15th Annual McMenamins Lighthouse Brew Festival

It’s a party at the coast! Woooo-hooooo! At this summertime, near-the-beach, bring-your-sunblock brewfest, each McMenamins brewery creates its own distinct craft beer style while the Lighthouse serves up food and drink specials and brewery tours all day long. It’s big fun.

As part of the annual tradition, the brewfest kicks off weeks earlier with the “Vallancing Act” (named for former Lighthouse brewer Rob Vallance) during which each participating McMenamins brewer picks a number. Then beer styles are pulled from a Portland Timbers hat to correspond to that number. The brewers are then required to brew an original recipe in that style.

Each participating brewery is also asked to submit a tiny image to represent their particular brew. This collection of “Tiny Brewer Art,” always amusing if not befuddling, is displayed in the festival booklet provided to patrons, along with descriptions of the beers. McMenamins also designs a new Mighty Beer Atom each year — a mighty beer atom is, according to the brewers, “the fundamental building block that is the basis of life as we know it.” (Duh.)

Check back to find out what special and fantastic brews will be pouring at this year’s Lighthouse Brewfest!