Serving up 88 different craft beers from around the United States and another 100 plus brews in the specialty tent, the Oregon Brewers Festival has evolved into a staple event and celebration in the Portland community. And my oh my, what a celebration it is! The festival is a vibrant coming together of culture and nations, all with one common denominator; everyone loves beer. ResortsandLodges sat down with Chris Crabb, PR Director for the festival to discuss its history and learn a little bit more about celebrating the suds.
RAL: There is often a story behind how beer festivals originate…how did this one come to be?
CC: Back in 1988 there were only four craft breweries in Portland, which is amazing to think about now considering we are the craft beer capital of the world. Art Larrance, who is the founder and who also owned Portland Brewing at the time, decided he wanted to put on a festival to introduce Portland to the concept of craft beer. Art wanted to invite other brewers from around the region to come to Portland and display their finest craft brews to the public. Of course, they had no idea what to expect when putting this whole thing together. Looking back at it now, there ended up being a total of 22 brewers from around the country and an attendance of over 15,000, which is remarkable considering they were expecting around 5,000.
From what I have heard, the first festival was an absolute mess (with a chuckle). It was hot, the beer was foamy, there wasn’t enough ice, beer was running out, but yet people absolutely loved it.
RAL: What sort of demographic do you get at the festival?
CC: Everybody comes to this festival, seriously. The festival started as a two-day event. We have now expanded to five days, and over the course of those days, we draw in 85,000 people. Of those people, more than 50% are from outside of Oregon, and they come from all over the world. This is a destination event for a lot of people. And when I say everybody, I mean EVERYBODY. We get all sorts of age groups and demographics in here. From kids turning 21 and having a right of passage celebration, to people in their sixties and seventies out celebrating. Lots of couples, and a slightly male dominant crowd, but not by much. We have one group of flight attendants from Amsterdam who come back every single year just to pour beer. So all in all, the demographic is very diverse and it makes for an exciting atmosphere.
“People just are drawn to this place. We have been around for so long and so many people love it.”
RAL: Of all of the beer festivals in the world, why is this one so unique?
CC: It is a little different in that we have always kind of gone against the grain compared to other festivals. When we started, The Great American Beer Festival was a fresh new festival. Art (the founder) thought, hey…I don’t want to compete with them, so let’s make ourselves so wildly different that we stand out. Their event was held indoors, we went outdoors. They sold it in 2-oz taster glasses, we offered 14 ounce mugs. Aside from that, Portland is an extraordinary place to celebrate. We are right on the river and it just has this amazing feel to it. Because it is…I can’t even tell you what it is to be honest. People just are drawn to this place. We have been around for so long and so many people love it.
RAL: What can I expect to find at the festival…other than beer?
CC: So we have live music all the time. That is great. Admission is entirely free, which is a nice added touch. We have all of our vendors (all beer related) home brew displays, food vendors, a root beer garden with free root beer for designated drivers and children, etc. We also have a sort of education pavilion on site where you will find beer publishers and the Oregon Brewers Guild, which sells “SNOB” memberships. If you are a SNOB, you are a Supporter of Native Oregon Beer. You get a really great t-shirt that says you are a snob. Of course, all beer related and beer focused.
New in the past few years, we have a specialty tent for the enthusiasts. Each of the brewers is allowed to send a quarter barrel of some amazing beer…something you really couldn’t get anywhere else. There are so many amazing beers, you won’t even know what to do with yourself.
RAL: Where do you see this event going in the next three to five years?
CC: The way that our venue Waterfront Park is laid out, we really can’t get bigger. To address that problem in the past, we went from a three-day to a four-day event. That was hugely successful. And last year we added in the fifth day. We have found that the lines on the weekends can get long. To alleviate that, instead of adding more space, we added more days. But honestly we don’t want more beers, we think we have the perfect number. We aren’t looking to really flood the gates anymore either; I mean 85,000 people in five days is a lot of heads.
We are doing something new this year, and if it proves to be successful, we might stick with it. Art Larrance (again, the founder) flew to the Netherlands for a beer festival recently. What he saw over there was that they were just starting to experiment with hops and different flavors. They are at a place now that our craft brewers were at in the 1980s when the movement started. So Art is flying a dozen of these brewers (11 from the Netherlands and one from Germany) to the festival to feature their beer in the specialty tent for the duration of the festival. It should be great for them to team up with local brewers, gain awareness of our craft beer culture and start a fantastic relationship.
Want to learn more about the Oregon Brewers Festival? Click here.
Photo Credit: Timothy Horn