2013 Holiday Ale Festival

Wow its hard to believe that December is almost here. With December comes the always epic Holiday Ale Festival. The details for the festival are below. And the HAF 2013 pinup "Angel" has been released.

FESTIVAL FACTS

What
18th annual Holiday Ale Festival

Where
Pioneer Courthouse Square, located at 701 SW Sixth Ave. on the MAX Light Rail line

When
Wednesday, Dec. 4 through Sunday, Dec. 8
Noon to 10 pm Wed, 11 am to 10 pm Thur-Sat, and 11 am to 5 pm Sun
To avoid lengthy lines, the recommended days for attendance are Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.

Why
While eggnog and hot toddies are commonly associated with the holidays, it’s no surprise that in the beer Mecca of the Pacific Northwest, craft ales are the drink of choice: specifically, big, bold ales designed to fend off the cold chill of a long winter night. The 18th annual Holiday Ale Festival gathers together more than four dozen of these winter warmers for a joyous five-day celebration. The beers featured are rich, robust and full of complex flavors. From Belgians to barleywines, porters to winter warmers, and spiced ales to stouts, these beers have either been crafted or blended specifically for the event or are hard-to-fine vintages. What they all share in common is their rarity - the festival works with every brewery involved to make sure they are sending a product that has either been made specifically for this event, or is a rare or vintage beer that isn’t commonly tapped in the state - which has solidified the event’s reputation as the premier winter beer tasting venue on the West Coast.

Despite being held outdoors during one of the coldest months of the year, more than 17,000 festival attendees stay warm and dry over the five day festival under clear-topped tents that cover the venue. Gas heaters create a cozy ambiance beneath the boughs of the region's largest decorated Christmas tree. In addition to beer tasting, the festival also features meet the brewer events, a root beer garden, food vendors, beer pairings with cupcakes & cheese, event merchandise and a coat and bag check that raises funds for the Children's Cancer Association.

Cost
To enter and consume beer, the purchase of an entry package is required. The general admission package at the door costs $30 and includes the 2013 tasting mug and 10 taster tickets. Advance general admission packages cost $30 and include the tasting mug, 12 taster tickets and expedited entry all five days. Advance VIP packages are available for $75 and include the tasting mug, 28 taster tickets, a bottle of water, access to VIP lines (including special tappings) and express entry all five days. Express re-entry requires a wristband and the 2013 mug, and is subject to the festival's capacity. Previous year's mugs will not be filled. Advance packages are available online at www.holidayale.com. Once inside the festival, a full mug of beer costs four taster tickets, and a four-ounce taste costs one ticket. Certain limited release and special tappings may not be available in full mug pours, or may cost double tickets. Additional beer tickets can be purchased for $1 apiece. Designated drivers in a party of two or more may purchase a designated driver wristband for $5, which includes Crater Lake Root Beer or bottled water for the duration of the stay.

Standard Release Beers (Limited & Sunday Brunch beer info has not been released)

Other
The event is for ages 21 and over.

Info
www.holidayale.com

Bridgeport Brewing Will Celebrate 30 Years in Business by Releasing a Special Trilogy of Beers

BRIDGEPORT CELEBRATES THREE DECADES OF CRAFT BREWING IN OREGON

BridgePort Brewing's Press Release on Trilogy: 

The “BridgePort Trilogy Series” to premiere in January

 PORTLAND, Ore.—November 19, 2013—  BridgePort Brewing Company, Oregon’s oldest craft brewery, will celebrate 30 years by releasing the “BridgePort Trilogy Series,” three limited edition beers. The first two beers in the series will honor pivotal moments in BridgePort’s history by highlighting the adoption of aroma hops and the IPA movement. In contrast, the third and final beer in the series will explore what’s still to come for craft beer in Oregon.

“It’s great to be turning 30, but it’s even more exciting to see how far the craft brewing industry has come in the last three decades,” commented brewmaster Jeff Edgerton. “Hop breeders in Oregon began developing varieties of aroma hops in the ‘60s and ‘70s that had intense and interesting qualities. The large domestic brewers weren’t interested at the time because the hops were ‘too intense’ for the products they were making. BridgePort and a handful of other craft brewers picked up on these varieties and started making flavorful, all-malt beers that had incredible taste and aroma. The rest is history.”

Given that aroma hops ignited the Oregon craft beer movement, it only made sense for the first beer in the “BridgePort Trilogy Series” to honor one of Edgerton’s favorite, the Crystal Hop, a varietal known for it’s slightly spicy and citrus notes.

“We chose to do a dry-hopped pale for the first beer in this series because of how well a pale can really spotlight a hop varietal,” said Edgerton. “We’ve experimented with dry hopping in the past but never built a whole beer around it. Our brewers are really excited and we think that BridgePort fans are going to love this first beer in the BridgePort Trilogy series.”

Trilogy 1 uses a big charge of Crystal Hops at the end of fermentation for a pleasant dry-hop aroma and flavor. The presence of Rye malt gives this beer a slightly spicy malt character and the Munich malts add a soft yet definite mouthfeel. ABV 5.2% | OG: 13.1 | IBUs 40

The BridgePort Trilogy Series will be available where all BridgePort beers are sold and will release in January, May and September of next year. The release of Trilogy 3 will coincide with the re-release of the first two beers in the series and BridgePort will encourage fans to vote for their favorite. The winning brew will return as a year-long offering in 2015.

About BridgePort Brewing Company

Celebrating 30 years in 2014, Oregon's oldest craft brewery continues to evolve from a microbrewery to a regional leader committed to producing high quality craft ales. Lead by brewmaster Jeff Edgerton, the team of BridgePort brewers prides itself on using hops from an hour away and clear glacial water from Mount Hood. The BridgePort family of ales includes IPA, Hop Czar, Kingpin.  BridgePort Brewery is located at 1313 N.W. Marshall St. For more information, call 503-241-7179 or visit www.bridgeportbrew.com.