Bend Brewfest starts this week!
This week the ninth annual Bend Brewfest is taking place, running from Thursday through Saturday and this year it’s bigger than ever—51 breweries pouring over 125 different beers which include a number of specialties on the X-Taps! It’s all taking place at the Les Schwab Amphitheater right in the heart of Bend’s picturesque Old Mill District.
The Brewfest runs from 3 to 11pm on both Thursday and Friday, and noon to 11 on Saturday. (Kids are allowed until 7pm each night.) Admission is free but to taste the beers you will of course need to purchase the $10 package which includes the tasting mug and four tokens—additional tokens are $1 each, sold in packages of five.
There will be food vendors on hand as well, and along with everything else they are cash only (though there will be an ATM on site).
A cool feature that hasn’t really been talked up anywhere else is the “Brewtality Tent“: kind of a VIP tent idea where you can meet the various brewers (as well as some of the sponsors). Great idea and a good way to find out more about the beer you’re drinking! There’s a Brewtality Tent schedule in the Brewfest guide so you can plan your visit to that tent accordingly.
And finally, the Brewfest is still in need of volunteers to pour beer, particularly during the final shifts on Saturday. In return for volunteering, you’ll get a free mug and tokens—free beer! But you can’t drink before your volunteer shift, which seems counter-intuitive to volunteer for a Saturday night shift and not have time to drink afterwards. However, it turns out you can pick up your mug and tokens ahead of time and use them the day or two before! (This info is straight from Old Mill District’s Marketing Director, Noelle Fredland.) So if you can do it, go sign up here!
It’s going to be a good Fest this year and if you were looking for something to do this weekend, this is it!
It sounds like this year is shaping up to be an excellent brewfest with some great breweries and beers I would love to try. I am very sad to be missing it as I won’t be able to make the trip up there this year.