Portland Brew Festival
Seaside beer drinking in one of the best craft beer cities in the U.S. is a great way to spend 3.5 hours of your life. Great atmosphere, great views, and great beers are all on tap at the Portland Beerfest.
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Portland is a fantastic city for exploring a variety of craft beer, as evidenced by their many, many breweries. As for Portland itself, there is no more fun to be had than a night of revelry in the Old Port.
The Portland Brew Festival space totals more than 35,000 square feet, with 10k of that made up of outdoor space. The festival features craft beer education and lectures, brewing events, including live brewing, and VIP events and special pours.
Brewfest Details & Sessions
An annual event, the Portland Brew Fest brings together some of the finest craft brewers in New England, including local veterans, Allagash Brewing Company, a mainstay in Portland for over a quarter of a century. While smaller breweries, cideries, and meaderies leverage the beer fest to gain exposure, larger craft brewers such as Sam Adams use the event as a platform for market research, bringing new craft brews with them to test them with consumers.
And if you think Sam Adams is an old brewery by recent craft beer standards, then attendee Narragansett will make you rethink that stance. The brewery has been around since the late 1800s.
Rounding out the beer fest is an abundance of food, live music, and local vendors. If you're a homebrewer, be sure to stop by and talk to Maine Brewing Supply, they can help you source all of your kegs & hops.
A staff-only party, t-shirt, and the chance to meet and greet some of your favorite brewers is on the line for volunteers.
Tickets
Tickets for the 3-session weekend event generally run about $40 dollars. Designated driver tickets are an amazingly reasonable $5 dollars.
Portland Brew Festival Location
Set in between the Eastern Promenade Trail and the ocean is Portland's Foreside (58 Fore Street), a waterfront neighborhood that occupies the base of Munjoy Hill, sitting at the edge of Old Port and the Ocean Gateway international marine terminal.
Breweries in Attendance
You can expect to find these brewers pouring core, year-round beers and innovative and experimental beers at the festival. While the focus of the fest is local, it goes without saying that New Hampshire breweries such as Tuckerman's and Woodstock would be in attendance, as well as Boston brewers like Sam Adams and Downeast Cider.
One would think that with the proximity to Cananda, Stack Brewing would march their Puppers Beer to the USA, but no.
- Baxter Brewing Company
- Brooklyn Brewery
- Bunker Brewing Company
- Cisco Brewers
- DL Geary's
- Downeast Cider
- Gneiss Brewing Company
- Gritty McDuff's
- Harpoon Brewery
- Hidden Cove Brewing Company
- Moonlight Meadery
- Peak Organic
- Rising Tide Brewing Company
- Sebago Brewing
- Shipyard Brewing Company
- SmuttyNose
- Tuckerman Brewing Company
- Woodstock Inn Brewery
Where to stay
Portland is a popular city for summer tourism, so be sure to book early.
- Holiday Inn
- Hyatt Place Portland
- Portland Harbor Hotel
- Portland Regency Spa & Hotel
- Residence Inn
- The Press Hotel
Be Excellent. Join Us.
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