March 18th 2014 Portland, Oregon - Tickets are now on sale for the 4th annual Portland Fruit Beer Festival, which will be held this June 7th and 8th in the parking lot of Burnside Brewing Co. and adjacent space on NE 7th Avenue, with even more beers than before and a new Friday evening session on June 6th due to overwhelming popularity. Returning this year is the festival's companion event, a homebrew competition that will judge the best fruit beers in five different categories.

The PFBF is the first of its kind and also the largest. This year's fest will feature an even larger selection of specially-made exotic fruit beer offerings from Oregon and beyond. As usual, nearly every beer and a few ciders have been brewed specifically for the Fruit Beer Festival and use a wide range of fruits, from passion fruit, peaches, and cherries to rhubarb, pears, and blueberries, we have all the bases covered! Some of the participating breweries include: Deschutes, Hopworks, 10 Barrel Brewing, Stone Brewing, Ecliptic, Breakside Brewery, The Commons, Laurelwood, Upright, Elysian, Reverend Nat’s, 2 Towns Cider, and Flat Tail Brewing, with many more TBA.

As in previous years, the Portland Fruit Beer Festival is an all-ages event and features local food carts and vendors, as well as a full pub menu inside Burnside Brewing Co. This year's festival is expanding by adding another session on the evening of Friday, June 6th. This intimate event will be held in Burnside Brewing Co.’s parking lot and will be limited to just 400 advanced tickets. Attendees to this new VIP session get an early preview of the beers, including some special rare tappings, while beating the larger crowds on Saturday & Sunday. VIP session tickets are now on sale for $30.

Full beer list, food vendors and a brand new official Fruit Beer Festival bottled collaboration beer are all still to be announced.

2014 PORTLAND FRUIT BEER FESTIVAL F.A.Q.

Regular Festival Hours:

Saturday June 7h 11am - 9pm

Sunday June 8th 11am - 6pm

VIP Session

Friday June 6th 4pm - 9pm

$30 for 12 tickets and a Glass ADVANCED TICKETS ONLY

Advanced General Admission

Saturday June 7th 11am - 9pm & Sunday June 8th 11am - 6pm

$20 for 12 tickets and a Glass

LOCATION:

7th & E. Burnside on the North side of the street. Taking place between Burnside & Couch streets on 7th and in the parking lot of Burnside Brewing Co. at 701 E. Burnside Portland, OR 97214

Annual Homebrew Competition

The Portland Fruit Beer Festival is proud to again partner with the Oregon Brew Crew on our annual Homebrew Competition, sponsored by Burnside Brewing. This is an non-BJCP style competition open to any homebrewer regardless of location or club affiliation.

[If you wish to judge, please email Jeremie Landers at historian@oregonbrewcrew.org]

Do you make the best fruit beer? Prove it! The main rule is that you must use real fruit whole, pureed, dried or juiced. No artificial extracts or flavorings are allowed. If using fresh fruit, please clean your fruit of any wax or pesticides before use.

Entries will be divided into five categories: Light Colored (12 SRM and lower), Dark Colored (greater than 12 SRM), Sour, Spice/Herb and Hard Cider. The Best of Show will then be determined from the winners of those categories. Your beer will be judged with simple sensory analysis sheets designed to give feedback without regard to total overall score. Prizes for each first place in the three categories are a $20 gift certificate to Burnside Brewing. The Best of Show grand prize will win an additional $50 gift certificate! The winners will be announced on Saturday, June 7th at 2pm during the festival.

Entries accepted at Burnside Brewing and F.H. Steinbart's from Monday May 12 to Friday, May 30th by the end of business with judging to commence the next day Saturday, May 31st (we need judges!). Each entry costs $7, but you get three PFBF beer tickets in return for each entry (to collect tickets your name will be on a list at the festival gates). Please make check, money orders out to "Oregon Brew Crew" with a memo of "PFBF Entry Fee" to be included with your entry. (Submit cash at your own risk.) There are no entry limits. One beer per category please (no spamming multiple categories with one beer). For each entry please submit two unmarked 10 - 22 oz. bottles, each bottle accompanied by a bottle identification form rubber banded to it. On the entry form, please specify all fruit(s) used and (if applicable) all spice/herb(s) used. Recipes are not necessary. Specify the category you're entering or it may be miscategorized. Entries missing forms or using tape or sticker of any kind will be automatically disqualified without refund.

Again this year, the PFBF Dinner will feature a specially crafted menu to compliment the homebrews selected for it. If you would like your beer to be considered for this dinner, and receive free entry to it (a minimum $50 value), please mark in BIG BLOCK LETTERS at the top of your entry form "PFBF DINNER ENTRY". If your beer is chosen, you must have at least 3 gallons worth of beer, and be willing to donate it to the PFBF. You do not need to enter the homebrew comp in order to be considered for the PFBF Dinner, but you may enter if desired.

Burnside Brewing is graciously donating a sum of money to the Oregon Brew Crew for it's help in the competition. You can show your support and thanks, if you are a licensed OLCC server, by volunteering for a shift to pour beer for them during the festival. Contact Holly Emery-Walen at hollyemerywalen@gmail.com. The general festival info page is here.

You can get an OLCC server permit ONLINE. Go here: http://www.oregonrla.org/training/alcoholserver.php

If you have any questions about the competition, or would like to judge, please email Jeremie Landers at historian@oregonbrewcrew.org.

Bellaire, Mich. – As Short’s Brewing Company prepares to release Superfluid for the first time in bottles, they are simultaneously announcing the connection of this beer to an awareness campaign about the Line 5 pipeline. Short’s is Northern Michigan’s largest craft brewery and a member of the Natural Resource Defense Council’s Brewers for Clean Water Campaign. This is the second consecutive year that they are tying a water issue to the brewing of Superfluid.

In 2014, Short’s is hoping to bring attention to Enbridge’s Line 5, a 60+ year old oil pipeline that runs underwater across the Straits of Mackinac. Due to the significant and far-reaching effects that an oil leak from this pipeline would cause to the Lakes Michigan-Huron system, Short’s joins a number of other Great Lakes companies and non-profit organizations that advocate for increased awareness of the pipeline.

“Our objectives in this campaign are twofold,” says Short’s Sustainability Specialist Matt Gacioch. “For one, we are trying to use a delicious, exciting beer as a platform to bring this potential Great Lakes risk to the public eye. Secondly, we hope that increased attention to Line 5 will bring with it an assurance that every measure possible is being taken to prevent any failure of the pipeline.”

Superfluid is the beer that Short’s has now used twice to bring attention to a water issue they feel relevant to their business and way of life in Northern Michigan. It is an American Double IPA (8.0% ABV, 71 IBU) with a large, but basic malt bill that allows the hops to seize the flavor focus, contributing bright qualities of citrus fruit, berries, and even a mild spiciness. In 2013, the first year the beer was brewed, it was a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act.

Short’s Brewing Company’s commitment to clean water also includes a number of water conservation measures at both its brewpub in Bellaire and production brewery in Elk Rapids, the forthcoming installation of a wastewater pre-treatment system at its Elk Rapids facility, and support for the Clean Water Act headwaters rule.

Denver, Colorado – March 13, 2014 - A new collaboration beer is born from the brewers of SweetWater Brewery in Atlanta, GA and Breckenridge Brewery in Denver, CO. The brew, named “O’ Tay,” will be a dry-hopped red wheat wine ale and will available later this month on draft in Colorado.

J. Todd Usry, Brewmaster and Director of Operations at Breckenridge Brewery says, “With a malt bill inspired by SweetWater’s 16th Anniversary Red Wheat Wine Ale and Breckenridge’s new spring seasonal, Ophelia Hoppy Wheat, the new beer will be tapped just in time for a sneak peak at Colorado’s Collaboration Festival on March 22 and featured in a select few tap rooms throughout Denver during the Craft Brewer’s Conference.”

Brewed with red wheat malt from the Colorado Malting Company, along with malted Buckwheat and Mosaic hops, this brew is a tribute to the friendship of brewing buddies J. Todd Usry and Freddy Bensch, the Big Kahuna at SweetWater Brewery, from the times when the two used to pal around Colorado in the early days of craft beer.

“For me, it was a cool experience to be a part of the collaboration, just enjoying the camaraderie and getting a better understanding of how other folks brew,” said SweetWater Head Brewer Nick Nock. “I really enjoyed our 16th Red Wheat Wine Ale and I think this brew is going to pair well with the Mosaic hops and malted Buckwheat, two ingredients we’ve never worked with before. I’m looking forward to getting back up there to get my hands, and lips, on it!”

During the Craft Brewers Conference on Wednesday, April 9th, the Ale House at Amato’s will be tapping in the collaborative brew and hosting a full tap takeover featuring Breckenridge Brewery and SweetWater Brewery beers.  The night will also honor the late Curtis McArthur of SweetWater Brewery with a toast at 4:20PM. Brewer friends of McArthur, Upslope Brewing Company and Crooked Stave, will be in attendance with a few of their beers to pour as well.

Thursday, April 10th, the two breweries will embark on a crawl to seven Denver bars, listed below, that will carry the collaboration beer and an additional unique beer from each brewery. Follow @BreckBrew and @SweetWaterBrew on Twitter and Instagram to locate the crew and join the crawl yourself.

Scruffy Murphy's
The Lobby
Star Bar
Lucky Pie
Blake St. Vault
Pour House
Strata Bar at the Hyatt Regency

For more information and a list of accounts where fans can sample the brew, visit Breckenridge Brewery’s Blog at BreckBrew.com.


ABOUT BRECKENRIDGE BREWERY
Breckenridge Brewery was founded in 1990 in Breckenridge, Colorado.  In the past two decades Breckenridge Brewery has grown from a small 3,000-barrels-a-year brewpub to one of the most successful craft beer and restaurant companies in the nation.  It now handcrafts more than 62,000 barrels of fresh beer annually and owns and operates six brewpubs and ale houses in the state of Colorado.  For more information visit www.BreckBrew.com.

ABOUT SWEETWATER BREWING COMPANY:
Living by the motto “Don’t float the mainstream,” SweetWater Brewery has been blazing its own path in craft beer throughout the Southeast since its inception in 1997. With a brewer calling the shots, quality of beer—and life—are always most important in crafting a lineup of lip-smackin’ brews. Widely known for its flagship 420 Extra Pale Ale and recent Great American Beer Fest gold medal winner LowRYEder IPA, SweetWater also serves up an ever-evolving Catch & Release seasonal lineup of brews and an off-beat, one-off Dank Tank series. SweetWater invites folks to join them for tours and tastings of their Atlanta brewery every Wednesday through Sunday. Visit www.sweetwaterbrew.com for more info about SweetWater, or hang out with your social thang out by following SweetWater on Twitter/Instagram @sweetwaterbrew, or on Facebook at facebook.com/sweetwaterbrew. And always remember; drink ‘em if you got ‘em!