemons and Lactobacillus culture.
Allegory Sunshine Slammer - This POG (passionfruit, orange, guava) was crafted with a session outdoors in mind, deriving its sourness from a Lactobacillus pitch. One of the more [deliciously] sour offerings we tried!
Great Notion Blueberry Muffin - Known for their kettle-soured Berliner Weisses, it has a bright, blueberry tartness that if one has the chance, pairs well with an actual blueberry muffin.
Unexpected
Lompoc/Fruit Beer Fest/Repurposed Pod collaboration Cacao Cream Ale - Cacao pods are generally thought of as the starting point for chocolate but using the juice from the fleshy portion of the fruit and the cacao nibs from the seed portion this beer is a mind-expanding creation. Hazy apricot in color with an aroma that hints mildly of chocolate, this cream ale is perfectly fruity and drinkable. Representatives from Repurposed Pod were involved in the blending process and Lompoc is only the second brewery in the U.S. to use their Cacao Juice (Tired Hands in PA being the other).
Migration Manhattan Transfer - If you're looking for a cocktail, Manhattan Transfer is the beer to have. The 7.9% cocktail beer was fermented on freshly emptied rye whiskey barrels with "heaps" of cherries and vermouth-infused oak and botanicals.
The festival starts on Friday with a five-hour preview session (20-ish beers/ciders) and goes into full festival mode Saturday and Sunday spanning Burnside Brewing's parking lot, a portion of NE 7th Street and the parking lot adjacent on the west side of the street. 30 core beers and ciders will be pouring throughout with three to four rotating rare and special tappings. Pours will range from one to three tickets in cost with additional tickets available for purchase.
Portland Fruit Beer Festival
Friday, June 8th 4 - 9pm
Saturday, June 9th 11am - 9pm
Sunday, June 10th 11am - 6pm
Tickets on sale in advance and at the door, $20 (BPA-free, non-breakable Govino branded plastic cup + 12 tickets) or $25 (collectible branded glass + 12 tickets)
Last week while our taste buds were clearly tuned to "sour" the three beers making this week's list span the seasons.
Dionysus Super Funkadelic - Shared by one of our frequent drinking buddies at The BeerMongers, this dry-hopped gose hit the perfect balance of sourness and hoppiness. On the big end for a gose at 6.5% it's still incredibly drinkable with the hop profile making it feel like a suitable fall beer. Bonus points for a label that is as cool as the beer is good.
Buoy Benedict Cumberbatch - Another gose, this one featuring freshly chopped and juiced cucumbers and Jacobsen sea salt, it is super refreshing. It would be a great summer drinker so we'll have to hope it shows up next year but we would be quite pleased to continue drinking it throughout the winter.
North Coast Berliner Weisse Cranberry-Quince - One might recall seeing North Coast's other Berliner Weisses making our Best Things list but this one is quite possibly the best of the series so far. The most gorgeous of this week's list, the fruits used in it are ones we associate with fall and winter. Both the color and the flavor profile would make it a great beer to take to holiday gatherings.
What's hitting your high notes recently? Seasonal offerings like fresh hop beers and Oktoberfests? Your go-to style, be it Pilsner, IPA or stout?
Thanks to my better half for buying tickets to Fort George's Festival of the Dark Arts on a [inebriated] whim, I'm no longer a #FoDA virgin. We're not very good about planning vacations or even weekend getaways but having secured tickets early was all that it took to follow through with getting a place to stay and before I knew it, it was time to hit the road to Astoria.
Going out a day early gave us the opportunity to take the short trip at a leisurely pace with an impromptu stop at Seaside Brewing along the way. We bellied up for a couple of beers and a plate of some of the best nachos I've had in a long time (the nachos being a decision based 100% on seeing another couple at the bar enjoying some when we arrived). Mag chose their Lockup IPA; I went for my second choice, the Stormcrow Imperial Stout. I "won" in this round, enjoying a glass of roasty, creamy goodness while Mag struggled through his pint of decidedly Belgiany IPA. Before we got too comfortable we shoved off and finished the drive to Astoria.
Once there we did a little sightseeing, checking out the Columbia River Maritime Museum and adjacent Lightship Columbia boat, did a little sea lion watching and eventually checked into our B&B before hitting Buoy Brewing. We lucked out that the inner bar was full, "forcing" us out to the main bar where we snagged seats that allowed us to watch the ships float by. Our bar food nibbling continued with an outstanding hummus plate where it was clear there was as much care put into it as there has been into their beers. There was of course also the glass-floored area where we could peek in on the sea lions napping below. We kept it tame knowing there was plenty of beer ahead the next day.
Saturday, after putting down a good drinking base with breakfast at the B&B, we waited for the drizzle to subside and the big show to begin. Once in the door opened I grabbed my first beer in the Lovell Brewery and then raced to catch up with the group up the spiral staircase in the Pizza Joint. While the Truffle Shuffle wasn't super special, it was a solid stout and a great start to the fest. As the day progressed, the venue filled and we made our way from one area to the other. No festival can provide a lineup of 100% awesome beers but you take the good with the not so good and at least for me there weren't any drain pours and more than a couple that I really enjoyed, including Mill City Brew Werks Tripwire, Bear Republic Brandy Barrel Aged Grizz and Buoy Raspberry Chocolate Stout.
Not only is the Dark Arts a beer festival but there's entertainment in the form of live music, ice sculpture carving, belly dancing, fire dancing and more. I would have enjoyed sticking around for the fire dancing but that didn't start until over five hours in and while I did a decent job of pacing myself, by that time my endurance had run out. No worries, though, there's always next year, right? Because as much as I have enjoyed Zwickelmania in past years, Fort George makes a strong case to choose their festivities over Oregon's beer open house. If you haven't been I'd highly recommend it as it is one of the best festivals around.
Thanks to my buddy, Baker, for snapping a pic of us, part of the large contingent of Portland usual suspects that attended.
