Portland's Holiday Ale Festival
posted November 28, 2010 9:02 AM   RSS | iCal | +googleCal

Sat December 4 at 8:00 PM, Ale Festival
Pioneer Courthouse Square, 715 SW Morrison St # 702, Portland, OR 97205-3103, USA (Map & Directions)
December 1st-5th
Holiday Ale Festival

The upside is they have beer.
The downside is the entrance fee: $25 at the gate (or $20 in advance)

Right now, I am thinking Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon would be good.
Anyone interested?
posted by nickthetourist to Meetup (14 comments total)

Not the cheapest way to drink, by a long shot; but it would be fun to be able to try a lot of different (and otherwise unavailable) beers. What the hell, I'm in. My guess - based on a total lack of experience attending previous years' festivals - is that Sunday afternoon might be less crowded than Saturday evening. On the other hand, might there perhaps be a greater likelihood of some beers being sold out by Sunday afternoon...?
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:56 PM on November 28, 2010


If it's anything like the summer brewfest then, yes, it is likely many if the beers will be gone by Sunday afternoon.
posted by nickthetourist at 4:48 PM on November 28, 2010


To be considered: the entrance fee includes a tasting mug and 10 tickets. Additional tickets are $1.00 each.
posted by nickthetourist at 7:58 PM on November 28, 2010


And also consider: One tasting = one ticket but one ticket != one full beer. Full mugs are three or four tickets depending on the beer.

And yep, by Sunday afternoon many of the beers will be gone. Saturday night will be very, very crowded.
posted by pdb at 9:00 PM on November 28, 2010


So what it comes down to is this:

1) If you pay $20 in advance, then buy 10 more tickets for $10, for $30 you get the mug and 20 tickets. Those 20 tickets will buy you the equivalent of at most 5 or 6 14-oz mugfuls, which comes to roughly $5 - $6 per not-quite-pint (or $6 - $7, if you pay $25 at the door). BUT...you can't get those particular beers in the stores.

2) Saturday night means massive crowds, and Sunday afternoon means limited beer selection. How about planning to get together Saturday afternoon, instead? Less crowded than it will be later that evening (I assume - correct me if I'm wrong), and still a full selection of beers to choose from. Just throwing that out there.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:26 PM on November 28, 2010


This thing gets a little crazy in the evenings and weekends. I like beer fests but I don't like the waiting in line packed elbow to elbow for beer thing, though- so I'm planning on going on Thursday after work.

I think the $25 price is worth it, if you'll enjoy the special beers. Most of them are extra strong, and I usually have trouble drinking through all my tickets at these things- but I don't like to drink a ton in one sitting. I'm convinced you get more beer if you buy it one taste (one ticket) at a time rather than a full mug- because the pourers often overfill past the "taster" mark.
posted by Secretariat at 12:50 PM on November 29, 2010


How about planning to get together Saturday afternoon, instead?

I can't make it Saturday afternoon since I'll be watching the Civil War.

Not that Civil War, this Civil War.

Game time is 12:30, so figure roughly 4 hours start to finish, assuming overtime isn't necessary.
That'd be roughly 4:30 which means getting into town around 5:00 or so.
posted by nickthetourist at 7:18 PM on November 29, 2010


I'm still in favor of at the very least showing up and seeing if our small, nerdy, introverted band can brave the Saturday evening crowds.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:17 AM on December 3, 2010


Sounds like a plan.
If nothing else, we can enjoy a few brews and grab some grub somewhere in the area.
I'm thinking we could realistically make it down there between 5:30 and 6:00 considering we will likely ride the MAX into town as opposed to driving.
posted by nickthetourist at 8:26 PM on December 3, 2010


There is a developing consensus to meet at the fest entrance at 6pm this evening. Everybody come, it'll be a lark!
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:13 AM on December 4, 2010


So did you guys end up meeting up or not? It's weird that this is still listed at the top of my sidebar as upcoming...
posted by dersins at 12:59 PM on December 9, 2010


Huh, that's an interesting point. I guess a proposed meetup has no date, so it can't be past-due. Nick, maybe see what happens if you try to confirm it for last weekend?

Sorry we couldn't make it out. I like beer and you folks.
posted by cortex at 4:18 PM on December 9, 2010


I went ahead and set the date so it wouldn't show as upcoming.
posted by pb at 10:08 PM on December 9, 2010


Could have sworn I set the official date....I'd blame the beer, but it happened after this was posted.
posted by nickthetourist at 9:29 PM on December 12, 2010



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