This Wednesday, November 30 at 11am, the 21st annual Holiday Ale Festival begins in downtown Portland! (Insert joke about event turning 21 able to attend itself here.) This is one of Portland’s (and the Northwest’s) premiere beer festivals, made extra special by the fact that many of the participating breweries brew a unique beer just for this event.

The Holiday Ale Fest takes place at Pioneer Courthouse Square in the heart of downtown Portland, under a heated tent. It runs through Sunday, December 4, from 11 to 10pm each day except for Sunday when it ends at 5pm. Some things to be aware of:

• No minors are permitted, it’s 21 and over only.
• No outside food will be permitted, nor glassware. Outside water bottles must be empty before entering.
• It’s a smoke-free zone, for all types of smoking, vaping, etc.
• All bags are subject to search before entering.

Here are the cost and admission facts to know:

To enter and taste beers, the purchase of an initial tasting package is required. The package includes a souvenir glass, 12 beer tickets and costs $35 at the door (CASH ONLY). Those that are VISIBLY INTOXICATED will not be served.

Additional beer tickets can be purchased for $1 each. Previous years’ mugs/glasses cannot be used and will not be filled; however, current year glasses can be reused on subsequent visits within the same yearly festival.

A “taster” size pour of beer (4oz) requires one ticket (a few limited release and special tapping beers require 2+ tickets). A full glass of beer requires four tickets (some limited release and special tappings may not be available in full glass pours, or may be double tickets).

The festival stops selling beer tickets 1/2 hour prior to the posted closure time.

*FREE* re-admission into the Festival all 5 days with wristband and current year’s glass.

Here is the (standard) beer list; check the beer page itself for the full details on each beer and cider:

• 2 Towns Ciderhouse Bourbon Barrel Nice & Naughty
• 54*40′ Brewing Hill de Prune Oud Bruin
• Alameda Brewing Papa Noel’s Special Reserve
• Bear Republic Brewing ‘Twas the Beer Before Christmas
• BridgePort Brewing Ruckus
• Burnside Brewing Keg Nog
• Collaborator Bacon Cigar
• Deschutes Brewery Ginger Cookie Imperial Porter
• Double Mountain Rennervate
• Drake’s Brewing Grape Fermented ZinDrakonic
• Drinking Horse Brewing Yule’s Gold Belgian Holiday Ale
• Ecliptic Brewing Barrel Aged Tarantula Belgian Dubbel Ale
• Eel River Brewing Glass Trees
• Falling Sky Brewing Satyr Sauce Smoked Barleywine
• Fat Head’s Brewing Master Bolt of the Solstice
• Feckin Brewing Feckin De Los
• Finnriver Farm & Cidery Winter Ruby Cider
• Firestone Walker Brewing F1
• Fort George All Seeing Pie
• Fremont Brewing S’mores Bonfire Ale
• Full Sail Brewing Bourbon Aged Northwest Red
• Gigantic Brewing Holy Cow!
• Golden Valley Brewery Dundee Bypass
• Heater Allen Brewing H-E-Doppelsticke
• Hopworks Urban Brewery Cedarcalifragilistic
• Lagunitas Brewing Barrel-Aged Imperial Pils with Ginger and Quenepa
• Lompoc Brewing Cherry Christmas
• Loowit Brewing Snow’s Ghost
• Mazama Brewing Kind of a Fig Deal
• McMenamins (Edgefield) Lord of Misrule
• Migration Brewing Bridgetown IPA
• Natian Brewery Communion
• Nectar Creek Top Bar
• Ninkasi Brewing Griswold
• No-Li Brewhouse #WhiteRazzMocha
• Old Town Brewing Kris KringAle
• Ordnance Brewing Imperial Bloops
• Pelican Brewing Abuela’s Casita
• Plank Town Brewing Bock the Halls
• Portland Cider Holiday Juniper
• Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider Where Apple Pies Go When They Die
• Rogue Ales Piece de RYEsistance
• Ross Island Brewing Ross Island Strong Ale
• Rusty Truck Brewing Milk Chocolate Baltic Porter
• Santiam Brewing Pirate Stout: Govna’s Reserve
• Sixpoint Brewery Big Raspy Bourbon
• StormBreaker Brewing Zero Visibility
• Vanguard Brewing Lee’s Coconut Snowballs
• Wandering Aengus Ciderworks Golden Door
• Widmer Brothers Brewing Winter Happiness
• Wolf Tree Brewery King of the Forest
• Worthy Brewing French Press Dark Saison
• Zoiglhaus Brewing A Tipple for Nikolaus

Also watch the limited release beers page for the days and times that the super specialty beers will be going on tap. Each one of those costs at least two tickets per pour, so plan accordingly.

Cheers and happy Holiday Ale Fest!