Have to say, I've been looking forward to it for awhile. I caught wind of it on PDX Pipeline and knew it had to be done. Scoff if you will, I was driven to check it out~ Portland's First Annual Fruit Beer Festival as presented by the newly established, Burnside Brewery. Granted, I'm a fan of heavier dark, rich coffee and chocolate inspired brews and lately I've even taken my turn with a bitter, flowery, bite-me IPA. I've even been known to say "Don't hand me a lager, you'll only make me angry". But I digress, I've been a fan of Ruby for years and the ever elusive Purple Haze is one of my all time favorites. The McMennamin Brothers may not know how to train a suitable waitstaff but they certainly know how to hire brilliant brewmasters. (ouch, sorry 'bout that).
Righty O', on to the FBF. Burnside Brewery is located on the NorthEast corner of Burnside and NE 7th. The Festival was set up in the parking lot and it looked, well, a lot like a lot except it was chainlinked off from the rest of the world, was filled with standing pub tables and happy people and boasted an array of white market tents and a smoky delicious brick pizza oven. I did enjoy some wood-fired lamb pizza from Tastebud but let's face it, I was here for beer.
Yellow band on wrist, Festival glassware in hand, tickets flailing madly, we rushed the tents. K and I wisely decided we would stick with the 10 tickets we purchased at the gate so we had to be discriminating in our choices. My first choice was gone before we even arrived. I'll need to try and find Breakside's Whiskey Ginger at a later event. I did, however, get to try out Breakside's Mango IPA. It was exactly as expected- yummy IPA touched with the some mangoliciousness. If you were expecting technical explanations of the flavors I savored I apologize, you're reading the wrong blog...Let's make this as easy as possible. Yes, I would buy this again. No I wouldn't pay more than I should.
Next up-Dogfish Head Festina Peche...Millions of peaches, peaches for me. I will drink this by the gallon on a hot summer day and you can too because it is only 4.5% abv. Refreshing. I will buy it again.
Laurelwood Mango Mint: It's summer! It's like a Beer Mojito! It's my new favorite...I hope we cross paths again soon. I will definitely buy it again.
New Belgium Oh La La- Sweet, dessert beer. Yes, I said it: Dessert Beer. I'll take two but at 8.5% abv, you drive.
Ninkasi Pinot Barrel-Age Oatis with Cherries...the name should say it all, I say it says too much. Not a fan. Which was disappointing because I am the queen of Stouts and I adore Cherries and well, you know how I feel about Pinot...*heavy sigh*
Oakshire Brewing Blind Date: Yes, I'll buy it again. It was definitely delicious and you could sneak it to a non-fruit beer drinker and they would never know. Slightly thick and super yum.
Widmer Brothers: Himbeere Gose mit dem Eibisch. Flowers and Fruit, who'd of thought? Enjoyable but more of a soda than a beer...ok a soda with a 5.3 abv but still...sluuuuuuurrrrrp!
Paid an extra ticket to try Burnside Brewery's Marionberry Berliner Weisse...I'll try the Brewery out again but probably not this beer...not worth the extra ticket for the four ounce taste so I'm sure it's not worth real dollars...
It was a gorgeous day, the line was wrapping around the block and I could tell I had had enough. And they were running out of beer on multiple taps which is never a good sign. I hope they pulled it together for the sake of the thirsty souls that lined Burnside.
Bottom Line: I will do this again next year. For a Freshman effort, it was wonderful. My first thought was that I wanted it to be in a larger space but in retrospect, with the DJ spinning great sounds and the shoulder to shoulder at the keg crowd, it felt like a party. I like parties.
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