OBF's 36 Other Beers

In addition to expanding their regular taplist by nine beers, the OBF is piloting the Buzz tent. I will confess to being slightly mystified by the intention behind this gambit, wherein 28 breweries were invited to send 1-4 "buzz beers." This would seem to subvert the idea of a "buzz beer"; by convention, such a beer is so good that it creates word-of-mouth buzz as festgoers relay what's tasty. So sequestering the beers you think will be the best in a special tent seems a bit odd.

And it does look like a tasty line-up. To select just a few: Cascade Brewing Night Fall, Deschutes Bourbon Quad, Full Sail 1998 Old Boilermaker (bourbon barrel), Stone 13th Anniversary, and from Wisconsin, Sprecher Brewery Bourbon Barrel Scotch Ale. Preston Weesner, the emerging Wizard of Rare Beers (he organizes FredFest and the Winter Ale Fest), put the list together--further evidence that the beers will be good.

It's sort of like a fest-within-a-fest. It has special hours and you have to buy special tickets. There doesn't appear to be a schedule, but it looks like you mostly take what they're pouring at the time. The downside seems to be that it's a bit of a crapshoot, and an expensive one. The upside is that the Fest has finally responded to beer geeks' demands that the beer quality match the OBF's reputation. Perhaps the Buzz Tent will even be a less-hectic, less frat-party-y oasis, too.

Here's the details:

OBF Buzz Tent
Time: Friday and Saturday, noon to 4:30

Admission: $20, good for eight 4-ounce pours. With admission, tasters receive a " ticket that will give you tastes of six different buzz beers, plus two tastings of your choosing."
Availability: 1000 tickets each day.

"Because of the different quantities of product on hand, we can’t guarantee what beers will be pouring at any single time. Look for the chalkboard outside the tent, or follow the Buzz Tent on Twitter: @OBFBuzzTent."

Here are the beers, with a special hat tip to John Foyston, who assembled them into a bullet list. The list at the official website is an unreadable block of text.

• Alameda Horseshoe Hefeweizen
• Alaskan Barley Wine
• Anderson Valley Huge'r Boont
• Ballast Point Sour Wench Tart Blackberry Ale #1
• Beer Valley Black Flag Imperial Stout 2008 Fresh Hop edition
• Blue Frog Barrel Aged Strong Amber Peligroso
• BridgePort 2008 Stumptown Tart in firkin
• BridgePort BBL Ebenezer
• Cascade Brewing Sang Royale
• Cascade Brewing Gold Yeller
• Cascade Brewing Night Fall
• Cascade Brewing Gose
• Cascade Brewing Mouton Rouge
• Deschutes Bourbon Quad
• Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron
• Fearless Strong Scotch
• Fifty Fifty Imperial Eclipse Stout (bourbon aged)
• Firestone Walker Double/Imperial Union Jack
• Full Sail 1998 Old Boilermaker (Bourbon Barrel)
• Grand Teton Brewing Howling Wolf Weizenbock
• Laurelwood Organic Deranger Imperial Red
• Laht Neppur Spiced Waitsburg Winter Warmer
• Lazy Boy Pomegranate Belgian Golden Ale
• Lompoc Barrel Fermented LSD
• McMenamins West Linn Largo Laws Treasure Strong Scottish
• McMenamins Obama Nation Domestic Schwarzbier
• McMenamins Old St. Francis Base Camp Coffee Stout
• McMenamins Oak Hills Das Schwertz Maibock (whiskey aged)
• Moylan's Brewing Co. Batch #1000 Double Kilt Lifter
• New Belgium La Folie
• Oakshire Glen's Hop Vice Imperial IPA
• Redhook Raspberry Tripel
• Rock Bottom Rod Flanders
• Stone 13th Anniversary
• Sprecher Brewery Bourbon Barrel Scotch Ale
• Widmer X-114 IPA.