Brew Festival

Sat, 30 Jul 2005 23:59:59 -800

Every year, several dozen brewers from around the country (though mostly the
Northwest) gather in Portland on the last full weekend in July for the Brew
Fest. Hanna thought it would be great fun to head down to the waterfront as
a sort of birthday celebration, so I met her and a few others she knows for
an afternoon of strolling around the park, drinking, eating and telling
stories. There were seventy-two brewers in total this year; I got myself
tokens for six 4oz samples and went imbibing beer from lightest to darkest.
Turns out that my suspicions are indeed true--dark inky stouts still knock me
over. It really is a pain not to have any appreciable alcohol tolerances;
though it makes me a cheap drinking buddy, it does make the process of
familiarizing myself with the local beers and wines much more difficult than
it need be. In any case, we wandered around the festival for hours, but had
a darn good time.