Central Oregon’s all-local winter brewfest returns in a few weeks, taking place at GoodLife Brewing on Saturday, December 9. GoodLife has been hosting the Central Oregon Winter Beer Festival, now in its fifth year, since 2013, and each year nearly all of the region’s breweries and cideries are represented.

Each brewery and cidermaker will be pouring their winter- or holiday-themed offering, ranging from their annual winter seasonals to special one-offs (my favorites are those one-offs, like last year’s Sprue Willis from Bend Brewing).

Here is the full press release:

GoodLife Brewing Company is hosting the 5th Annual Central Oregon Winter Beer Festival in the GoodLife Courtyard on Saturday, December 9th, 2017 from 2pm-9pm. Last years festival had 22 breweries involved and 700 attendees, and this year we are hoping to have all of the Central Oregon breweries, both new and old. This annual event is held the second Saturday in December at GoodLife Brewing, and we look forward to growing it in the years to come. We are happy to announce Bigfoot Beverages as our Title Sponsor again in 2017.

COWBF is a fundraiser for the Central Oregon Brewers Guild, COBG, which works to bring outside awareness to Central Oregon by focusing on our local craft beer culture, with a mission to drive tourism and commerce to Central Oregon, as well as surrounding Oregon communities. COBG is composed of people working at Central Oregon breweries and was formed to give Central Oregon beer a united voice.

GoodLife Brewing’s Owner/Operator, Ty Barnett, said “It’s a great feeling to know that our small city is producing some of the best beer in the NW, and how best to celebrate our growing beer culture than to get us all together and work to give Central Oregon beer a voice. Forming a Brewers Guild in our region opens up marketing possibilities that can directly impact Central Oregon. The more people that know what is happening in Central Oregon, the more people will visit and drive commerce to the city.”

COWBF is a showcase for seasonal and specialty beers brewed in celebration of the holiday season. Admission to COWBF will be $15.00 and attendees will receive a commemorative COWBF glass, as well as 5 drink tickets. Each additional ticket will cost $1.00. The festival will be in a heated tent, and there will be food carts available on site.

The first few years took place in GoodLife’s biergarten, but last year took place in the courtyard next door, which worked out well as the lawn area tends to get over-saturated with freezing water if it’s snowing. It’s a fun, relatively low-key event, worth coming down to check it out.