Amid all the beer event cancellations that have been happened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the Bend Brewfest, Silver Moon Brewing has spearheaded a new, pandemic-friendly brewfest announced today: the Central Oregon Take-Home Brewfest. It’s a fun idea that will be interesting to see how people respond to.

It’s going to be fairly virtual, as in online, with a social media component. Here are the details from the release:

With the recent news of Brewfest cancellations across the country, there is a hole in our industry that our consumers look forward to each year. Brewfests are a time of collaboration, celebration, and gathering as a unified community of craft beer enthusiasts. With COVID-19 restricting mass gatherings and traditional brewfest models, we thought, “Hey, let’s do something rad”.

Silver Moon Brewing’s “Take-Home” Brewfest is here to salvage the celebration and community engagement that has been limited over the last few months. A total of 18 different Central Oregon craft breweries/cideries have come together to make this possible. Consumers have the opportunity to purchase a full mixed 18 pack, one amazing, mainly limited edition product from each brewery. You are then able to take this mix case home and host your own brewfest in the comfort and safety of your home or backyard.

Dates and Tickets

Tickets to reserve your Central Oregon Take-Home Brewfest cases go on sale starting Monday, June 8th. We are capping tickets/cases at 1000 total. 500 for each pick up day. The tentative date to end ticket sales is June 25th. This will give breweries ample time to produce and package the necessary product for the event.

The event pick up dates are July 24th and 25th. Ticket holders will bring their digitally purchased tickets to Silver Moon Brewing’s pub and claim their mixed cases. Each ticket will have a designated time slot for the day to continue to promote social distancing and not overwhelm the pick up location at any one time. Tickets will cost $50.00 per case. Each case will have a combination of six 16 OZ beers and twelve 12 OZ beers.

The link for ticket sales will go live at 9:00 AM on Monday, June 8th. The link can be found below.

https://www.bendticket.com/events/107469449/the-central-oregon-take-home-brewfest
(Note: Bendticket applies a service fee for every ticket)

What’s all Included?

In addition to getting 18 unique beers/ciders, you will also receive two Central Oregon Take-Home Brewfest pint glasses and swag giveaways at the pick up location. All of this coming in a fully customized and branded brewfest box.

Each brewfest box will also contain an informational sheet with beer descriptions and information. On the back side of this sheet will be a voting ballot. Consumers will be able to rank their top three picks and post a photo of themselves to social media, using our event hashtag (#TakeHomeBrewfest). The brewery/cidery with the most votes will receive bragging rights and the Take-Home Brewfest Trophy.

The Mission

The Central Oregon Take-Home Brewfest is an opportunity for craft breweries and cideries to come together and make a positive impact for our consumers and the community as a whole. With life continuing to change and shift in often sporadic fashion, this event is a way of grounding the community in a way that reflects on simpler times.

This event would not be made possible without the contribution and participation from Central Oregon’s best Breweries and Cideries.

Your support is also greatly appreciated! Share links and spread the word! Shout out to The Source, Oregon Brewer’s Guild and Bend Radio Group for their early support of this exciting project.

Based on this graphic, the participating breweries (and cideries) are:

• Silver Moon Brewing
• Immersion Brewing
• Worthy Brewing
• Three Creeks Brewing
• Bend Brewing
• Boneyard Beer
• Bevel Craft Brewing
• Tranquilo Cerveceria
• Seven Peaks Hard Seltzer
• Crux Fermentation Project
• Deschutes Brewery
• Boss Rambler Beer Club
• GoodLife Brewing
• Wild Ride Brewing
• Monkless Belgian Ales
• Avid Cider
• Cascade Lakes Brewing
• Oblivion Brewing

With 18 canned beers I do expect some (most?) will be limited specialties or one-offs, some will be seasonals, and some will be standards, but this is an intriguing idea that could be a lot of fun. I don’t think there’s a time limit on when you have to drink the beers and post to social media so you don’t need to worry about trying to drink them all in one day(!).

It’s also a creative way to handle a “virtual” brewfest so it will be interesting to see how it turns out, and if it’s a viable format for future similar events. If you’re interested, bookmark that ticket link in the release and check it starting on Monday, June 8.