Brew Fest Still Growing
Numbers don’t lie—OBF is a monster success
Posted by: John Chandler on Aug 02, 2011 at 11:00AM
5 Comments
You’re never lost at the Oregon Brewers Festival.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Yes, it can get a little “in tents” at times. But anyone afraid of a crowd just doesn’t want beer bad enough.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Plenty of snappy dressers at OBF—like this pilsner pilgrim.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Or this Tyrolean tippler.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Of course, on hot days it pays to protect your pate. Thanks to all the cheerful volunteers, the backbone of the OBF.
View Slideshow » Illustration:There was a stand manned by the Cascade Breweriana Association, collectors of Northwest “breweriana,” those beloved beer tchotchkes from yesteryear.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Apparently, the original Rainier brewmaster looked an awful lot like the Monopoly Man. Who knew?
View Slideshow » Illustration:Golden Valley Brewery’s Cote de Or (“Golden Slope”) was a magnificent Belgian-style Golden Ale, with a potpourri of fruit and spice flavors. Just a hair too sweet, though.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Of course, it’s not all beer and skittles. Reps from Everyday Prevention, a group focused on curtailing underage drinking, were also present.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Not all of the beer at the festival was served in mugs.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Endgame.
View Slideshow »The 24th annual Oregon Brewers Festival had 85 different craft beers from 14 states across the country. Featured here is the Laughing Dog Anubis Imperial Coffee Porter from Idaho.
View Slideshow »Policemen closed down streets for the 800 soon-to-be-drunk passerby to parade from 13th and Stark down to the Tom McCall Waterfront Park on July 28. Portland is home to 40 breweries—more than any other city in the world.
View Slideshow »Along with an accompanied band, the parade featured hammerheads, Vikings, and friars—all in the good name of beer. The event generates close to $2 million according to the Brewers Festival.
View Slideshow »In the hiatus of people that would soon overrun the red tent on popular days of Saturday and Sunday, these beer lovers relaxingly sampled brews in the “red” tent on the much less crowded Thursday. This was the fourth year in a row that the OBF held record attendance, this time reaching a high of 80,000.
View Slideshow »The token and beer sales tent was overrun on kickoff day July 28 with eager beer enthusiasts waiting to get their hands on a souvenir mug and tokens. With just $6, you can have the souvenir 2011 mug. And with that mug and $1, you can have a token and a tasting. And with four tokens, you can have a full pint.
View Slideshow »On Thursday, July 28, I was lucky enough to find the Viking Beer Maiden, also known as Josh Gardner. He was getting married on Saturday, July 30.
View Slideshow »Only on the first day would a treat such as free be found. In spirit of brew fest, Jeff Cooley was rapidly filling up mugs of free Hammerhead to the crowd.
View Slideshow »Only on the first day would a treat such as free be found. In spirit of brew fest, Jeff Cooley was rapidly filling up mugs of free Hammerhead to the crowd.
View Slideshow »A brewfester hands up the precious one token for a free tasting outside the North tent—blue tent to keep it even simpler.
View Slideshow »The lines were long and it was hot, but this did not dissuade brew lovers to wait for the cold taste of a beer. Also, to this year to many gluten intolerants’ delight, Deschutes Gluten free NW Pale Ale dry was available. It was one of the beers that ran out due to popular demand.
View Slideshow »The golden color of beer in sunlight was enough to keep those lines long, but the beer also served a purpose—on Sunday, festival director and founder Art Larrance handed a check worth $10,000 to the Oregon Brewers Festival for Pints for Prostates to spread the message to men that it’s important to have regular prostate health screenings and PSA testing.
View Slideshow »View Slideshow »
In spirit of celebrating beer, Bobby Fox, Jack Tolmachoff, and Mark Hadson, sported gladiator like helmets and pretzel necklaces.
View Slideshow »Bobby Fox having a great time on Friday, July 29, despite the heat and lines.
View Slideshow »People were encouraged to drink, and drink they shall. Everyone else that was sober, including the 2,000 volunteers, minors and designated drivers were given free root beer and face painting—gotta stay safe y’all.
View Slideshow »Ben Hennes, Josh “Torch” Edgerton, and Andy Hennes raised a toast to double fisting to avoid long lines on Saturday. Come back next year, always the last weekend in July.
I spent two days at the Oregon Brewers Festival, and I drank my fill. I fired off summary tweets, snapped a few photos, and joined in the spontaneous group whooping, a periodic exclamation (“woooooo!”) that seemed to express the idea of, “We’re here, there’s beer, and we’re not working.” A Dionysian declaration of defiance, if you will.
My only regret was drinking three citrus-based beers in a row on Friday; the Ginger & Meyer Ann from Blue Frog Grog & Grill (meh), 10 Barrel’s Zitrone Kolsch (zesty), and Cascade Brewing’s Buzz Tent entry, a head-snapping honey, ginger, and lime hybrid that tasted like it came from a Norman Rockwell soda fountain. Who knew beer could be thirst quenching? Despite subsequently sucking down two bottles of water, my palate was whack.
As usual, navigating the beer tents took the balletic grace of Baryshnikov and a storm trooper’s indifference to one’s fellow man, but it was a manageable chaos. If the crowd seemed more substantial than in year’s past, it’s because it was. According to numbers released today by brew fest organizers, this was the fourth year in a row that new attendance records were set, with more than 80,000 brew believers from all parts of the planet landing in Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Guests guzzled 85 craft beers from 14 different states, not to mention another 40 small-batch specialty beers in the Buzz Tent. Moreover, a growing number of Portlanders exercised the two-wheeled option. Members of the Washington County Bicycle Transportation Coalition counted 1200 bikes in the bicycle parking area.
On the philanthropy front, the event raised $10,000 for Pints for Prostates an organization dedicated to getting the word out to men of a certain age (the dominant brew fest demographic, by far) that regular prostate screenings are a really good idea.
So what’s in store for OBF’s 25th anniversary next year? New, bigger, location? Sedan chair taxis? Ale dunk tank? Ponder a while, drinking buddies, and peruse our web exclusive slideshow from the 2011 Oregon Brewers Festival. Cheers!
Tags: Beer Festivals Oregon Craft Beer Month Oregon Brewers Festival
I want to like this festival, I really do—but after this year I won’t be returning. I can typically deal with large & crowded festivals, but there were just too many kids this year. A festival celebrating alcohol is no place for kids.
Before you go all pro-kids-at-beer-fests on me, let me state that I go to beer festivals to taste new and different types of beer. I do not show up to get sloppy drunk. Kids (and their strollers) get in the way, not only underfoot in the massively over-crowded tent, but in the shady seating areas as well. It seemed like nearly every table and open spot of grass was occupied (and held under strict lock-down) by parents of young children. I saw more than a few families spread out with multiple games set up to keep their kids occupied – some with iPads and portable DVD players being put to use for kids still in diapers.
My husband and I wandered over to a smaller seating area where we saw an empty table. It was situated next to a table occupied by two men and 3 small children. They were engrossed in a lively board game. After we sat down and unwrapped our food we were informed that the table we’d chosen was “being saved” for another family that was on their way to the festival. Awesome
_I’m pretty sure that’s not how festival seating works. I can see saving seats at your own table, but not the entire empty table next to yours.I understand that families want to spend time together, and that Waterfront Park is a great place for that to happen. I just wish this beer fest was a 21+ event. We will not return until it is.
You’re preaching to the choir, Megan. Perhaps down the road the OBF will include a designated kiddie corral. Kind of like a coat check, but with kids.
The one visit I made this year was on Saturday afternoon, which of course is the worst possible time to go. Alas, it was the only one that fit into my schedule. I managed to enjoy myself nonetheless (go figure), but it did occur to me that most people who go at that time are probably more there for the “scene” than the beer. After all, if one is interested in sampling the broadest possible selection of quality brews, one is not going to go when the lines are consistently 10-20 minutes long if one can help it. Lesson learned for next year.
As for the kids thing, I’m a little more forgiving of the parents on this one. It’s hard to fault people for bringing the little ones to an event that is outdoors and all ages, especially when it’s probably one of the few environments where they can combine their love of their kids with their love of beer. Let’s face it: any time you leave the house, you risk running afoul of annoying kids and/or obnoxious parents. BrewFest is no different in that regard. For my part, I was there at the worst possible time, and experienced no kid-related angst.
BP, you get all the good assignments. But, I’d pay damn good money to see you swerve and sway like Baryshnikov. Never mind the laughing. It’s all in good fun, dearie.
Honey, ginger, & lime sounds good enough to make consider leaving off cocktails long enough to drink a beer or two.