Portland’s Cheers To Belgian Beers

LOVE this festival. We have a lot of great beer festivals and events here in Portland (aka Beervana), but this one is top-​notch.
It’s not flashy or in a sexy location, unless you really dig industrial spaces. It’s held at Metalcraft’s facility, which is where many of the fermentation tanks and mash tuns, used by Portland’s finest breweries, were born. They also make good use of the outside gravel area, so you have the best of both worlds, indoor & outdoor space. It’s also easy to get to from the MAX Yellow Line, and just a few blocks from Widmer’s Gasthaus, perfect for pre– or post-​fest eats.
Oh, you want to know about the beers, too? Well geez, where to start? This fest has probably one of the most eclectic and widely-​varying beer lists of all. Yes, it’s all «Belgian» beers, but that term is only a shorthand for literally dozens of beer styles and flavors, so if you can’t find a beer at this fest that you enjoy, I might theorize that you don’t actually like beer.
Mark your calendars and make a point of getting to this fest every April!

This is one of my most favorite annual beer festivals. I love the venue. The event is appropriately held inside the cavernous workshop of Metalcraft Fabrication – where-​in they manufacture the huge stainless steel vessels that are used in the creation of the marvelous beverages celebrated by this fest. We got there early and the lines were short. Admission is free and the tasting packages were either $ 20 for 10 tickets (and a glass) or $ 15 for 5 tickets (and a glass). They actually provide a real glass at this tastival. It’s a very nice piece of souvenir stemware, too. So much better – and classier – than a plastic mug, and you can actually add it to your bar for year-​round use.
They had a big tent set up in the parking lot. Plenty of chairs. Food was provided by the tasty Koi Fusion truck. Another vendor was putting out steak sandwiches. Sitting outside in the sun, sipping on a delicious beer, we had a beautiful, unobstructed view of the river and Fremont Bridge. Everyone was so friendly, too. We bumped into a couple of young men who work at Metelcraft and they were very informative about how they build the tanks that were lining the perimeter of the warehouse. It was fun learning where the tanks are headed after completion.
Of course, the best thing about PCTBB is the BEER. Many, many, many, unusual brews that you just won’t find anywhere else, ever. The local craft brewers get to show off their mastery and the beer lovers get to sample some of the finest, most creative beers on the planet. It doesn’t get much better than that. I especially enjoyed the «Meet the Brewer» table. Brewmasters actually lined up to take questions from the crowd about their wares. They even had brewers spinning the tunes at the DJ booth. How cool is that?
This festival was very well-​planned and perfectly executed. I did hear that it got a bit crowded later in the day, but that’s to be expected. Perhaps they could expand into the next door space next year. In any case, I’ll be back next year – early, as usual.