Long Lines | BREWPUBLIC - Yeast, Malt, and the Pursuit of Hoppiness

More Holiday Ale Fest Madness

As expected the weekend brought sloughs of folks thirsty for the hardily spectacular beers showcased as this year’s Holiday Ale Fest. Upon showing up around 5PM on Friday, one could observe the queue of prospective imbibers out the festival tent and to the corner of Yamhill Street where Max trains passed within inches. The addition of a back tented area allowed for more beers than ever before. It was merry mayhem, elbow-to-elbow action.

After waiting patiently in a variety of lines and tolerating close quarters with a variety of bodies and their odors without any available water (unless you want to pay for it in bottles), we were rewarded with some fabulous beers such as Lagunita’s Chocolate Pepper Imperial Stout, DuPont Avec Les Bon Voeux, Golden Valley Oak Bomb, Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans, Cascade Sang Noir, and Pyramid Snow Cap’n and Tenille (brewed with cacao) to name a few.

Posted under beer events

This post was written by Angelo on December 6, 2008

Tags: beer, brewing, Brews, Cascade Sang Noir, crowd, DuPont Avec Les Bon Voeux, events, Golden Valley Oak Bomb, Holiday Ale Festival, holiday beers, Lagunita's Chocolate Pepper Imperial Stout, long lines, Pyramid Snow Cap'n and Tenille, Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans

Fresh Hop Shortage

Portland, OR–Hop heads not arriving in the first few hours and willing to tolerate long lines in a cramped venue experienced little bounty. Hopefully in the future, better planning will accommodate beer enthusiasts unable to arrive at at the very beginning of a nine hour festival. We arrived midway through the festival, not expecting every beer to still be available, but certainly hoping for a semblance of selection. A better option for those wanting a more comfortable, affordable, and bountiful experience would be to visit places like Belmont Station, Bailey’s Taproom, or the HorseBrass Pub. Many local brewpubs still have their fresh hop offerings available.