The inaugural Irish Beer Festival kicks off on St. Patrick’s Day

Irish Beer Festival poster

Portland, Oregon’s Kells Brew Pub is hosting the new Irish Beer Festival this weekend, starting on Friday, March 17—St. Patrick’s Day. The event will feature Irish-style beers and ciders from a dozen regional breweries, and will take place in Kells’ parking lot under a heated tent.

From the press release:

Participating breweries include 54°40′ Brewing, Burnside Brewing, Cascade Brewing, Cider Riot!, Culmination Brewing, Deschutes Brewery, Grixsen Brewing, Hopworks Urban Brewery, Kells Brewery, Lompoc Brewing, Lucky Lab Brewpub and Mt. Hood Brewing. Many of the beers are being brewed specifically for the event.

Event hours are 11am to 1am on March 17 and March 18, and 10am to 6pm on March 19. Early admission before 4pm daily is $10, which includes a souvenir logo pint glass and seven taster tokens. After 4pm, admission is $20, which includes the glass, tokens and the cover charge into the adjoining Kells Irish Festival.

In addition to beer tasting, there will be Irish dancers, bagpipers, live music and Irish food specials all three days. Minors are welcome daily until 4pm. Attendees are encouraged to travel between the Irish Beer Festival and the Kells Irish Festival next door.

The Facebook page is here, with updates and beers highlighted, and the associated event page is here.

Interestingly this runs concurrent with Kells’ other festival, their St. Patrick’s Festival (or Irish Festival as mentioned in the press release). The emphasis on that festival is much more on music, dance, and food, and I can’t help but think adding the beer festival will make this one of the places to be this weekend. It also seems like it would be a nice break from the St. Patrick’s Day pub crawl scene (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

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