The Portland Fruit Beer Festival – Saturday June 7th and Sunday June 8th
This weekend brings us the 4th annual Portland Fruit Beer Festival. This is the largest fruit beer festival in the US and those of us in Portland are lucky enough to have it happen right here!
Fruit – Lots of it!
At this event you can get some amazing beer – each one made with fruit!
By my count, over 30 different fruits are being represented.
Here are just some of the fruits that will appear in beer this weekend – strawberries, peaches, nectarines, mangos, limes, guava, cucumbers (yes a fruit), black currants, blackberries, mamey, cherries, persimmons, pomegranate, passionfruit, and more!
The Beer is Really Really Good!
This past Friday night, I was invited to attend the Portland Fruit Beer Festival media preview and sample 11 different fruit beers that will be appearing this weekend.
If you like beer, you need to go to this event!
They will have 25 different regular beers as well as 25 rare/rotating beers. Here is a link to the Fruit Beer Festival website that describes some of these beers –www.fruitbeerfest.com/festivalbeers.
See below for a list of both sets of beers.
When
V.I.P. Session: 4 – 9 p.m. Friday June 6; Regular session 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. Saturday June 7th and 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Sunday June 8th.
Who and Where
This is all-ages event that will be taking place at Burnside Brewing at E Burnside and NE 7th.
Just to be clear – Yes! The Portland Fruit Beer Fest is an ALL-AGES event and can bring your underage kids with you!
As an added bonus, any of your children over 21 can enjoy a fruit beer with you!
Tickets
General Admission Tickets are $20 and include a 16 oz branded glassware and 12 each drink tickets.
Most of the time, a drink ticket will get you a 3 oz pour of fruit beer. A few of the more expensive beers will cost you 2 – 3 drink tickets for 3 oz pour.
If you come a across a beer that you want a full 16 oz glass of, you will hand over 4 drink tickets (for most beers – a few will be more).
You can buy tickets here – www.fruitbeerfest.com/tickets
Follow
You can follow the Portland Fruit Beer Festival here –
Website – www.fruitbeerfest.com
Facebook – www.facebook.com/pages/Portland-Fruit-Beer-Festival
Twitter – www.twitter.com/FruitBeerFest
Grub!
At the Portland Fruit Beer Festival you will have three wonderful food options!
Pulehu Pizza (pictured above), The Bunk Truck and Burnside Brewing.
The List of Regular Fruit Beers appearing at the 2014 Portland Fruit Beer Festival —
10 Barrel Brewing – Bend, OR – Cherry Sour Brown
Sour Brown Ale aged on tart cherries
Alameda Brewing – Portland, OR – Mayme B
Belgian Dark Golden bier brewed with Mamey fruit. This tropical fruit native to the Caribbean and Central America has a flavor which could be described as a mix of sweet potato and pumpkin topped off with maraschino cherry and a almond twist.
Barley Browns – Baker City, OR – India Purple Ale
American Style IPA brewed with experimental hops and Concorde Grape Juice.
Breakside Brewery – Milwaukie, OR – Passionfruit Sour Ale
American Sour Ale conditioned with passionfruit.
Burnside Brewing – Portland, OR – Nero’s Fiddle
Burnside Brewing and EZ Orchards Cidre came together to create this Belgian-style graff. A blend of late harvest Roman Beauty, Pink Lady, and Granny Smith apples
The Commons Brewery – Portland, OR – Citrus Royale
Sour spelt based beer with Navel Orange, Murcott Mandarin, Meyer Lemon peel and orange and lime juice.
Deschutes Brewery – Portland, OR – Peach Slap
Sour ale with peaches, unmalted wheat, juniper berries, pink peppercorn, and habanero.
Ecliptic Brewing – Portland, OR -Lacerta Frambuesa
A Belgian framboise style light ale with cocoa nibs and raspberries
Elysian Brewing – Seattle, WA- D’Mango Unchained
A pale ale with puréed mango,Munich and honey malts, bittered with Centennial and finished with Citra and Mosaic.
Falling Sky Brewing – Eugene, OR -Marionberry Smoked Ale
Fruit and smoke beer with home-smoked malt and Oregon Grown marionberries
Flat Tail Brewing – Corvallis, OR – Brettberry Wit
American Wit aged on blueberries w/Brett B
Fort George Brewery – Astoria, OR – Pi Beer
40% wheat beer with a secondary fermentation on strawberries and rhubarb.
Gigantic Brewing – Portland, OR – Boysen The Hood
A tart Belgian-Style boysenberry golden.
Hopworks Urban Brewery – Portland, OR – Organic Fruit Cocktail
Belgian fruit beer with the juice from the five fruits that make up the USDA definition for fruit cocktail, specifically 40% peaches, 35% pears, 10% pineapple, 10% grapes, 5% cherries.
Laurelwood Brewing – Portland, OR – Aren’t You Glad I Didn’t Say Banana?Citrus wheat ale with mixed citrus – including orange, lemon, lime, and grapefruit.
Lompoc Brewing – Portland, OR – Pear’n Kramer
Golden ale ame with pears that were handpicked in Salem, OR by the brewers and bartenders of Lompoc in August 2013.
Oakshire Brewing – Eugene, OR -Oude Bes: Strawberry Balsalmic
A Flanders red with strawberry and plums Strawberry puree and a balsalmic vinegar reduction.
Pelican Brewing – Pacific City, OR – Prunus
Saison aged with organic apricots.
Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider – Portland, OR -Sweet Triple Hot ¡Tepache!
Pineapple wine with partially fermented pineapples with three hot peppers: Habanero, Aji and Ghost (but not too hot).
Stone Brewing Co. – Escondido, CA – “The Tiger Cub”
Saison aged in White Wine Barrels w/Sour Cherries
Stormbreaker Brewing – Portland, OR – Mon Petite Cheri
Belgian pale brewed with Minneola Tangelo and aged on 100lbs of Cherimoya
2 Towns Ciderhouse – Corvallis, OR – Made Marion Cider
Cider made with fresh-pressed NW apples and Oregon-grown marionberries.
Upright Brewing – Portland, OR – NecTørr
Aquavit barrel aged rye saison made with dried persimmons, and a bit of pomegranate.
Widmer Brothers/5 Stones Artisan Brewery – Portland, OR -Up From San Antone
Grapefruit White IPA brewed with coriander and the zest and juice of 100+ pounds of fresh grapefruit. This limited release collaboration was brewed with 5 Stones, a small brewery in Cibolo Texas (near San Antonio) that specializes in brewing with fresh produce and non-traditional ingredients.
Worthy Brewing – Bend, OR – Peachy Keen
Cream Ale brewed with milk sugar and peaches.
Rare/Rotating Tap Beer List
The rare beer list is made up of primarily 1/6 barrels or very small kegs with three to four taps dedicated to pouring these beers and a new one being added after each runs out.
10 Barrel: Cucumber Crush – Cucumber Berliner-Weisse
Created for the 2013 Fruit Beer Fest. Gold Medal Winner at the 2014 World Beer Cup.
Breakside: Brett Rouge
Breakside: Beaujolais avec Brett
Strong sour ale fermented with wild yeasts and Oregon¬ grown Gamay grapes.
Breakside: Apollo & Dionysus – Cellar Reserve Beer
Not Usually Available to the Public. Gin Barrel-Aged Sour Saison w Sichuan Peppercorn
Burnside Brewing: Coconut/Lime Kolsch
Lime Kolsch blended with Thai Coconut water
Burnside Brewing: Cartel Michelada
Cartel Vienna Lager blended with salt, lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, secret ingredient and black pepper (Tapping 11am Saturday 6/7)
Burnside Brewing: 2012 Red Light District
Imperial Stout with Belgian Chocolate, Strawberries and aged in local Rum barrels.
De Garde: Blueberry Bu Weisse (Tapping 4pm Friday VIP session)
De Garde: Blackberry Bu Weisse
Deschutes: Abbey Framboise
Raspberry infused belgian-style Abbey ale.Double Mountain: Lyle Ryder – Bloody Mary/Red Beer! (Tapping 11am Sunday 6/8)
Elysian: Squeeze Box Berry Imperial IPA
8.1% Abv Double IPA with 42lbs each of raspberry, boysenberry, and blackberry purée. (Tapping 4pm Friday VIP session)
Elysian: Yuzu Belgian-Style Golden
Belgian Golden with citrusy sweet Yuzu juice.
Flat Tail: Habanero Apricot Wild
Hopworks: Raspberry/Chocolate Army of Darkness
Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout with Organic Raspberries and Cacao
Hopworks: Raspberry Triple
Belgian-style Tripel with Raspberries added.
Lompoc: Cherry Christmas
Barrel-Aged winter ale with Cherries.
McMenamins: Pavol’s Bublanina
Barrel-Aged Baltic Porter Aged on Cherries (Edgefield Brewery) ABV: 7.61
New Belgium: Guava Nectarine La Folie
One-off single 5 gallon oak firkin.
New Belgium: Cascara Quad
An ale brewed with Date, Coffee and cherries added
New Belgium: Dieu Du Ciel
An ale brewed with Feijoa and Hibiscus
Oakshire: Hermanne 1882
Belgian-style ale with Muller Thurgau grapes aged in Pinot Barrels with Brettanomyces.
Thai Me Up Brewing: Chchchchc-Cherry Bomb
Silver Medal Winner at 2012 GABF and 2014 World Beer Cup from Wyoming. (Tapping 4pm Friday VIP session)
Upright/Bushwhacker: Ebony & Ivory
Upright Brewing’s Gose infused with white truffles blended with a cider from Bushwhacker infused with black truffles. (Tapping 4pm Friday VIP session)
Cask/Pins:
Alameda: Blackberry Black Bear XX Stout
Award winning Export stout with Blackberries added in the cask
Cider Riot: Hedgerow Fruits
Special for the fruit beer fest (a nod to one of Michael Jacksons favourite beer descriptors). A dry cider made with blackcurrants and Italian plums. (Tapped at 3pm Saturday 6/7 by the brewer)
That’s It!
I am Steven Shomler I write about the great food and the great stories that I come across on my culinary adventures!
