Fruit Beer Festival Turns Six & Uproots from the East Side

The Portland Fruit Beer Festival, now in it's sixth year, is putting on its big boy pants and moving from the east side into downtown. Taking place Friday, June 10th through Sunday, June 12th it's festival that has gained in popularity to the degree that a move was necessary. The original space, in the parking lot of Burnside Brewing, worked at first but over the last couple of years, even with the expansion across the street, it was easy to see that the festival had outgrown it's space. Kudos to the organizers for making the much needed move.

Disclaimer: not a representation of this year's glass

The North Park Blocks (bordered by NW Park, 8th, Davis and Everett) will be "30% larger with grass, trees, park benches and more shade." For anyone that's attended the festival those will be welcome changes to the baking parking lot surface as the festival has generally lucked out with beautiful summer weather. A couple other changes are worth noting as well - a change to the tasting glass and an expansion of hours.

It should come as no surprise to Portland festival goers that the city doesn't allow glass vessels at festivals. When the event was at Burnside they were able to use them but this year it'll be a "branded Govino cup," which according to their website "is made from a crystal-clear, ultra-thin, BPA-free polymer, which accentuates the flavor, color, and aromatics of all types of beers. It is shatterproof, reusable, recyclable and proudly made in the USA."

As for the expanded hours, that's reflected in the festival opening at 11:30am on Friday, June 10th, making for a full day instead of the partial day it has been. For those able to get to the festival before 2pm Friday, you'll be rewarded with four extra drink tickets*

Getting to pricing, walk-up general admission is $25 and includes Govino cup and 12 drink tickets while advanced general admission packages online will get you three more drink tickets (15 total) however as with most online purchases there are service fees ($2.40 in this case). $27.40 for 15 tickets in advance or $25 for 12 tickets at the door is pretty much a wash as additional drink tickets are only $1.

One final note before I leave you to prepare for the festival later this week - 4oz pours will cost 1-3 tickets depending on the beer or cider ordered. Since the festival has started the number of samples that have cost more than one ticket has increased. While it's understandable that certain beers are more expensive to make it would be nice to see in advance how much each sample will cost. Maybe that's just me but if I go to the festival thinking I'm going to spend $25-$30 and end up spending perhaps another $20 in order to try the beers I want to I'll likely be less happy than if I knew up front that the beers I really wanted were primarily going to cost more than one ticket.

Enough of my commentary, get to drinking!

Portland Fruit Beer Festival
North Park Blocks, downtown
Friday, June 10th 11:30am - 9pm
Saturday, June 11th 11am - 9pm
Sunday, June 12th 11am - 6pm
Tickets: buy in advance or at the door (cash only but there is an ATM onsite)

Untappd users: save yourself some onsite hassle and create a wish list for easier check-ins while you're there.

Another Festival Debuts: Pints in the Pearl

Every year, and especially during the summer, there seems to be at least one new beer festival popping up on the Portland beer scene. Landing on the weekend between Memorial Day and the start of PDX Beer Week is a festival put on by the Pearl District Business Association. Pints in the Pearl is a one-day block party that will feature four breweries, all located in the Pearl - 10 Barrel Brewing, BridgePort Brewing, Deschutes Brewery and Fat Head's Brewery.

Admission to the festival, which will take over the street (and be closed to vehicles) at NW 13th and Everett, is free. For those that want to enjoy the beers and/or food each of the breweries will be bringing, $20 will provide a souvenir stainless steel pint and three tokens. The tokens are good for either a 16 oz pour of beer or a food item, including Fat Head's chicken wings. They've made plans to have a six-foot grill on site to finish their rubbed and smoked Smokehouse Wings and I suspect this will be one of the most popular food items. Other food available includes grilled chicken, corndogs and pretzels,which should pair well with the beers that range from lager to IPA to Belgian styles.

A couple of notes for those thinking about attending - it is a family friendly-festival (a bonus or a detraction depending on your own child-friendliness) and only credit/debit cards will be accepted for payment (generally not an issue unless you're a cash-only kind of person).

Pints in the Pearl
Saturday, June 4th 12-9pm
NW 13th and Everett

Bottle Cap Map

I've had my eye on beer cap maps for some time but hadn't committed to buying one for one reason or another. Recently I was offered one to review and I happily took the folks at Beer Gifts up on it since I have boat load of bottle caps sitting around that I've been wanting to do "something" with.

A week later a package arrived on my doorstep with an Oregon Beer Cap Map. Within minutes of unwrapping the map I was digging into the kitchen drawer that holds bottle caps for one to fit in. A little unsure how difficult it would be to pop them in I was pleased to find it was relatively easy to insert the first one, a Buoy cap, into the back of the map.

From there things got harder as I weighed putting Oregon only bottle caps into the map or simply filling it with the caps I like, regardless of the state they're from. I know the former is the idea of the maps for each state but I'll be honest that it seems a little more ambitious than I'm up for. Instead, albeit it possibly committing blasphemy by doing so, I decided to select my favorite caps from the vast collection I've accumulated over the-beer-gods-only-know-how-long.

So far it's about half filled but it's definitely taking shape and I'm looking forward to completing it so I can work on finding a place to hang it. That'll be a bit of a challenge as we have relatively little available wall space but with strategically placed pre-drilled holes in the map and its minimal weight once I do identify a place it should take mere minutes to put it up.

So whether you're looking for something for yourself or a gift for a fellow bottle cap collector and plan to use it as intended or take my course of action it's an easy to use product that offers an easy way to display those bottle caps that I KNOW you have tucked away in drawers.

****COMPLETION UPDATE****

With my bottle cap map now complete (save for two spots that are waiting to be filled by caps attached to beers in my fridge just days away from being consumed) I wanted to share a couple of helpful tips.

1. Work from the inside/center, outward. This doesn't need to be a hard and fast rule but it will become more important as the map fills up and you'll find less handholds needed to apply pressure to add caps.

2. Plan on this being a multi-day project. Your thumbs (or whatever digits take the most pressure pushing the caps into their holes) will give out and you'll need to give them a rest. Plus, a little time away from it will provide better perspective on the overall look and outcome of the map.