The Beer’s Still Here Week of Events: September 18-20

The 50th annual Mt. Angel Oktoberfest, the largest folk festival in the Northwest, started Thursday and continues Friday Sept. 18-Sunday Sept. 20 in Mt. Angel and, unlike the first event in 1966, which featured one beer garden and one beer – Blitz-Weinhard, the 2015 event has four beer gardens and a tap list of 30 beers including classic German beers, special Oregon craft beers including Ninkasi’s new Mount Angel Oktoberfest and Laurelwood’s fresh-hop So Fresh and So Kolsch. It’s also the debut of Mt. Angel Abbey’s brewery, Benedictine Brewery, and the Weingarten will be pouring Black Habit, a dark ale said to be complex but approachable and light on the palate.

Stammtisch Oktoberfest
5 p.m. Friday Sept. 18; noon Saturday Sept. 19 and Sunday Sept. 20, Stammtisch, 401 N.E. 28th Ave.
Oktoberfest season continues with a weekend street party at one of Portland’s most authentic German bierhalls. The Stammtisch folks will close off Northeast Flanders at 28th avenue each day for a street festival with a big biergarten, 10 Oktoberfest style biers, BBQ, live music, glassware for sale, games, face painting and more. The food includes roast chicken, bratwurst sandwiches, curry wurst, döner kebabs, giant pretzels and the beer list includes festbiers from Ayinger, Andechs, Benediktiner, Hofbräu, Paulaner, Schlenkerla, Schwabenbräu, Spaten, Warsteiner and Weltenburger.

Independence Heritage & Hop Festival
Friday Sept. 18, Saturday Sept. 19 and Sunday Sept. 20, Independence Riverview Park, Independence
Celebrate the hop harvest at a fest that began in the 1930s and still has all the small town trappings, including a flapjack feed, community barbecue, Saturday night fireworks, the Ghost Walk that celebrates the town’s spooky side and the Hopyard Tent of craft brewers on Saturday.

Portland Brewing Scottish Fest
1-5 p.m. Saturday Sept. 19, Portland Brewing Taproom, 2730 NW 31st Ave; Free admission, all ages.
Portland Brewing’s family-friendly outdoor affair celebrates the annual release of Noble Scot Ale and features traditional dance and bagpipe performances, highland games and activities and live music from New Shilling. In the words of the brewery, “Noble Scot is a complex and full-bodied 6.5 percent Scottish ale with notes of toast and caramel and a sweet, subtle smokiness for the coming days of fall.”

Along with festive beer and food, enjoy the show as professional highland games athletes put on a dynamic demonstration of Scottish customs including a sheaf toss, keg toss, as well as traditional cabers, hammers, and stones.