Holiday Ale Festival
The annual Winter Ale Festival is happening this weekend at Pioneer Courthouse Square, starting tomorrow. This year’s beer list looks fantastic, and Thursday it appears that they are going to roll out some very special kegs. This festival is one of the things that makes living in Portland so great. The entire square is covered under a large tent, and heaters are judiciously applied, keeping the cold out and making things nice and toasty. The beers are big and rich, warming your insides as the heaters warm your outsides. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend it. It’s a great time.
One word of advice – go early. The word is out on this fest, and it has, frankly, outgrown its humble digs. At night, it gets crowded – uncomfortably so, and you may find yourself waiting upwards of 15 or 20 minutes for a beer. However, before the tent fills up, it’s a great time. And no matter what time of day you’re there, the beer simply can’t be beat.
Everything you need to know about the Festival can be found right here
They really just need to get rid of the ‘Crafts’ section under the tent – no one cares about it and it just takes up valuable space.
Valuable drinking space – yessiree
Good point. The organizers must know by now that the tent space is getting horribly crowded. It’s nice that they have a crafts section, but I agree that the number one focus of the festival should be accommodating beer tasters – and we tasters need that space – for tasting.
Pretty novel concept: a beer garden for women to park their hubbies at whilst they do the x-mas shopping.
Just when I was thinking: “Damn, there hasn’t been a good outdoor booze fest in Portland for a few weeks.”
I agree with Nolando. After attending many Holiday Beer Fests, the tent situation at Pioneer Square is getting out of hand. It seems it’s only still there to keep with tradition. Portland is a beer Mecca, to toss us under a _few_ thousand square feet of tent each Winter to taste the finest is shameful. It’s the time of year where many LOVE to get ‘warm’ tasting beer. We really need a place that can accommodate the crowd.
Where? I have no idea, but I’ve thought about this a lot. The waterfront would be a mess (mud), I am _not_ a fan of indoor beer festivals, so the Spring Fest location is not something I’d care for. Perhaps a large parking lot up in the industrial district? Again, I have no answer, but damn, Pioneer Square for an ale fest still bothers me.
Oh, but I’ll be there :)
Cheers!
Oh Steve Steve Steve…..we’re gonna have to have a little chat about everything wrong with that first comment of yours! :)