The popular Oregon Brewers Festival comes of age, celebrating the 21st Amendment in conjunction with its 21st birthday

In 1933 the 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution repealed the 18th Amendment, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition. Since the Oregon Brewers Festival turns 21 this year, the event finds it fitting to celebrate the ratification of the 21st Amendment during its four-day course. One of the nation's longest-running and best-loved craft beer festivals will take place July 24 through July 27 at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland. Hours are Noon to 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and Noon to 7 p.m. Sunday.

Seventy-two craft breweries from 18 different states will each send one product to serve at the event, hailed by many industry experts and beer fans alike as the premier craft beer festival in the nation. A 73rd beer, Collaborator, is a joint project between members of the Oregon Brew Crew homebrewing club and Widmer Brothers Brewing Co. More than 60,000 beer connoisseurs annually travel from around the world to sample the vast number of beer styles, which highlight the influences that different regions have on the brewing process.

Joining the breweries are industry exhibits by hop growers, homebrewers, breweriana collectors, and national beer writers. Four days of live music showcases the best high-energy talent the Northwest has to offer. Food booths sell meals and alternative beverages, while the Crater Lake Soda Garden provides handcrafted sodas free of charge to minors and designated drivers. Minors are allowed into the event when accompanied by a parent.

Admission to the festival grounds is free; however, a 2008 souvenir mug costing $5 is required for consuming beer. The mug is good for all four days, and mugs from previous years will not be filled. All beer is purchased with tokens, which cost $1 apiece. Patrons pay four tokens for a full mug of beer, or one token for a taste. Sales of mugs and tokens cease 1/2-hour each evening prior to the close of the event.

Alternative modes of transportation are encouraged, with free bicycle parking available each day. The main entrance at SW Oak Street and Naito Parkway is located one block from the MAX Light Rail line.

The Oregon Brewers Festival takes place during Oregon Craft Beer Month, a celebration of craft beer by Oregon's specialty breweries. A variety of special events will take place at craft breweries throughout the state, culminating with the Oregon Brewers Festival.

The Oregon Brewers Festival was founded in 1988 as an opportunity to expose the public to microbrews at a time when the craft brewing industry was just getting off the ground. Today, that industry has succeeded, especially in Oregon, and particularly in the city of Portland. There are currently 89 craft brewing facilities in Oregon, and 32 breweries operating within the Portland city limits - more than any other city in the world. The Portland metropolitan area boasts 40 breweries, making it the largest craft brewing market in the United States.

For more information about the Oregon Brewers Festival, visit www.oregonbrewfest.com or call 503-778-5917.

Even though I posted some of the pictures I took with my previous OBF posts, I thought I'd do an entry of all the photos I took, gallery-style. Click on each picture to see a larger version.

Click through to see my OBF 2007 gallery

Slowly but surely, I'm getting all of this written up. Here (finally) are my notes on the beers of the Brewfest that I sampled. The beers, of course, being largely the whole point of the festival.

My formatting should be self-evident... after my notes, I'll (very) roughly score the beer on a 1 to 10 scale, to give an idea of my overall impressions.

Read more (long)

The Oregon Brewers Festival witnessed a banner year with a record attendance of 60,500 beer lovers at the 20th annual festival, and the largest number of kegs poured to date. The four-day event concluded on Sunday, July 29, at Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

The event kicked off on July 26 with a one-mile brewers parade on the city sidewalks, led by Portland Mayor Tom Potter and accompanied by bagpipers, drummers, and beer lovers. Upon arrival at the venue, Mayor Potter followed the Oktoberfest tradition in which the Lord Mayor taps the first keg, by swinging a wooden mallet to drive the tap into the official first keg of the festival.

The Oregon Brewers Festival served 73 different craft beers from 14 states across the country. The top sellers were the light, refreshing fruit beers, including 21st Amendment's Watermelon Wheat, Cascade Brewing's Razberry Wheat, and Eugene City's Honey Orange Wheat.

Beer lovers came from every state in the nation, and many countries around the world, to join in the celebration. One particular group flew in from Holland, volunteering as token sellers before partaking in the festivities.

The festival's minor and designated driver program, which offered participants dog tags with the logo "None Before 21," was a great success. Minors and designated drivers received access to the Crater Lake Soda Garden, which served complimentary handcrafted sodas and ice cream floats. Staff from the Wallowa Valley Together Project offered education on the potential dangers, risks, and unhealthy community norms associated with underage drinking.

The Oregon Brewers Festival was founded in 1988 as an opportunity to expose the public to microbrews at a time when the craft brewing industry was just getting off the ground. Today, that industry has succeeded, especially in Oregon, a state that has more craft breweries per capita than anywhere else in the nation. Oregon's beer production grew at a rate of nearly 17 percent in 2006, pumping more than $2.2 billion into the state's economy. The Oregon Brewers Festival alone has an estimated economic impact of $1.5 million on the city of Portland.

The Oregon Brewers Festival always takes place the last full weekend in July. The 2008 dates will be July 24 through 27. For more information, visit www.oregonbrewfest.com.

My Day Two (Saturday) of the Oregon Brewers Festival was, as I indicated, more of a social day that a "pro blogger" day: my friend Justin and I went together. I still had my notebook, camera, and pack with me, and I took notes on the beers I was sampling, though that's about it.

Read on for more of Day 2

Here's my Part 2 of that first day of the Oregon Brewers Festival. These are more random observations that I wanted to touch on before moving to my Day 2 report.

After tasting six beers at the northern end of the Brewfest, I wandered south to check out the rest of the action. Interestingly, the southern tent was obviously busier and packed with more people than the northern tent. I'm not sure about the reason behind this discrepancy. Perhaps more people were entering via the southern entrance under the Morrison Bridge?

Read more

Even though the Oregon Brewers Festival starts on Thursday now (and, as media, I was officially invited to attend the brunch and parade that morning), I left for Portland Friday morning to attend that day and Saturday. I was able to stay with my friends, Justin and Raegan, who generously put up with me. Justin had to work on Friday, but made it down to the Brewfest after work and we went together on Saturday.

My Day One at the Brewfest, I was in "pro blogger" mode since I was there by myself: writing a lot of notes, taking a bunch of pictures, exploring the Fest and trying to beat the crowds. Day Two was more of a social day, since Justin and I were there together; my Day Two writeup will follow tomorrow or Wednesday, after I deal with Part Two of Day One..

I'm not even writing about the beers in detail yet—that's a post on its own since I took a fair number of notes. I'll list what I tried each day, though, to give an idea.

Read on for the full report

More extensive writeups will follow, of course, but I must say, the Oregon Brewers Festival was really, really good this year. Lots of good beers, a few misses, and at least one that was good but very odd.

It was also the first time I've been considered "Media" for blogging. I had a badge, even. Something I could definitely get used to.

I hit all but one of my target beers, I believe. Pretty good! A quick note on my two favorites: Red Thistle Quercus from Golden Valley Brewing (pinot oak barrel aged red/ESB) and Bourbon Barrel Abbey Dubbel from Flying Fish (just like it sounds). Both were amazing. (Though I've seen a few online reviews from people who didn't like the Bourbon Barrel. All I can do is shrug.)

More to come tomorrow and later this week.

I'm off to the Oregon Brewers Festival today—leaving shortly and driving to Portland. I'll be picking up my press kit (as a blogger, I get full media privileges—how cool is that?) and start sampling beers somewhere around noon to 1:30, if all goes well.

I'm wearing a white Arrogant Bastard t-shirt and jean shorts, and will have a black and green shoulder bag slung over me, if anyone wants to meet. I'm the brown-haired guy with the goatee.

Alternatively, you can try calling and leaving me a message—I've signed up with the free service PrivatePhone, which assigns me a phone number for anyone to call and leave a voicemail that I can check from my phone. (I don't quite feel right about publishing my cellphone number for all the world to see...) I'll check messages every hour or so (maybe more frequently), and that number is 360-362-1627.

Off I go!

Even though I won't get there until tomorrow and I think of the Oregon Brewers Festival as (traditionally) starting on Friday, it actually starts—well, started—today.

First up was the Oregon Brewers Brunch and Parade, from 10am til noon (PDF here):

The public is invited to join craft brewers from across the country to kick off the 20th annual Oregon Brewers Festival. The Oregon Brewers Brunch will begin at 10 am at the Rogue Ales Public House at 1339 NW Flanders St in Portland. Tickets may be purchased at the door and cost $15, which includes a traditional brunch, a pint of Rogue Ales, a parade t-shirt, and a kazoo. At 11 am, participating brewers and beer lovers will set out for an old-fashioned sidewalk parade, accompanied by kazoos and marching band music. The parade will wind its way through Portland sidewalks to the opening ceremonies of the 20th annual Oregon Brewers Festival.

And then the Fest opens at noon. I wish I could've made it early, but that's okay, I'll get early reports from other blogs: Jay Brooks will be there today, and Jeff promises a preview tonight. And there'll be others, I'm quite sure.

One more day for me!

Jeff at Beervana has a good Preview post up. I swear Jeff knows more about the OBF than anyone else I'm reading online... I think he must keep each year's beer list in Excel or something. If you don't know what kind of beer to try, Jeff's guide should be considered mandatory. You won't go wrong with it.

I rather liked this list of 10 Easy Steps to Enjoying the 20th Annual Oregon Brewers Festival on the Portland Metroblogging site.

2. Don't linger in the beer line - seriously - there is a huge amount of space in the area - it's not that hard to get back in line once your cup is finished. Don't crowd the lines while you're standing around drinking and socializing.
...
8. Check out some of the vendors - I'd always kind of ignored them before, but last year we bought awesome handmade wooden beers steins that you can't get anywhere else in Portland.
9. Get out of the tents - this kind of goes with #2 - but if you're standing really close to where they pour the beer, it's going to seem overly crowded - but there is really a lot of room.

Getting close to the Oregon Brewers Festival this week, and I'm thinking about what to take and carry while I'm there, wandering around the park. One thing to keep in mind is hydration—that's probably the most important thing, because not only are you (potentially) drinking a lot of beer, but you're out in the heat the entire time you're there. (Of course, they have water available—but when there are thousands of people there, I figure it's better to be safe than sorry.)

Here's a list of what I'm thinking I'll have with me:

• Light backpack or messenger bag to hold this stuff, plus room to hold extras or souvenirs I pick up
• Bottled water; at least 2 pints worth, sealed: they won't allow unsealed containers in (they could potentially contain outside alcohol)
• Notebook and pen(s)
• Digital camera with extra batteries
• Sun gear: Sunglasses, sunscreen, hat
• List of brewers and beers (with the must-tries highlighted)
• Snack food—something like trail mix or nuts; there will be food vendors at the fest for meals, but something in between to keep the carbs up and the stomach not too empty is good too
• Aspirin
• Wet wipes, or kleenex, or a small hand towel or something—hey, spills happen

As far as clothing goes, a light-colored shirt (darker colors absorb more sunlight and therefore heat), and comfortable shoes (lots of walking) are a must.

Also, I'm thinking vitamin B would be a good idea, too—before the drinking starts. A big dose of B (and hydration) goes a long way toward preventing the hangover that you may be in for otherwise.

I'm looking over the list of participating breweries for the OBF and coming up with a list of must-tries. 73 breweries this year! And I'm sure there will be at least one or two last-minute changes or substitutions. There's a fair number of beers I've already sampled, so like last year, I'm primarily focusing on the new (or very unusual) beers.

My Have-to-Try list is starting to look like:

• Amnesia Brewing: Dry Hopped Dusty Trail Pale Ale
• Boundary Bay Brewery: Galena Single Hop Pale Ale
• Brewery Ommegang: Three Philosophers Ale
• Diamond Knot Brewing: Industrial IPA
• Dick's Brewing: Dick's Lava Rock Porter
• Eugene City Tracktown Ales: Honey Orange Wheat
• Fifty Fifty Brewing: Donner Party Porter
• Flying Fish Brewing: Bourbon Barrel Abbey Dubbel
• Four + Brewing: Wildfire
• Golden Valley Brewery: Red Thistle Quercus
• Klamath Basin Brewing: Crater Lake Golden Ale
• Max's Fanno Creek Brewpub: Farmer's Daughter
• Ninkasi Brewing: Believer
• Oregon Trail Brewery: Oregon Trail Wit
• Siletz Brewing: Spruce Ale
• Stone Brewing: Stone 07/07/07 Vertical Epic
• Widmer Brewing: Noggin Grog (Imperial Wit???)

Of course, this isn't a final list. But it's looking good right now. As for my It-Would-Be-Nice-to-Try list, I'm thinking:

• Calapooia Brewing: Yankee Clipper IPA
• Cascade Brewing at the Raccoon Lodge: Razberry Wheat
• Fearless Brewing: Fearless Scottish Ale
• Grand Teton Brewing: Bitch Creek ESB
• Philadelphia's: Betsy Ross Imperial Golden
• Rogue: Imperial Porter
• Terminal Gravity: TG Triple

This is just wishful thinking, but three brewers I'd like to see at the OBF someday are Dogfish Head, Brooklyn Brewery, and Great Lakes Brewing.

I am!

The Oregon Brewers Festival starts up in just under two weeks, and I plan on being there Friday and Saturday. I'll be taking notes, taking pictures, and my plan is to make it more of a "blogging" trip, if I can: try to be more involved with the overall Fest with an eye towards the writing/documenting part of things... (Does that make sense?)

So, other bloggers going again this year? If so, we should try to meet up at the Fest; I didn't do so good last year with the planned Friday night meeting, and I can't swear I'd make it to another offsite meetup—but at the Festival would work. Maybe we could commandeer a table and put a big "Beer Bloggers" sign on it?

At any rate, I'm excited about going this year (their 20th Annual!) and am going to have fun with it. I notice that at the bottom of the Fest pages they have a "Brewfest Countdown" JavaScript applet that shows a realtime countdown until the Fest starts—currently 9 days, 10 hours, 11 minute and a handful of seconds as I write this—and I like the idea so much, I'm going to be doing periodic "OBF Countdown" posts over the next week and a half or so.

Back in January I reported on how the OLCC was banning minors and families from the Oregon Brewers Festival this year. Definitely a misstep, and cast a pall over the OBF for its 20th anniversary.

Today, though, I'm happy to point to a post on the Realbeer.com Beer Therapy blog: Minors welcome (after all) at OBF.

Common sense has prevailed and minors will be allowed into the Oregon Brewers Festival, as they have the previous 19 years.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission previously indicated they would not be. After receiving a new OBF compliance plan, the commission granted permission for minors/parents to attend the event. The festival runs July 26-29 at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland.

Minors will only be allowed at the OBF with a parent; guardians are not acceptable.

So it's a little more restrictive than it was before, with the distinction between parent and guardian, but at least they're back on track. The OLCC gets a cookie, this time.

This year is the 20th annual Oregon Brewers Festival, a milestone year to be sure. As a special treat, the OLCC (Oregon Liquor Control Commission) has decided to ban minors from the Festival entirely.

After 19 years of promoting the Oregon Brewers Festival as a community event, we regret that we will not be allowed to have minors under the age of 21 on the festival premises in 2007. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission has stipulated no minors be on-site, citing OLCC Rule 845-006-0340 (7) (a) in which "eating predominates" and the premise must not have a "drinking enviroment".

As Jeff on BlueOregon writes:

For kids, seeing their parents drink responsibly in a normal environment demystifies it and removes the allure of the forbidden. I don't doubt that there are parents in Oregon who think that taking their children to a beer festival exposes them to indecent behavior.  But there are certainly others who think it's a healthy celebration of local culture—and fun, to boot.  The OLCC has taken the choice away from parents, many of whom will now skip their Saturday afternoon trip to Waterfront Park.

Personally, I wouldn't bring my kids to the OBF, but not because I think the environment is inappropriate or unhealthy for them: rather, it would just make a long, boring, tiring day for them. The OBF itself is a very family-friendly venue—I've never witnessed anything in the times that I've been there to convince me otherwise.

Regardless, OLCC has decided to overrule the matter entirely, and families who would otherwise have been able to check out the Brewfest for a couple hours won't be able to go.

(An alternative, but more mean-spirited, headline I considered for this post: "OLCC says, Happy 20th OBF!")

Ran across a few more blog writeups of the Brewfest. Good ones, too.

• Brüfested (cyclotram): Good writeup, funny too ("OMG HOPPY"). Nice selection of tasted beers.
• Oregon Brewers Festval 2006 - Saturday Report (Gone Ronin): Holy crap he tried a lot of beers... good notes here, too.
• Beer and then some. (Chattering Magpie): Someone else who drank a lot—nearly 30 beers. Though to be fair, they were spaced out over the three days... Notes cover beer, brewer, alcohol and IBUs. Nice.

All good stuff. Though I find it somewhat ironic that most of the reviews of the Ned Flanders Red were favorable when I thought that beer was just vile... And I haven't seen too many reviews of the Rogue Brewer. I'd say that was way hoppier than Pliny the Elder...

So even though I was off most of this past week, I've been following some writeups of the Oregon Brewers Festival from other blogs. Beervana has some really good writeups, as does the Brookston Beer Bulletin, both blogs wrote quite a bit.

Bad Ben's Brewing Blog had a post with a few pictures (I wonder if the $100 bill is for show?). Andy at Rooftop Brew has a couple of posts.

I have yet to see any blogging from SudsPundit, especially considering they were going to be at the blogger meetup that I missed... I'm hoping they'll have a bunch to write when they're able.

And then, of course, there's a bunch of hits on Technorati you can check out. I haven't read all of those, but I'll be perusing to see what's there.

And now, some pictures I took at this year's Oregon Brewers Festival. Ten. After the jump.

More...

More Oregon BrewFest goodness! While I was there Friday, in addition to taking notes on the beers I was sampling, I took some time (before my friend Justin arrived) to jot down notes in "real time" in my notebook. Sort of a low-tech "liveblogging" that only goes, er, live when I transcribe it. Anyway, here are my notes, pretty much word-for-word (with times, too!):

1:25-1:30-ish: Fellow two seats away is smoking a cigar... a big cloud of smoke just drifted over me and it's sweet and good...

It's a perfect day—partly cloudy and cool so you don't swelter, but the sun keeps coming out to warm you up. Nice breeze. The crowd is thin, there's lots of seating, and I have my pick of beers as I wait for Justin. Perfect, perfect... I couldn't have picked a better day. I already pushed a pin into "Bend" on the "Where are you from?" maps (and took a picture).

Fellow with cigar just got busted... a red-shirted official with a grey mustache just told him he'd have to take it out of the tent area... fellow denied having it, but moved on. He was with his wife(?).

More kids than I'd have figured. They (parents and kids) have some sort of official fluorescent green stickers...

1:51: I've noticed several other people with notepads, writing. The ambient noise is the soft yet throaty roar-murmur of a crowd... I keep hearing laughter, some guy with a particularly distinctive—birdy?—laugh...

MyElephantEars.com—for real?

2:05: A hop booth for info all about hops... has hard candy made with hops! It's all green of various sorts... I grabbed a piece of Simcoe. Very unusual. The sugar-sweet of hard (rock) candy and the absolute (bitter) hoppiness of the hops... not sure what to make of it. Could you prime bottles with pieces of it?

2:25: The south tent is busier and noisier than the north... I don't know if that's because it's later in the day or just more popular. As I started to write this, a vocal equivalent of the "wave" (a "whoop") cascaded through... I briefly joined in, of course.

Still waiting for Justin to call/arrive...

This 10th Anniversary Farmhouse is disappointing, but the people watching is prime. People of all sorts are here, all of them (excepting the kids, of course) carrying a mug and/or drinking beer. Lots of couples and women... never let it be said that Portland isn't a beer town, judging by the number of beer-drinking women...

Cops with guns, too.

2:40: Justin called about 2:33... he's hopping a bus and should be here in ½ hour. I think I'll stop at the Rogue [beer taster] and wait for him. Also, I should look into eating. (Maybe after he gets here.) I've got a comfortable buzz going, not too strong, and I want it to stay mild. I've had seven tasters so far... nine tokens left ($20 initially).

The child stickers (green) say they have to leave by seven p.m., essentially.

2:50: Beer Chips...got a bag for $1, and a weird foam hat to go with it... Moved out to the central area so as to enjoy the sun. For food, there's a "Horn of Africa" booth selling African (East) appetizers... Gustav's Pub and Grill with German brats and such... A fish and chips ($6.95) booth... Greek Cuisina. Elephant ears and curly fries, too.

These beer chips are pretty good... like thick, sweet Kettle Chips... the packaging says they're made with beer, but I don't taste it.

We'll have to see how time goes, but at this point I'm thinking I'm going to blow off the blogger meetup (sorry guys).

4:30: Old man eating a sauerkraut hot dog with chopsticks.

You can tell that after Justin arrived (around 3), I pretty much stopped writing. Except the guy eating the hot dog with chopsticks was too good/odd not to note. Besides visiting with Justin, the other reason I had mostly stopped writing was the place was filling up, seats were being taken and it's a pain to try to write standing up with a mug of beer in one hand and people jostling all around.

That, and the alcohol was giving me just enough of a buzz that my handwriting and dexterity were getting worse...

The problem with a beer festival as big as the Oregon Brewers Festival is there's no easy way to sample many beers... without getting wasted, of course. You could spread it out over two or three days, but it's still no mean feat.

The Oregon BrewFest has 72 different beers on tap. A good number of them I've already tried or just didn't sound interesting to me, and that combined with the fact that I only had one day to visit, I'd made up a list beforehand of the beers I definitely wanted to try. I was able to try all of them, plus a few others... so, here are my notes from the BrewFest for those beers (in order that I tried them, and pretty much transcribed word-for-word).

Watermelon Wheat (21st Amendment Brewing): More wheat than watermelon. Light. Watermelon in the nose... a little too bitter for expectations. [I was hoping for something very light and fruity and melon-y.] Pale yellow. Some fruit in the back of the palate...

Sunrye (Rye Ale, Redhood Brewery): Billed as an "Unfiltered, dry-hopped festival recipe." Not very hoppy. Rye is grainy but understated... like a mild bread. "Unfiltered" is relative. (It's fairly clear.) Is this rye? Kind of plain... not strong. Looking forward to the other ryes...

Hop Rod Rye Ale (Bear Republic Brewing): Now this is more like it! Darker, hoppier, definite grainy rye character here... very good. Strong, too. Brown with some red... mouthfeel is medium but chewy... kind of like a thick, grainy dark bread. Beer is rich and smoky without any actual smoke character (hard to describe).

Farmhouse Ale (Saison from Jack Russell Brewing): 6.7% alcohol. Aroma is sour, farmy. Very light... has that saison character—fruity and musty/musky and spicy... it's a bit light/thin for my tastes, but still good. I'm liking it overall... refreshing.

Honey Orange Wheat (Eugene City Brewery): Not on the normal schedule. Smell of orange blossoms. Taste is witbier-ish... orange instead of orange peel though. Color is like pale honey. Interesting... light clean honey character is there, along with fruity orange (blossom) and a hint of coriander and spices... Very thin-bodied and light.

10th Anniversary Farmhouse Summer Ale (Flying Fish Brewing): Very mild aroma, not like the other... Pale yellow and relatively clear. Taste is less saison (although there ARE saison elements) and more hoppy "summer" ale. It's okay, but compared to what I was expecting in a saison, disappointing.

Brewer (Rogue): Rogue's festival-specific ale. 7.33% alcohol. Dark... molasses brown. Aroma is very, very hoppy. As is the taste! Wow, it's like a hop syrup... the hops are drowning out almost everything else. What are we looking at here? Willamette? It's not fruity/grapefruity enough for Cascade. Medium-bodied. Wow... eau-de-hop.

[At this point my friend Justin had arrived, so I was focusing less on writing notes and more on visiting and enjoying beer.]

Double Dry Hopped Pale Ale (Boundary Bay Brewing): Very good. Hops in the nose and palate, but not syrupy like Rogue. Malty and dry.

Sirius (Lagunitas Brewing): (Imperial cream ale?) Strong and different... almost its own style (Well, it is!). Fruity without being specific...

White Lightning Whiskey Stout (McMenamins): Coffee, whiskey, sour mash... very good. Nice body. Long line—popular! Smooth, rich, dark.

Raging Rhino Red (Steelhead Brewing): Hoppy and astringently malty. An off-bite.

Zon (Boulevard Brewing): Belgian wit style. Light in character and mouthfeel—good.

Stone Pale Ale (Stone Brewing). [Didn't take notes.]

Powderfinger Rye (Big Time Brewing): Malty, grainy. Not as strong as the other ryes, but good. Mild. Some hop kick.

Pliny the Elder (Russian River Brewing): [Didn't take notes, but I remember this being very strong and hoppy... it's a double IPA. Very good, I'll have to find some in the bottle.]

And there we have it. I think my favorite beer of the day was the Whiskey Stout from McMenamins, of which I got a final full mug's worth before we left. It was that good. As I remarked to my friend Justin, McMenamins in general make decent but often mediocre beers, but this one really stands out.

Other highlights had to be Rogue's Brewer, which to my mind right now is probably the hoppiest beer I've ever had, the Hop Rod Rye, and Jack Russell's Farmhouse.

The worst beer? Well, I didn't try all of them, of course, but Justin got the Ned Flanders Red Ale from Rock Bottom Brewery and it was simply terrible. He didn't like it, and let me taste it to see. Weird sour off-aroma, similar taste which was just way off... I don't know what went wrong with it, but something definitely did.

So overall, I tasted 15 beers and got a final full mug of Whiskey Stout. Not bad for almost five hours on a Friday.

So I made it to the Oregon Brewers Festival on Friday, but not to the blogger meetup that was happening that evening. Sorry guys! I had been hoping to make it, but the day had turned out so nice, and I hadn't seen my best friend Justin for a long time, that I just couldn't pull myself away. Perhaps a better idea would have been to meet at the Brewfest itself? Hopefully everyone else made it, at least.

I've got at least three posts (after this one) on the OBF... I think I managed to sample all of the beers I'd planned to, and I wrote down notes in general. And took some pictures. Bottom line: it was the perfect day for the Brewfest, and while I couldn't make it for the full weekend, I'm really glad I got to go on Friday. So stay tuned!

Looking over the list of breweries and beers at this year's Oregon Brewers Festival, I thought I'd make some notes on the ones I'm going to make sure to try.

• Watermelon Wheat from 21st Amendment Brewery
• Hop Rod Rye Ale from Bear Republic Brewing Company
• Powderfinger Rye from Big Time Brewing Company
• Zon from Boulevard Brewing Company
• Double Dry Hopped Pale Ale from Boundary Bay Brewing Company
• 10th Anniversary Farmhouse Summer Ale from Flying Fish Brewing Company
• Farmhouse Ale from Jack Russell Brewing Company
• Sirius Ale (an Imperial Cream Ale?) from Lagunitas Brewing Company
• White Lightning Whiskey Stout from McMenamins

This is a preliminary list of beers that caught my eye, of course... I'll likely be adding to it.