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It's that time of year again, and the 6th Annual North American Organic Brewers Festival is upon us.  What does that mean?   Beer, sun, music, and a bit of organic education.  This year, there are around 50 different beers that cover a huge variety of styles, including: Witbiers, Belgian-style Scotch Ales, Biere de Gardes, Blondes, Fruit Wheats, Spruce Ales, Bohemian Pilsners, Saisons, Browns, Lagers, Ryes, and on and on (see the beer list below).

The premise that sets this festival apart from others is the focus on organic production and sustainable brewing and festival practices.  From naobf.org:  "The festival goes beyond beer tasting by striving to be the most earth friendly beer festival in North America.  Festival attendees sample beer from reusable and compostable cornstarch glasses made from domestically grown corn by a zero-waste, solar powered company.  Electricity needs [for the festival] are met with a combination of biodiesel and solar generators.  Volunteers wear organic cotton, bamboo and hemp t-shirts, and all even signage is reusable."

My first visit to the festival this year was Friday at lunch time.  This is the best time to enjoy the fest.  While sampling around 10 beers, I stood behind one person in only one of the beer "lines".  That means that 98% of the time, I just walked right up to the server, put my token down, and got a taster with no one else in sight.  But, not everyone can escape from work on a Friday afternoon.   To see how the "other half" lives, I went back on Saturday around 3:00pm to see a totally different sight.  Several lines, 30 people deep, greeted me at the token booth.  Those same lines were at almost every single beer at the festival.  For the most part, the lines go pretty quick, five minutes at the most.   Besides, you'll probably have a beer in your hand anyway, so there's no real rush.  While in line, I rubbed elbows with a lot of people talking about the beer: taste, aromas, mouthfeel, style adherence, etc.  It's always nice having intelligent, snob-free conversations at Portland beer events.   Plus, I think everyone was exceptionally friendly after our 9 months of Oregon rain that finally ended.

One oddity, that will hopefully be corrected for next year, were the "Where's Waldo" beers.  If you're like me, you probably mark the must-try beers in your program and find the line under the correct brewery sign.   Unfortunately, there were a couple of beers that were placed sporadically around the beer tent, not assigned to their brewery area.   For example, I stood in the Upright Brewing line for the Rose City Seven only to find out that my time was spend in the wrong line and I had to get to the back of another around the corner if I wanted to try that beer.  This also happened with Oakshire Brewing's Mud Puddle which was not under the brewery sign at the front of the line, but around the corner at another are of the tent.

All in all, I had a great time, met a bunch of new people, and had a lot of great beers.  For about $25, I spent the afternoon in the sunshine with friends, ate, listened to music, and tried about 14 different organic beers.  I will do that as often as I can.

2010 North American Brewers Festival Beer List:

Check out the rest of the photos here.