Humbug Lager Fest, Portland OR

HUMBUG LAGER FEST, PORTLAND OR The 2014 Humbug LagerFest is back again to celebrate lager beers this holiday season! It took place on Saturday December 13th, at Occidental Brewing in Portland Oregon. This year they had 18 lagers on draft for sampling. There was no price for admission, tokens were $1/ea and 1 token = 1 sample. The brewery utilized it’s two main rooms to pour 8 samples at each. The main room had tables and some barrels to stand at. There were a LOT of people there when I stopped by, so finding a place to stand was tricky. The bartenders were working really fast, and there was little to no waiting at the bar for pours. The 2nd room which is used for storage of empties was used for the food stand and a LOT of the empty pre-production cans from the brewery along two sides. Occidental Brewing is located in the far north end of Portland, in the St. John’s neighborhood under the St. John’s bridge, just a few blocks from the Willamette River. The brewery is the south side of an industrial building and there’s plenty of on-street parking. The food stand this year was from …

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Holiday Ale Festival, Portland OR

HOLIDAY ALE FESTIVAL, PORTLAND OR The 2014 Winter Holiday Ale Festival in downtown Portland, December 3rd-6th, is one of the funner festivals to attend for beer lovers. This year like every year we’ve gone in the past, had a number of seasonal/one-off’s/rare beers that are made especially for this event by local and west coast brewers. There is no cost for admission (as with most beer fests), the cost comes in buying the tasting glass/plastic cup, and the tokens or tickets. The standard package was $35 and included a plastic tasting mug and 12 tickets. 3 oz. tastes were normally 1 ticket, but some specialty beers were 2, 3, or even 4 per pour with 4-8 tickets for a full mug (10oz) pour. I did try a few of the more ‘expensive’ rare beers and none of them disappointed. The festival has been downtown Portland at Pioneer Courthouse Sq. for quite a few years, and the layout of the fest has been consistent, which we all appreciated. They have an upper tasting area w/ a side bar and two main tasting areas with food vendors in between. The tents are heated, and unfortunately on Saturday afternoon, it was warm outside …

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