This April Fools’ weekend in Portland sees the first-ever Portland Farmhouse Weekend, anchored by the annual Portland Farmhouse and Wild Ale Festival which kicks off today, Friday the 31st, at Saraveza. This festival is in its fifth year, and the beer weekend additionally coordinates a number of farmhouse ale themed events around Portland.

Here’s the blurb from the press release about the events:

Returning for it’s 5th year and larger than ever, the Portland Farmhouse and Wild Ale Festival will increase it’s footprint both in outdoor tented space as well as a new Friday evening VIP session from 4-9pm. One of the annual festival exclusives, the 5th annual official fest beer is a single barrel spontaneously fermented wild ale from Logsdon Farmhouse Ales. Bottles will be available at the festival each day in limited amounts at opening. Over fifty different farmhouse ales will be

Portland Farmhouse and Wild Ale Festival and the inaugural Farmhouse Weekend celebrate the rustic, working-class, yeast-driven beers that originated in France and Belgium but have had a new renaissance in the United States. Oregon being home to many great farmhouse brewers like Logsdon Farmhouse Ales, The Ale Apothecary, Alesong Brewing & Blending, The Commons Brewery, Upright Brewing, pFriem Family Brewers, Agrarian Ales, De Garde, Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery, Ruse Brewing, Great Notion Brewing, Culmination Brewing, Yachats Brewing, Reach Break Brewing, all who will be participating in this years festivities.

There is also an exclusive, limited-edition beer for the fest, brewed by Logsdon Farmhouse Ales:

This years Farmhouse Festival features an exclusive new single barrel bottled and limited draft release from Logsdon Farmhouse Ales called “Portland Farmhouse Fest Saraveza Sour.” Only forty cases of 375ml bottles and two kegs were made of this unblended, spontaneously inoculated “methode van lembeek”-style beer will be on sale for $13 each. Saraveza has also unearthed two cases of last 2016’s official festival bottle release “The Croze” by The Commons Brewery which will be on sale for $12.

Besides the festival at Saraveza, you can find the list of Farmhouse Weekend events here, including:

• Meet and greet at The Commons Brewery, Friday from noon to 4pm
• Upright Brewing’s eighth anniversary party on Saturday
• A Farmhouse Discussion Panel at The Commons on Sunday with a number of brewers

Farmhouse Fest tickets are available online here. Admission to the fest costs $25, which gets you the glass and 10 drink tickets good for four-ounce pours. However, note that these pours will cost 1 to 4 tickets, depending on the beer. You can purchase additional tickets for $1 apiece.

I’m intrigued by this idea of a “Beer Weekend,” a shorter, possibly easier-to-manage version of the Beer Weeks that have sprung up all over the country in recent years. And it could work for this type of micro-targeted theme, where it might be difficult to fill an entire week with events.

If you’re a fan of farmhouse-style ales and wild fermentation, plan your Portland weekend accordingly!