For those of you who are too busy to read the details, two trends that will amaze and astonish: there are more beers using fruit (23) and almost as many flavored beer (18) as there are IPAs of all types (21); the huge trend last year in Dortmund exports (3) seems to have run its course. Also, for the first time, the OBF is styling itself the Oregon Brewfest. Dunno what you want to make of that.
The Numbers
This year, the specialty tent returns (formerly called the "Buzz Tent"), but we don't calculate those in the figures. (I am nevertheless delighted to have it back.) Also note that in the numbers below, the bolded text refers to 2014, while the text in the (parentheses) are last year's. Here we go...
Years since inception: 27
Total beers: 88 (84 in 2012)
Total breweries: 87 (82)*
States represented: 14 (12)
Percent Oregon: 58% (57%)
Percent California: 14% (14%)
Percent Washington: 11% (14%)
All Others: 17% (15%)
Total styles (by broad category): 25 (28)
Lagers: 6 (13)
IPAs: 24% (14%)
__- Standard IPA: 10 (9)
__- Double IPA: 4 (1)
__- CDA: 1 (2)
__- Fruit IPA: 4 (N/A)
__- Flavored IPA: 3 (N/A)
By style:
__- IPAs: 21 examples (12)
__- Fruit Wheats: 11 (10)
__- Pale ale: 10 (9)
__- Pilsner: 3 (3)
__- Berliner Weisse 3 (N/A)
__- Abbey: 3 (0)
__- Stouts and porters: 3 (0)
__- Kolsch: 1 (3)
__- Gluten-free: 2 (2)
__- Dortmund Export 0 (3)
__- Witbier: 1 (3)
Beers using spices/flavors: 23, 26% (14, 17%)
Fruit beers: 18, 20% (16, 19%)
Belgian styles: 13% (12%)
German/Czech styles: 15% (18%)
Totally weird beers**: 8% (15%)
ABV of smallest beer (Cigar City Blood Orange/Dragon Fruit Florida Weisse): 3.5% (3.5%)
ABV of largest beer (Dogfish Head Oak-Aged Strong Ale): 11% (10%)
Average ABV: 6.11% (6.0%)
Beers below 5.5% ABV: 31 (31)
Beers above 7% ABV: 21 (14)
Fewest IBUs in Fest (Beer Valley and Elysian): 0 (8)
Most IBUs at the Fest (Heathen Megadank): 120 (116)
Average IBUs: 40 (38)
Beers between 0 and 40 IBUs: 50 (58)
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*In past years, the Fest allowed some breweries to surreptitiously double up--like Rogue and Issaquah. This year the only double is Widmer and gluten-free Omission--which is nearly permissible. (But I doubt Harvester would agree.)
** A big caveat here. A ton of these beers are brewed to no style whatsoever, and about half have either fruit or flavors added. But there's a "black wit" and a few oddballs like that which, even by today's free-and-loose standards, are totally weird. To me, beers like this year's smallest, Cigar City Blood Orange/Dragon Fruit Florida Weisse, is not totally weird. Your mileage may vary.
Sadly, Belmont Station will not be doing the OBF Fringe Fest this year, so Real Ale: 0.
ReplyDeleteAre you counting any style of beer with fruit in it as a "beer using fruit" to get your number? To me that makes the fact that there are nearly as many IPAs as such a broad category as that mean even more. Though, while writing this, I realize that IPA as a category is pretty broad too when you really think about it.
ReplyDeleteTed, this is probably not there finest cask venue, but I feel you (ongoing) pain.
ReplyDeleteRich, its becoming increasingly hard to discriminate. People are tossing fruit and flavors into everything -- including IPAs. There's a spiced IPA and a couple with fruit. Two (or maybe all) the Berliner Weisses have fruit. Are those fruit beers, weissbiers, German beers? It's getting hard to make the list. In this case IPA means all of them--black, white, fruit, imperial. Fruit means any beer with fruit added. They're not discrete categories.
Ah fair enough. I hadn't thought you were making a catchall IPA category at the same time but the comparison is a lot clearer as a result.
ReplyDelete