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What the hell is a firkin?
It's a small cask—10 and three-quarters gallons of warm-conditioned goodness—the oldest still-in-use form of beer storage in the world. This is some serious Laura Ingalls Wilder shit. The firkins are either gravity-fed from atop the bar, or hand-pumped from beneath with a well handle called a "beer engine." The firkin is not to be confused with the Firkin Tavern, which has no firkins.
What's so special about firkins?
It's not just beer. It's real ale. Because the Allies won the war, Europeans aren't all German. And some of them—the ones who wear kilts, or the ones who hate people who wear kilts—prefer their beer in imperial pints, warm and basically flat. Real ale, they call it. Traditionally, these beers carbonate in a firkin with added sugar instead of being pre-carbonated, and they're typically served directly from the cask at cellar temperature, about 55 degrees. It's less carbonated, warm and silky smooth, with a fine foam. In the innocent pre-Guinness days of erst, they're what nitro taps were made to mimic.
What kinds of beer can come in a firkin?
In theory, anything. In practice, English, Scottish and Irish styles, IPAs, and the occasional dark. Basically, anything but a lager. Our general advice is to pick the most archaically U.K.-sounding style you can find, look it up on your phone, and drink it with a superior attitude.
What the Firkin Fest will have:
Firkins from 40 breweries, plus cheeses, chocolates and meats. Confirmed breweries include Deception, Thunder Island, Bunsenbrewer, New Belgium, Gigantic, Old Town, Base Camp, Double Mountain, Burnside, BridgePort, Hopworks, Fearless, Fat Head's and, of course, Buckman Botanical and Green Dragon.
Where else can I get firkin beer in Portland?
Bailey's Taproom, Burnside Brewery, Deschutes in the Pearl, Hair of the Dog, Horse Brass, Raven & Rose, Green Dragon, BridgePort, Lucky Labrador, Pause, McCormick and Schmick's, Roscoe's, Rose and Thistle, the Woodsman Tavern, Rogue, the Moon and Sixpence, Interurban, Belmont Station.
GO: Firkin Fest is at the Green Dragon, 928 SE 9th Ave., 517-0660, on Saturday, Feb. 21. 11 am-6 pm. $10 includes five tastes and a 10-ounce glass. Additional tastes $1. $25 for VIP tastes. 21+.
WWeek 2015
