Fruit Beer Fest: How To Use Your Tickets

By Martin Cizmar

Ticket one: Peach Slap, from the Portland Deschutes brewpub, is a mild but deeply complex sour made with peach puree, habanero peppers, juniper and pink peppercorn. It was the consensus standout among a dozen fruit beers at last week's media preview. It's super sessionable (3.2 percent ABV), which is good, because every sip reveals a new note of earthy pepper, ginny juniper or subtle chili heat.

Ticket two: Mayme B, from Alameda Brewing, might well be the only beer ever made with tropical mamey fruit, which is found in Central America, the Caribbean and a few farms in Florida. It tastes a little like a baked sweet potato topped with candied almonds.

Ticket three: Gigantic Brewing's Boysen the Hood debuted at last weekend's Cheers to Belgian Beers. It was soured in the kettle—a difficult feat unless you specialize in traditional sours—and gets a balanced sweet-tartness from the boysenberries.

GO: The Portland Fruit Beer Festival is at Burnside Brewing Co., 701 E Burnside St., portlandfruitbeerfest.com, on Friday (4-9 pm), Saturday (11 am-9 pm) and Sunday (11 am-6 pm), June 6-8. $20 ($30 Friday VIP) for 12 tickets and a glass. 

WWeek 2015

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