I am heading up to Portland next Wednesday to attend a blogger’s preview of the 14th Annual Holiday Ale Festival. The trip will mark a couple of new “firsts” for me. It will be my first time attending the Holiday Ale Festival and the first time I have been invited to an event because of this blog.
For those of you unfamiliar with Portland’s Holiday Ale Festival, it is the premier winter beer event on the West Coast. The festival runs for five day, December 2-6 at Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland. Over 50 winter ales will be served at this year’s festival, many of them special batches, made specifically for the event. There will also be several vintage tastings occurring over the course of the festival. Event information and beer lists are available on the Holiday Ale Festival website.
Looking over the Beer List for the event, several ales immediately jump out at me. So far, the following beers are on my Must Try list:
BridgePort’s BourbonEzer – Ebenezer aged for a year in bourbon barrels.
Cascade Brewing’s – Sang Noir 2009 – A blend of several barrel aged beers, resulting in a double Flanders style red.
Full Sail’s Wassail Holiday Blend – 65% Wassail, 35% Imperial Porter, aged 9 months in Makers Mark casks.
Holiday Ale Festival / Hair of the Dog’s JIM 2009 – HOTD, ’nuff said.
Upright’s Holy Herb – A winter Farmhouse ale; brewed with hyssop, aged on eucalyptus and open fermented.
As you can see, I’m a slut for barrel aged and blended ales, and there are several more on the list besides the ones I listed.
Finally, I am looking forward to the chance to meet some of you Portlanders. I won’t be able to stay too long Wednesday, since I have to drive back to Eugene for work the following morning, but I am trying to arrange for someone to look after my dogs so my wife and I can come back up for the weekend. If you are attending either the festival or the preview on Wednesday evening, let me know and I will try to find you.
Cheers!
Kevin