The Holiday Ale Festival is gearing up December 3rd through 5th in downtown Portland:

The only beer festival in the Northwest to be held outdoors in the dark, cold and often wet month of December, the Holiday Ale Festival is heated and tented, and takes place in the heart of downtown Portland at Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Highlights include on-site food, craft vendors selling unique handmade gifts, a root beer garden, appearances by Santa Claus and Ebenezer Scrooge, and seasonal background music. The event takes place in a clear topped tent underneath the boughs of one of the region’s largest decorated Christmas trees.

Free admission, except for the $4 souvenir mug, and then $1 for a taster of beer and $4 for a full beer. Most of the breweries participating are from here in the Northwest.

Via BlueOregon.