Ahh the beer festival. It came and went so fast this year. It is surprising, considering that I spent 7 hours at the waterfront on Friday and another 5 or 6 hours on Sunday. There was definitely some good beers and so getting there at noon on Friday was definitely required to be able to try them before it got crowded.

There were 8 beers that were 8% ABV or higher, including one that was almost 10% - the Full Nelson IPA made by Widmer. I learned that Widmer makes a special one-off brew for the Oregon Brewer’s Festival every year. So the Full Nelson was one of my first stops. There were several Imperial IPAs and Double IPAs – so definitely no lack of hops this year. The hoppiest beer (113 IBUs) was brought by McMenamins – the Madman Jack. Brewed by the Hillsdale McMenamins and was the winner at their own McMenamins competition/beer fest earlier in the year (can’t remember if I voted for this one or not). Second hoppiest was a beer that I was introduced to at the KLCC beer fest in Eugene this year, Hop Stoopid by Lagunitas. This one has 110 IBUs and is de-lic-ious! We voted for this one at the KLCC beer fest and it won the taster’s choice first place spot. I was glad to see it again this summer.

For our Sunday volunteer gig, we sandwiched ourselves around the Hop Stoopid (with Day as the tapster). I poured Stone Brewing’s Levitation Ale (a dark amber). My favorite thing about this beer was that more people pronounced “Levitation” wrong than they did right. It must have been the beer talking. :)

Michelle poured the Great White by Lost Coast (somewhat of a regular) and her friend poured a pale ale by MacTarnahan’s. That beer really did not move at all.

I tried many, many beers – but it’s hard to really pick a favorite. There was a coffee-flavored beer that was really good. And of course I loved everything with lots of hops. I guess I’d have to go with the Full Nelson. But I’ll probably never get to have it again. :(

All in all, it was super fun and we strategized well with the early tasting on Friday and the shorter shift of volunteering on Sunday. I think I’ll do it again next year! Who’s with me?


See pictures here!

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