Revelers at Oregon Brewers Festival raise a toast.
What nickname should you use to describe Portland? Well, that depends on you.
From Oregon? Stick with Rose City — unless, of course, your commute takes you over one of the city’s dozens of Willamette River crossings. Then it’s Bridge City. On a layover at the Portland Airport? Then you might refer to it as The PDX or maybe Stumptown, an expression used to describe the rapid growth of the city in the 1840s when thousands of trees were cut down, leaving large forests of stumps.
If you have a beard or a facial tattoo then Portlandia might be apropos, or you can go with the slightly edgier Rip City (ask fans of the Portland Trail Blazers about that one). Call it P-Town and they’ll probably think you’re from Seattle, or show your history flair and call it Little Beirut, first coined by staffers of George H.W. Bush, after the wild protests that would take place whenever he visited.
It’s a lot of nicknames for a city with 600,000 unique residents, all doing their best to “Shop Local, Shop Oregon,” dutifully “Keep Portland Weird” and whenever possible, “Put a Bird on It.” Of all the nicknames Portland has earned, there’s one that local event professionals hope will draw more tourists in search of frosty brews.
Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Beervana.
“That’s the name we use to describe the incredible diversity of breweries and craft beer companies here in Portland,” said Art Larrance, one of the three original founders of Oregon Brewers Festival, coming July 23-27. Founded in 1988, the Tom McCall Waterfront Park event attracts more than 80,000 visitors a year, sampling craft beers from 80 different breweries.
“It’s a true destination event — a lot of people turn this into their vacation,” said Larrance, owner of Cascade Brewing in southeast Portland. Survey results show that half of the attendees at the 2013 event were from out of state, helping to generate a $27-million economic impact. At this year’s International Association of Venue Managers Conference, July 25-29, registrants will get a chance to see the Oregon Brewers Festival. The event is the kickoff for IAVM and the first 100 people to show up will get free beer glasses — the unofficial ticket of entry.
“It’s great because that becomes something people can take home and remember the event by,” said Greg Flakus with GF Strategies, which deployed a mobile app at the festival in 2013.
Oregon Brewers Festival typically charges $7 for entry — that entitles customers to one beer glass, which they carry through the festival and use to sample beers. Small wooden tokens are paid for each taste — it’s about $4 for a full beer and $1 for a taste.
Larrance, the former owner of the Portland Brewing Company, joined forces with Bridgeport Brewing and Widmer Brothers to buy the rights to what had previously been the Papa Aldos Blues Festival. The 1987-run of that festival hadn’t gone well for the promoters and sponsors, but Larrance said his brewery made a killing.
“We thought we’d only sell 10-15 kegs — we ended up going through 76 kegs. We completely emptied our brewery of all the beer we had. We sold our entire inventory that day.”
The lesson was pretty simple — ditch the blues and stick with the brews.
The Oregon Brewers Festival does have some musical entertainment and its own celebrity beer makers. This year, 12 brew masters from the Netherlands and Germany are being hosted by festival organizers and participate in a week-long celebration of all things hoppy. They’ll fly in a few days before the event and meet with local dignitaries as well as Portland’s official welcoming committee, the Royal Rosarians. Each brewer will spend a day as a guest brewer at a Portland brewery and on Tuesday they will participate in a parade with 600 beer lovers, marching from Lucky Labrador Brewing, across the Willamette River on to the grounds of the Oregon Brewers Festival. This year's Grand Marshal is John “More Hops” Maier, the brew master of Rogue Ales, which opened in Ashland, Ore., in 1988 and has grown into one of the city’s most successful craft beer makers.
“Our event stands out because it is organized by actual brewers and not outside promoters,” said Larrance, who has no patience for badly poured IPAs, lagers and ales. “We’re beer people and we know how to properly dispense beer.”
The event takes two and a half days to set up and one to tear down. Each participating brewery allocates 18 kegs for the event, and that beer is organized at a distributorship near the event site.
Over five days, beers are constantly trucked in via refrigerated truck and tapped on an elaborate trailer system dividing the festival into two areas. Each section features five semitrailers that pour at least eight beers apiece. Beer taps are numbered to help beer enthusiasts find their favorite libation. A free map and iPhone app help visitors navigate the event.
Larrance estimates that more than 1,700 kegs of beer will be consumed over the five-day event.
“It’s a celebration of microbreweries and craft beer,” he said. “Beers made from all-natural ingredients — malt, hops and yeast. Beers that were made in small handcrafted batches that stand out from the big breweries. Beers that have helped transform Portland into Beervana for thousands of visitors each year.”
Interviewed for this story: Art Larrance, (503) 887-6617; Greg Flakus, (360) 573-7027