This Week In Beer: Oregon Brewers Festival, Bailey's Second Anniversary and Fire and Brimstone Fest!

Portland beer events for the week of July 23.

By Parker Hall

Thursday, July 23

Oregon Brewers Festival
This is the big daddy of Oregon beer festivals—the biggest craft-beer fest in North America and the oldest of the big ones. Which is to say, it's kind of a shitshow, with an estimated 80,000 people rolling through, a carnival of beer geeks and one-time lookie-loos and everyone in between. But it'll also have a whopping 90 beers on tap from all over the country (but mostly from here), and another 15 from New Zealand and the Netherlands. MATTHEW KORFHAGE. Tom McCall Waterfront Park. 1020 Naito Pkwy., oregonbrewfest.com. $7 for a cup, $1 for each token. Noon-9pm Thursday-Saturday, noon-7 pm Sunday.


Double Mountain Portland Pop Up Bar

Hood River’s Double Mountain invades Lardo this week, taking over all 15 taps at the Southeast Hawthorne location, and throwing in some housemade root beer for good measure. All Double Mountain beers will be $5 all week long, so keep your eye out for a great deal on rare pours like their deliciously sour Tahoma Kriek. PARKER HALL. Lardo East, 1212 SE Hawthorne Blvd. All day, Thursday, July 23-Wednesday, July 29.


Crux Better Off Red Bottle Release

A tart Flanders-style red ale aged in Oregon pinor noir barrels for almost a year, Crux formally introduces this year’s Better Off Red to salivating Portland audiences at Tin Bucket tonight. The chic arrow-labeled Bend brewery, most impressive for their stronger and barrel-aged beers, looks to strike again with another cellar-worthy bottle. PH. Tin Bucket, 3520 N Williams Ave. 5 pm.


Boulder Beer Night and Meet the Brewer

A prelude to Friday’s second anniversary party, Imperial Bottle Shop hosts Boulder Beer Co. brewmaster David Zuckerman and co-owner Jim Shevlin. The rocky mountain brewers bring along five beers—the Kinda Blue Blueberry Wheat, Hoopla Pale Ale, Singletrack Rye Pale Ale, Mojo IPA on nitro, and Mojo Risin’ Double IPA, along with a few bottles of the Shake Chocolate Porter to mix with Salt & Straw’s Salted Caramel ice cream, an idea I can only imagine came from a recent trip to gluttonous beer nerd heaven. PH. Imperial Bottle Shop & Taproom, 3090 SE Division St. 6 pm.


Friday, July 24


Imperial’s Second Anniversary Party

Imperial celebrates two years with special keg tappings from New Belgium, Breakside, The Commons, Baerlic and many more. Planned special appearances from the Bridgetown Morris Men—ribboned, belled, Englishmen who perform “athletic dances with handkerchiefs and sticks to encourage good fortune and fertility,” make this a great event to have a few too many at after the weekly slog is over. PH. Imperial Bottle Shop & Taproom, 3090 SE Division St. 5 pm.


Saturday, July 25


Fourth Annual Fire and Brimstone: Festival of Smoke and Chili Beers

Some like it hot. The annual celebration of smoke and chili beers and ciders, Fire and Brimstone is split between two North Killingsworth beer and cider halls located a few blocks from each other: The Hop and Vine and Saraveza. Pouring 19 selections from all over the globe, the two locations will also have top secret cocktails to chase your beer and cider with. PH. The Hop and Vine, 1914 N Killingsworth St., Saraveza, 1004 N Killingsworth St. 11 am-9 pm Saturday and Sunday, July 25 and Sunday, July 26. $2.50 for a 5-ounce pour.


Bailey’s Taproom 8th Anniversary

The westside’s best taproom shuts down Southwest Ankeny to celebrate eight years of awesome pours with 20 more—today, all barrel-aged beers and ciders—and a special six-tap VIP event at the publicly (but a still coveted beer nerd secret) Upper Lip. Worried about the astonishing hangover that comes from gulping down too much barrel-aged beer too quickly? There will be a few summer beers on tap outside, too. PH. Bailey’s Taproom, 213 SW Broadway. Noon. Free admission, VIP session $45.


Sunday, July 26


It All Starts With Beer Documentary Screening

Last year, 10 brewers from the Netherlands journeyed across the globe, landing in Portland for the 2014 Oregon Brewers Festival. They brought with them a camera crew, who investigate just what brought our craft beer scene to the forefront of the world beer stage. A compelling look into the global art of contemporary craft brewing, the screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Art Larrance, founder of the Oregon Brewers Festival, as well as several international brewers that were featured in the film. PH. Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan St. 7 pm. $7.


Interurban Crawfish Boil

The time of crawfish boils is upon us—and it is always a good time. In Interurban’s classy backyard, they’ll be fillin’ pots with mud bugs, plus throwing extra fuel on the fire under the pots with a Breakside brewing takeover featuring IPA, Pilsner, IGA, Doug Fir Logger, Old World IPA and Schwarzbier. The crawfish will also sidle up against oysters on the half shell with house bloody mix, blackened catfish po’ boys, melon salad, cheddar biscuits and collards and bourbon-pecan moon pies. Interurban, 4057 N Mississippi Ave. 3 pm.

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